The year 2024 marked the 15 th anniversary of the GreenBuildingIndex, a historically significant event in our nation’s history. At its conception, the only tools used in the Malaysian market to measure green building compliance were the U.S. Green Building Council LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and the Singaporean-developed Greenmark developed by the Building Construction Authority (BCA).

While empirically measuring green building performance was a necessary paradigm shift that needed to occur in Malaysia, we needed a localised tool that was relevant to our context. What was to follow was heroic, to say the least. A band of volunteers, passionate professionals, architects, engineers, and quantity surveyors—came together to develop a tool to champion the green agenda and ultimately nudge the construction industry to build greener, more energy-efficient, and future-ready buildings.

The pioneers in the local green building movement went on to successfully lobby the government to provide tax incentives for owners who sought to build greener buildings. These efforts, in turn, influenced government policies related to making parts of the GBI tools an integral part of our building code, thus making what was once voluntary now mandatory.

The perception that green buildings are more expensive than conventional ones often overlooks the substantial savings achieved over a building’s lifecycle. While the initial construction costs for green buildings may be higher, these investments typically result in significant energy savings and reduced operational expenses over time. After 15 years of GBI in Malaysia, we have found that what was once novel has become standard and industry-accepted mandatory costs. As a result, GBI tools are being reviewed and updated to set new benchmarks for compliance.

The year 2024 also marked a more ominous milestone – it was Earth’s warmest year on record, and the first time global temperatures were 1.6° Celcius warmer than the average global temperature from before the Industrial Revolution. A 1.5° world is one where 14% of the population is expected to experience severe heat waves at least once every 5 years, a 2° world would mean 37% of the world’s population would experience severe heat waves with increasing frequency. In the Malaysian context, we are bound to see catastrophic monsoon floods becoming an annual norm at significant human and financial costs.

The solution bending the global carbon emissions curve does not solely reside in our method of constructing new buildings. We need a change in the hearts and minds of individuals and build a movement of individuals who choose to live sustainably and consciously reduce our environmental impact. In my article, ‘Mottainai: Practical Methods for Living Sustainably’ (page 82), I share what my own family is doing to live more sustainably. I hope that, as a society, we may build on keeping the conversation around climate-positive action alive and actively advocate for better environmental outcomes in all our pursuits.

From the team at AM, we wish you a happier and greener 2025! As we enter the first quarter of the century, we hope to see the emergence of many more green heroes among us.

David Teoh
Editor-in-Chief, Architecture Malaysia
Director, GreenBuildingIndex Sdn Bhd