ARES Digital White Paper Volume 1: The fundamentals of responsible building

Green and climate heroes put their heads together to discuss how the Asia Pacific property sector can weather the environmental crisis and drive sustainable living

Since 2015, the PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit has served as a platform for the industry’s finest minds, top-level business leaders, and decision-makers to educate their peers and industry professionals about innovation, connectivity and technological applications on the built environment. In the last three years, the Summit has also incorporated the contributions to climate change, to push them to innovate to minimise their carbon footprint, and to inspire them with breakthroughs in green and property technology. 

At the first virtual edition of the Summit in December 2020, PropertyGuru called upon the Asia Pacific region’s green and climate heroes and proptech experts to advance the conversation on green building and technology, carbon-negative and carbon-neutral design trends, humanitarian tech, the future of urban living, and smarter and healthier cities. 

In the Summit’s inaugural Digital White Paper, released in September 2021 and entitled “PropTech and the Responsible Innovator,” the aforementioned themes are highlighted to urge the real estate industry (and by extension its investors and consumers) into responsibly building a world worthy of future generations.

The summit’s chairperson Stephen Oehme (former board member of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa and now based in Thailand) opens the discourse by noting that raising awareness on sustainability should no longer be the objective. Instead, he insists that now is the time to encourage global firms to carry out their own green agenda through careful study and applying practical solutions.  

More: Join the data revolution at the next PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit

The digital white paper features contributions by Unissu’s James Dearsley, who presents the current investment trends and outlook for proptech businesses in Asia Pacific. Angelo Tan of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) continues by sharing his personal stories that steered him to lead the IFC’s Climate Business unit in his country and discussing how emerging countries can democratise green buildings through proptech. 

PropertyGuru Property Report digital editor Gynen Kyra Toriano writes about the World Bank Group’s insights and initiatives via the IFC to push green financing and certification, PropertyGuru Group CEO Hari V. Krishnan’s vision for sustainable living in Asia’s megacities, and the Liter of Light foundation’s advocacy (led by founder Illac Diaz, recipient of the 2020 PropertyGuru Visionary of the Year award) to light up homes and environments without access to electricity. 

Meanwhile, global consumer brand IKEA’s sustainable solutions and 2020 PropertyGuru Tech Innovation Award winner Rizome’s climate-positive alternative to steel and concrete are examined by writer Ruechupa Jiratanasophin. Stephen concludes the digital white paper by reiterating the four pillars of sustainability – human, social, economic, and environmental – and calling for immediate action as we all prepare to reunite (virtually) at the next PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit in December 2021.

For more information, visit AsiaRealEstateSummit.com or email [email protected]. 

Download a copy of the Digital White Paper here: 

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