Race Towards Net Zero with malaysiaGBC CarbonScore

The malaysia GBC CarbonScore was officially launched last Friday, 14th October, with announcement of its 5 pilot projects during the IGEM 2022 Conference at the KL Convention Centre.

The event started off with an insightful speech by CK Tang who talked about the "confusing landscape" of carbon accounting and gave the audience an overview of the 3 Greenhouse Gas "scopes" as defined by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. The speech was an important segue into the CarbonScore launch as it set the foundation for the audience to understand the basics of going zero carbon, the references used in the development of the malaysiaGBC CarbonScore and the importance of getting it right in our journey toward being a Net Zero Emissions nation by 2050.

The launch was then kicked off by PAM President Ar. Sarly who introduced the CarbonScore scoring system and its mechanics to the audience.

The CarbonScore is meant to be a "report card" system that provides the public a general awareness on building-related CO2 Emissions. The CO2 emissions calculated by the CarbonScore system is benchmarked against an average Malaysian building using MS1525:2019 for operational energy and other simplified calculation methodologies for benchmarking embodied energy, and transportation related emissions. Buildings that generate on-site renewable energy and and purchase qualified carbon offsets are able to achieve a higher CarbonScore due to CO2 removals.

At a score of 0, a building is deemed to be at par with an average Malaysian building, i.e with no improvements that lead to a reduced CO2 emission. Scoring for improvements towards a zero carbon building starts at a score of 1 until 100 at which the building is deemed to be a Zero Carbon Building. The scoring goes beyond zero carbon by introducing scoring of above 100 which represents a carbon positive building (buildings that generate more electricity that they use through on-site renewables or qualified carbon offsets).

It should be noted that the CarbonScore is NOT a green building certification system. It is designed to provide a seamless integration with green building rating tools to demonstrate the carbon emission reductions achieved through the various carbon related green building strategies.

The CarbonScore acts as a "report card" for building to display their building related CO2 emissions. It is hoped that every Malaysian building will display at the very least a Tier 1: Basic Certification of their buildings performance.

During the launch, Mr. Mitch Gelber introduced the CarbonScore of 57 case study GBI office buildings and 5 CarbonScore Pilot Projects.

IEN was pleased that one of our projects - the UniKL Sustainable Energy Living Lab with a CarbonScore of 216 is currently the highest scoring pilot project due to its large contribution from energy efficiency (76%) and renewable energy (140%). Among the other Pilot projects presented was the Malaysian Pavillion in Dubai (CarbonScore 100), Menara MBJB (CarbonScore 48), and IOI City Mall (CarbonScore 45).

At it's current stage, the malaysiaGBC CarbonScore committee are seeking for sponsors for the development of Tier 3 of the system which is the Online CO2 Calculator and inviting public and private participation by connecting via email at mcs@mgbc.com.my .