Governance
Transport
andMobility
Built
Environment
Natural
Environment
Elements of
Sustainable
Cities
Economy
Services
Community
Well Being
Equality and
Diversity
(IRDA) to implement LCCF in a collective
effort to reduce carbon emissionswithin
Iskandar. “Iskandar has its own Low
Carbon Society (LCS) blueprint which it
has developed in collaborationwith
several partners. It’s an excellent programme
which shouldmake theman exemplary
reference point for other regional authorities.
However, what it requires is to calculate the
GHGemissions resulting fromhuman
activitieswithin a defined area. That is
wherewe (GreenTech) came in, to generate
baseline study reports and additionally
identify lowcarbon strategies and action
plans for IRDA.”
With Iskandar aswell as the other
town councils acting as the catalyst towards
a positive change in the landscape and overall
mindset of the authorities, there is hope that
the concept and practices of a lowcarbon
citywill catch on here like it has in some
major European cities. “There are local
authorities banning vehicles into cities on
select days for instance. However if you
restrict vehicles entering the city, theremust
be solutions for the public and this iswhat the
city councils should tackle in facilitating a
sustainable lifestyles and ultimately low
carbon cities.”Hadri adds, “It is a journey to
advocate LowCarbonCities (in our country).
We recognise that we cannot change
overnight especiallywith the variables
involved. Themost important part will be
the commitment, passion and understanding
of local authorities.”
Don’tmiss our follow-up article next
week on IRDA’s lowcarbon society blueprint
and the impact of LowCarbonCities on
economic growth.
CUT AND KEEP
APRIL 25, 2014
Please email your feedback and queries
to:
X
>Concepts thatwill transformour lives
Low
carboncities
T
HE
latest report by the
Intergovernmental Panel on
ClimateChange paints a bleak
future for all of us. It reads:
“Throughout the 21st century, climate-
change impacts are projected to slow
down economic growth, make poverty
reductionmore difficult, further erode
food security, prolonging existingwhile
creating newpoverty traps, the latter
particularly inurbanareas and emerging
hot spots of hunger.”
CAUSE AND EFFECT OF
CLIMATE CHANGE
Climate change or global warming
is the result of increasing amount of
greenhouse gases (GHG) in the
atmosphere. Essentially greenhouse
gases act as a blanket that traps energy
in the lower atmosphere, warming the
earth’s surface.
However with the increase of human
activities i.e. burning of fossil fuels,
intensive agriculture and land clearing,
greenhouse gas levels have escalated
considerably in the last fewdecades.
This causes more heat to be trapped
on the surface resulting in rising
temperatures, ultimately leading to
change of climate. Major greenhouse
gases that contribute to climate change
are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous
oxide and fluorinated gases.
PRIMARY CONTRIBUTOR TO
CLIMATE CHANGE
There are four
contributors to climate
change, urban
development being the
primary cause,
producing awhopping
50%of total greenhouse
gas emissions. This is
followed by industrial
activitieswhich
contribute 19%,
deforestation, 17%and
finally agriculture, 14%.
It elucidates
Malaysia’s total
greenhouse gas
emissions increase by 45%
in 2000 compared to the 1994 levels. The
impact of rapid development was reflected
in the announcement thatMalaysia’s CO
2
emissions per capitawas higher than
average for Asia Pacific, based on the
National Communications Report
submitted by each country to theUnited
Nation FrameworkConvention on
ClimateChange (UNFCCC).
In an effort to curb the nation’s
contribution to climate change, at the 2009
UnitedNations ClimateChange
Conference, PrimeMinister Datuk Seri
NajibAbdul Razak committed to
“conditional voluntary reduction of carbon
emission of up to 40%by the year 2020
compared to the 2005 levels.”
Endeavouring to fulfilMalaysia’s pledge
and taking into account the dominant factor of
climate change, the LowCarbonCities
concept was adopted. The groundwork of this
effort is the LowCarbonCities Framework
(LCCF), resulting froma collaboration
between the Energy, GreenTechnology
andWaterMinistrywith theMalaysian
GreenTechnology (GreenTech
Malaysia) andMalaysian Institute of
Planners (MIP), among others. The
objectives of LCCF are:
1. To encourage and promote the
concept of lowcarbon cities
and townships
2. To increase the compatibility
of cities/townshipwith their
local ecosystem
3. To guide cities inmaking choice/
decisions towards greener solution
WHAT IS LCCF?
Essentially LCCF serves as a guide for
developers, local councils, town planners or
non-governmental organisations
to reduce the levels of carbon
emission in cities. It is a two
component systemcomprising
framework and assessment
methodology that together
facilitate and evaluate the
development of lowcarbon
cities. More specifically, the
assessment system is an in built
calculator that helps a city
determine its current baseline
and is progressively used to
monitor the levels. The
framework on the other hand
serves as amanual to identify
areaswhich could be targeted to
curtail greenhouse gas emissions.
It focuses on fourmain areas of urban living
that can collectively or independently
contribute to a city’s lowcarbon level:
•
Urban environment
: site selection,
urban formand urban greenery and
environmental quality
•
Urban infrastructure
: infrastructure
provision, waste, energy and
watermanagement
•
Urban transport
: shift of transport
mode, green transport infrastructure,
clean vehicles and trafficmanagement
•
Buildings
: lowcarbon building and
community services
HOWDOES LCCF WORK?
Acity is first assessed through the LowCarbon
What is a low
carbon city?
It is a city that
comprises societies
that consume
sustainable green
technology and emit
relatively low carbon as
compared with
present day practice to
avoid adverse impacts
of climate change.
Kitakyushu: A Beacon of Hope
Is there hope for humanity in the race
against climate change? Over the last
thirty years, the city of Kitakyushu has
worked tirelessly to shed its image as a
“rust belt steel town” (postindustrial
region) right out of Dickens.
The city has repositioned itself
as an Eco-Model City, a centre for
environmental technology and
protection measures.
Today, Kitakyushu is recognised as the
“Environmental Capital of the World” as
well as the “Technology Capital of Asia”.
However even with the recognition,
the city’s low carbon efforts continue.
Kitakyushu’s goal is to reduce CO
2
emissions city-wide by 50% and
throughout Asia by 150% by the end
of 2050.
As part of its efforts to achieve
these goals, the city has established the
Kitakyushu Asian Centre for Low Carbon
Society, to act as a core facility dedicated
to vitalisation of local economies through
a commitment to carbon reduction
projects in Asian societies.
Did you know?
Climate change is a natural process that
occurs over time. Before the industrial
age, climate change was an effect of
changes in solar energy, volcanic
eruptions and natural changes in
greenhouse gas concentrations.
However since the mid-20th century,
it has been established that increased
human activities is the cause for rising
temperatures and climate changes.
Cities Assessment Systemto determine the
city’s current baseline. Afterwhich, various
strategies are recommended to achieve a
reduction level. The calculator is subsequently
used to reassess the carbon emission levels to
see if a good reduction level has been achieved.
GreenTechCEOAhmadHadri Haris explains,
“The LCCF looks across the different facets of
reducing carbonwaste in its entirety, thisway
we canmake an all-round impact. After all
cities are not just buildings, it’s about howwe
connect i.e. fromhome towork.We offer
different approaches the city councils can
take namely a one-systemor a city-based
approach.”With the one-systemapproach,
the city can choose tomitigate a particular
select sector described for example,waste
management only. Meanwhile the city-based
approach is a holistic viewwhere all criteria
on the LCCF are considered andmitigated.
“We try to encourage a city-based approach
but it also relies upon the objective and
capacity of the city,” addsHadri.
The ultimate goal being to achieve
zero carbon emission.
PROGRESS OF LCCF
GreenTechMalaysia hasmade steady
progress since rolling out the pilot tests at
select sites such as TasikKenyirHangTuah
andMiri. It provided the organisation a better
understanding of its study. Since then high-
density towns like Petaling Jaya and Subang
Jaya have enlisted the organisation for the
LCCF programme.While it is still in early
stages, Hadri says, “Ultimately, the question
is, where dowewant to gowith this?We have
149 local authorities inMalaysia, our aim
and vision is that with the current strategic
partnerships, over the next two years, we
will be better equippedwith experience and
knowledge thanwhenwe started.Wewill
have lessons, case studies, etc to convince
the rest of the local authorities to adopt
these practices.”
RecentlyGreenTechMalaysia signed a
memorandumof understanding (MoU)with
Iskandar Regional Development Authority
