Around a third of the world’s emissions come from buildings. If humanity is to cap global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, the world must reach peak emissions by 2020 and become carbon neutral by 2050—and this will mean cutting the carbon footprint of the built environment to as close to zero as possible.
Nowhere is the urban sustainability challenge as daunting as in Southeast Asia, a region that will welcome almost half of its population of 655 million to cities by 2025.
Southeast Asia’s cities face a smorgasbord of challenges as they grow, from traffic congestion and air pollution to unemployment and migrant labour. City planners must also work out how to make the metropolises of Jakarta, Bangkok, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur liveable—safe, comfortable, prosperous and happy places to live for ever increasing numbers of people.
In the second episode of Tomorrow’s cities: Engineering the energy transition, Eco-Business sat down with Benjamin Towell, planning strategy member, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, and Jethani Vinod, business development manager, commercial buildings, Asia Pacific, Danfoss, to talk about how Southeast Asia’s cities can keep growing while reducing their environmental footprint.
Tune in as we tackle questions such as:
- Is sustainable growth of the built environment possible in fast-growing Southeast Asia?
- Can Singapore rise to its super low energy building challenge?
- What are the most exciting green building technologies?
- What’s the quickest and cheapest way to green a building?
- What will Southeast Asian cities look like in the future?
