Greening Scheme

Being green does not mean it is sustainable was a point for discussion during a meeting yesterday. A group of friends talked about an accreditation scheme on green building which categorised the certified building in different categories by point score. For example, the building will be accorded platinum if certain points are acquired although some aspects of green are not fulfilled. The accreditation does not take into account of carbon emission reduction as an criteria. For example, if a sustainable building material is used, how much carbon or GHG can be reduced is not calculated. Hence, it is difficult to relate the scheme for GHG reduction. It makes the Government's planned target of 40% reduction of GHG by year 2020 unmeasurable.

Sometime people thought of planting ornamental trees as greening exercise, but in actual fact the planting of these species do not help much in reducing the GHG reduction. Thereby, for sustainability to work effectively, right methods and approaches are required and essential. In this respect, acquiring right attitude, skill and approach are critically needed, and looking around with the capacity of professional now, I presume it is urgent.