"Urbanisation is part of the solution for a sustainable future." This was shared by Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan during his keynote speech at the SGBC Leadership Conversations 2019 thought leadership forum to close to 200 industry leaders. 

During the event, Dr. Balakrishnan also emphasised that a long-term, sustainable approach must be taken to plan and deploy technology that is already available to help address the climate emergency.

In SGBC's #SGBC10 10th Anniversary, the Council is poised to support the industry's acceleration towards greener, healthier cities. Through its certification programmes and tailored initiatives, SGBC is ready to help create a more sustainable built environment for everyone, everywhere. As mentioned by the Managing Editor of Eco-Business Ms Jessica Cheam during her introductory remarks at the event, "The time for raising awareness is over, it is time to take action."

During the panel discussion moderated by Ms Cheam and a panelist lineup comprising Ms Esther An (Chief Sustainability Officer from CDL), Mr Tang Kok Thye (SGBC 1st Vice President) and Dr Winston Chow (Assoc Prof, SMU), a hearty, insightful discussion on how we can move quickly and decisively to make bold changes to how we design, build and operate the built environment in order to cut the emissions footprint of our cities was had. The audience got insightful knowledge on how the building and construction sector is working to support the accelerated emphasis on sustainable development.

As articulated by SGBC President Dr Ho Nyok Yong in his concluding remarks, "To meet our climate targets, we can no longer approach sustainability as something additional or extra. It has to become part and parcel of how we go about developing and shaping our built environment. In essence, going green must become the new business as usual."