Earth Day 2022: Investing in Our Planet's Future

The theme of #EarthDay this year is #InvestInOurPlanet – a pressing reminder to governments, businesses and individuals that each of us have a vital role to play in protecting our environment – for each other and our future generations.

Globally, the construction industry generates about 30% of total greenhouse gas emissions, utilises 32% of the world’s natural resources and 40% of energy consumption. While the sector is a major contributor to climate change, it also has tremendous potential to effect positive change.

“Sustainability makes good business sense, and we’re all on the same team at the end of the day.” - Paul Polman

Green buildings cost less overall to run, as they are designed to use less energy and water. They also play an important part in building thriving communities and tend to have higher asset values compared to conventional buildings. In Singapore, green buildings command a premium of 2-3%.

The future is clearly in sustainable construction, with many countries setting ambitious targets to accelerate the decarbonisation of the built environment. The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) has launched several incentive schemes over the years in support of Singapore’s net zero aspirations, including the Built Environment Transformation Gross Floor Area (BE Transformation GFA) Incentive Scheme. The scheme, which awards up to 3% bonus GFA to developers and builders to encourage them to meet enhanced standards in productivity, digitalisation, sustainability and quality by adopting digital solutions, is applicable to residential, commercial, industrial and institutional, as well as mixed-use developments on sites that have a GFA of at least 5,000sqm.

Other attractive incentives include eligibility for Green Financing, in which building owners and developers can access green loans from banks with lower interest rates for buildings which meet the requisite energy efficient standards.

With the green building movement growing rapidly, one’s ability to build according to sustainable construction practices could make all the difference when competing for projects.

At Hubble, we believe in harnessing the power of data to unlock project efficiency and help project teams build more sustainably. We help our clients achieve a competitive advantage, not only in tender opportunities, but also in satisfying the requirements of green incentive schemes. Our fully integrated end-to-end solution enables clients to collaboratively share up-to-date information on one platform, better visualise the progress of ongoing work, gain meaningful insights and make data-driven, first-time-right decisions, resulting in a drastic reduction in material wastage, rework and its associated time and financial costs. The ability to understand the data remotely also removes the need to make unnecessary onsite trips – a win-win solution all around!

Interested in learning how Hubble can make your construction projects more sustainable? Get in touch with our team here for a free demo!

“The Earth is a fine place and worth fighting for.” - Ernest Hemingway

To everyone who has joined the fight to preserve and protect our earth – Happy Earth Day!