Humanity will never achieve net-zero emissions by the middle of the century unless the building sector figures out how to become truly green.

Synopsis: Every first and third Sunday of the month, The Straits Times analyses the beat of the changing environment, from biodiversity conservation to climate change.

Who hasn’t escaped a scorchingly hot day by seeking refuge in a nicely chilled shopping centre? Or, for those in cold climates, in a toasty warm office or cafe? 

But have you ever wondered how much energy it takes to cool, heat and power the buildings in our cities and towns? It’s a lot.

In fact, the building sector is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions – about 39 per cent of all energy-related CO2 emissions come from buildings and the materials used to construct them. 

Humanity will never reach net-zero emissions by the middle of the century unless we can make buildings truly green. So, how is the building sector responding to the climate challenge?

How are building owners and managers cutting emissions and what more can they do? What regulations are there in Singapore and the region to encourage greater energy efficiency and retrofitting of older buildings to help them go from brown to green?

To learn more about this, ST's climate change editor David Fogarty hosts the Singapore-based head of ESG consulting & sustainability services at global real estate agency CBRE, who also happens to be named David Fogarty.

Highlights of conversation (click/tap above):

1:55 How large are the emissions from the building sector and how fast is the sector growing?

2:50 What can be done to cut emissions? What steps are being taken now?

5:09 What are embedded emissions? And how great is the challenge in cutting carbon emissions from making building materials?

7:17 There are regulations incentivising energy efficiency in buildings, including retrofitting. Are these making a difference?

11:49 In David Fogarty's role, some of the key trends he is seeing, such as green leasing

15:10 What will the buildings of 2050 or 2060 look like?

Produced by: David Fogarty ([email protected]), Ernest Luis and Hadyu Rahim

Edited by: Hadyu Rahim

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