A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Australian and Hong Kong green building councils will accelerate the universal adoption of sustainable building practices.
Romilly Madew, chief executive of the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA), says it shares a common vision with the Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) to promote green buildings to reduce the built environment’s impact on climate change.
"With Australia’s population set to reach 35 million by 2050, and 85 per cent of our citizens living in cities, the high-density urban challenges Hong Kong faces today will be Australia’s challenges tomorrow," she says.
"Both councils are committed to working together to drive the sustainable building agenda in their countries and believe enhanced co-operation will assist our building and construction sectors to adopt green building practices, as well as exchange best practices in managing and administering rating programs."
Kevin Edmunds, executive director of the HKGBC, says awareness is increasing about the carbon footprint associated with buildings and parts of the community in Hong Kong are actively working to reduce it.
"Closer collaboration between the GBCs in Hong Kong and Australia will do much to accelerate progress towards more sustainable and low-carbon built environments in both nations," he says.
The MoU outlines a number of areas of collaboration, including:
- sharing knowledge of their respective green building rating systems and other events, education, advocacy and research programs
- collaborating on strategies to dramatically reduce the impact of the built environment on climate change
- facilitating opportunities for secondments and/or training of respective staff
- working together with the World Green Building Council to help accelerate global best practice for market transformation
- assisting other countries to develop green building councils and green building rating systems
