3 May 2012  – South Korea has passed legislation for a national emissions trading scheme, bringing to 34 countries around the world including Australia that, that will use emissions trading as the primary vehicle to drive carbon pollution reduction. “We are far from leading the world, as some have claimed,” Read More  
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18 April 2012 – Many UK tenants who live in the coldest privately rented homes are revolting against their landlords and calling on the government to act to improve conditions.  Their concern highlights the dilemma of many commercial landlords who will face hefty bills to make their properties more energy efficient over the next six years as legislation on minimum standards comes into force. Read More  
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By Tina Perinotto 14 March 2012 -– CarbonSystems, an Australian company barely three years old, has fended off competition from the world’s heavy hitters in technology to win a contract with Microsoft for its global greenhouse gas management and reporting to stakeholders. Read More  
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1 February 2012 – MWH sustainable engineering company has donated $US50,000 to The Energy and Resources Institute to bring solar lighting to rural India. The institute supports the Lighting a Billion Lives program which sets up a solar charging station in energy poor villages and offers solar lanterns for rent to the local community – reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 750 tonnes over the solar lantern’s useful life of 10 years. In India 61 million rural households use kerosene and wicker lamps for lighting. Inadequate lighting has a direct impact on the livelihood, health, environment and safety of these rural residents, MWH said in a media statement. Each village charging station is managed and operated by a local entrepreneur who leases the lanterns to village residents for an affordable fee, creating opportunities for renewable energy education and entrepreneurship in the villages. The donation supports MWH’s partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative.  
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18 January 2012 ­– Private developers in Japan may qualify for 50 per cent subsidies to build shared use buildings under a program to foster more sustainable cities. And buyers of energy efficient homes may soon qualify for tax breaks. The move is just one of several sustainability initiatives from both the public and private sector under way in Japan, some of which are a response to last year’s earthquake disaster. Under one program, the Japanese Land Ministry will look to support the growth of centralised, low-emission cities with legislation that would provide subsidies to companies that undertake development in line with local governments’ vision, a report in The Nikkei said on Wednesday. Read More  
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12 December 2011 –The Durban climate talks agreement leaves gaps in emissions, finance and legal issues warns the Australian Greens, and the Australian Conservation Foundation agrees countries need to be more ambitious in cutting emissions. Read More  
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By Lynne Blundell 2 November 2011 – There are signs that some in the property sector may be outgrowing current sustainability ratings schemes, with several organisations signing up for certification programs that are pushing the sustainability boundaries further or that are recognised globally. A scheme that seems to be attracting interest, particularly from the education sector, is the Living Building Challenge, developed by Canadian architect and sustainable development expert Jason McLennan, chief executive of the International Living Future Institute. Projects signed up for the Living Building Challenge include the Sustainable Buildings Research Centre Read More  
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6 December 2011 – The United States Obama administration has announced a US$4 billion energy upgrade finance commitment program, similar to Australia’s environmental upgrade agreements. Read More  
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7  December 2011  – It’s got Richard Branson’s attention, the Empire State Building and now Melbourne’s 1200 Buildings program is becoming the latest poster child in energy efficiency for buildings. And we haven’t even mentioned President Obama’s announcement of a US $4 billion retrofit program paid by energy efficiency contracts. From Environment 360, by David Biello – Of the hundreds of thousands of buildings in New York City, none is more iconic than the Empire State Building. Completed in 1931 as the tallest skyscraper in the world, the Art Deco edifice was meant not only to house thousands of office workers, but to serve as a dock for the coming age of dirigibles. Now the 102-story building has a new tale to tell: efficiency. A recent $20-million retrofit — which included everything from cleaning and re-insulating more than 6000 windows to caulking leaks in the building’s facade — reduced energy use by nearly 40 percent, according to air and energy program lawyer... 
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28 November 2011 – US presidential contender Newt Gingrich was paid $1.8 million for a few hours’ “consulting” to special interests. There are  inflated fees to lawmakers who turn lobbyists.  And congressmen and women legislate their own companies’ profits. These are some of the reasons that the Occupy Wall Street movement is being shut down in a co-ordinated and violent attack, according to high profile author  Naomi Wolf. Read More  
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28 November 2011 – China’s plan for seven pilot carbon market schemes across the country has been welcomed by the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Greg Combet. The pilots are expected to start in 2013, across Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing and Shanghai as well as the industrial regions of Shenzhen, Hubei and Guangdong. “This is a significant announcement from the Chinese Government, which will see carbon markets in major cities and regions covering over 200 million people in China,” Mr Combet said. “China’s intention to expand these pilot schemes into a nation-wide trading system from as early as 2015 is a ringing endorsement for the future growth of global carbon markets. “ Australia is also supporting the World Bank’s Partnership for Market Readiness, which is helping developing countries set up carbon markets, Mr Combet said. Already eight countries including Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Indonesia, Thailand and Turkey, have received funding to help them... 
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By Lyn Drummond 28 November 2011 – Buying nutritious produce grown on your supermarket’s roof could be the order soon if Australia adopts similar concepts to New York based companies Bright Farms and Gotham Greens. Read More  
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22 November 2011 – AXA Investment Managers has added to its carbon footprint metric with a series of other metrics such as corporate governance, social and water, as it prepares for what it says will be major growth in responsible investment, especially from Asia. AXA IM said this week that investment funds directed into responsible investing strategies is set to triple over the coming three years with Asia playing a key role. The firm recently appointed global head of RI, Matt Christensen, to further develop its RI capabilities. Mr Christensen, who was previously founding executive director of European think tank on RI issues, Eurosif, will visit Australian institutional investors early next year,  said Australia’ s established $1.3 trillion superannuation funds sector would b a key driver for the Asia growth. However, he said Australian institutions investing in Asia face a raft of new corporate governance challenges ­– in cultural, regulatory and transparency areas. ”Undoubtedly... 
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By Elena Bondareva 22 November 2011 –What can the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol do for our sector? Read More  
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17 November 2011  – The Economist has jumped in to show that despite the massive failure of a co-ordinated climate policy approach by leading world governments, the leading private sector is doing its own thing, surging ahead in some cases with major climate action. Key points include: Of 300 bosses of big global firms recently quizzed by Ernst & Young, 83 per cent said they wanted to see a legally binding multilateral deal struck in Durban to update the ailing Kyoto protocol and help to put a price on carbon emissions Read More  
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3 November 2011 – Sydney based EP&T Global, chaired by former Sydney 2000 Olympic Games chief executive Sandy Holloway, has been appointed to a major energy savings project in a major new development in Dubai. Mr Holloway said the Dubai contract is with property management company Tecom Investments for three city precincts known as Media City, Knowledge City and Internet City and was potentially “very significant indeed.” “It is breaking into a very lucrative market in the Gulf region and, despite the global financial crisis, this is an area which is structurally wealthy because of its natural resources,” Mr Holloway said. Board member John McCarthy, a former national president of the Property Council of Australia, said the project will enhance the global profile of the company which is already operating in the UK, and expose its technology to organisations which will be using the precincts such as the BBC, CNN, Bloomberg, IBM, Microsoft, Mastercard, Dell,... 
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By Suzette Jackson, HASSELL 2 November 2011 – The aim of the World Sustainable Building Conferences is to share leading knowledge, and find new solutions which enhance sustainable ways of living and working within built environments, while addressing new opportunities for improving the quality of life and mitigating effects of climate change. Read More  
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26 October 2011 – From The Atlantic: Toronto has been aggressive about it: they have a new, comprehensive green roof law, the first one in North America. Like all laws, it’s complicated, but new building permit applications for residential, commercial, and institutional developments must now have green roofs. New industrial developments (as of April 30, 2012) will soon have to be green, also. The law states a minimum roof size, so it doesn’t apply to gardening sheds. And the larger the roof, the greater the percentage of it will have to be green. People can opt out, but they have to pay toward a fund. Efforts are already paying off: Green Roofs for Healthy Cities is reporting that the law has resulted in more than 1.2 million square feet of new green space planned on new commercial, institutional, and multi-unit residential developments. It will also keep enough rainwater runoff out of the lakes and rivers to fill fifty Olympic sized swimming pools. It’s reduced the... 
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By Tina Perinotto 25 October 2011 – The forecast for sustainability in property is: prepare for takeoff, and don’t bother holding back. In an incisive and wide-ranging report from Jones Lang LaSalle’s  October issue of the quarterly Global Sustainability Perspective, the view is that property will be at the pointy end of the social, ethical and environmental changes already under way and set to accelerate. Read More  
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By Elena Bondareva, Thinc Beyond 20 October 2011 – The Green Building Council of South Africa will hold its annual convention this month – 26 to 28 October in Capetown. Following is an article based on a presentation that Elena Bondareva will deliver at the convention on some of the challenges and opportunities that confront both the African continent and the worldwide community. Today, the rate of change is accelerating. No major project or organisation is immune from the consequences. We need to explore the trends that are shaping tomorrow, Read More  
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By Romilly Madew, Green Building Council of Australia 20 October 2011 – After two weeks in Canada in late September and early October 2011, during which time a small delegation from Australia saw countless green buildings, Read More  
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13 October 2011 ­ From Sustainable Business News: The US Green Building Council is implementing major upgrades in LEED certification standards for buildings in 2012 in response to criticisms. Critics say LEED ratings don’t go far enough – that adding up a bunch of points for green features doesn’t necessarily result in a building that’s green overall, and that there’s no method of verifying whether a finished building is performing as planned. Should having a bike rack earn points in a building that hasn’t upgraded an old furnace system, for example? How do you know that a building owner even uses green technology after its been installed? Over the years, LEED standards have been raised several times as the market matured and could absorb more advanced standards. Now, it’s time to do that again. The originators of LEED always had the vision of creating fully functioning green buildings, not just a list of features to check off. But in the... 
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5 October 2011 –Spain’s Gemasolar Solar Power Plant, the first commercial plant in the world to use molten salt thermal has been formally inaugurated. According to a statement from the company: “Gemasolar is a revolution in the CSP sector and its commercial operation is expected to lead the way for other central tower plants with molten salt receiver technology, an efficient system that improves the dispatchability of electric power from renewable sources. “Gemasolar is a high temperature solar plant, Read More  
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4 October 2011 – Stepping down as chair of the World Green Building Council Tony Arnel said he had seen a fringe green movement become a mainstream industry during  his three year term. He is replaced by Rick Fedrizzi, president and chief executive officer of the US Green Building Council. Under Mr Fedrizzi’s direction USGBC has undertaken a far-reaching agenda that has more than tripled its membership. Mr Arnel, who is chair of the Green Building Council of Australia and the Victorian Building and Plumbing Commissioner, was speaking on 3 October at the WGBC congress in Toronto Read More  
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4 October 2011 – David Gottfried, founder of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design green building rating system in the 1990s, has received an entrepreneurship award from the World Green Building Council. Chairman of the World GBC Tony Arnel said Mr Gottfried had been selected for his distinguished lifetime achievement and contribution to the development and growth of the global green building industry. Mr Gottfried was first president of the US Green Building Council. Recognition of Service Awards were also presented to retiring board members for their contributions to the World GBC and the green building industry. They were:  César Treviño, President of the Mexico GBC; Dr Chilin Cheng, founder and board member of the Chinese-Taipei Green Building Council and Parasu Raman, founder of the India GBC.  
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4 October 2011 – Electric Bluecars are clean, green, chic and cheap and there should be 500 of them zipping around Paris by 2013 if officials have their way – cutting noise and air pollution and discouraging car ownership. The Guardian’s website says the vehicle, tied to a car sharing scheme called Autolib, has been described as a “bubble car.”  It was designed by the Italian firm that makes Ferraris. But that’s where the similarity ends Read More  
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By Monique Alfris 23 September 2011 – For the past few months I’ve been working with Good Return an Australian non government organisation which works with microfinance partners across South East Asia Read More  
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26 September 2011 – The Greenprint  Foundation’s development of a benchmarking  performance of the built environment’s investment sector has been accepted as a Clinton Global Initiative Commitment to Action. The GF is a worldwide alliance of leading real estate owners, investors, financial institutions and other stakeholders committed to reducing carbon emissions in the global property industry. Greenprint will model office property portfolios organised by metropolitan areas and establish a useful method of performance measurement and benchmarking. It will release its office index plan by July 2012 with Volume 3 of its performance report. Greenprint is also a participating partner in two other CGI Commitments to Action ­–  Scaling Demand for Commercial Tenant Green Build outs and the New York City Energy Efficiency Corporation. “Our involvement in three CGI Commitments to Action builds on our groundbreaking work to provide the real estate community with transparent and verifiable... 
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By Tina Perinotto 23 September 2011 – The bar for sustainable property reporting world-wide  just got higher, thanks to the new reporting guidance for the property construction sector released today (Thursday) by the highly regarded Global Reporting Initiative. According to Steve Driscoll, director of sustainability and policy for Landcom, who was one of two Australians on the two-year Read More  
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By Lyn Drummond 21 September 2011 – Sustainable Business Australia and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s APEC secretariat are developing a carbon capability program for Vietnam and Indonesia. Read More  
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