In another progressive leap, the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (the Centre) became one of two convention centres worldwide to be the first in their industry to achieve the Green Globe Benchmarked status. Awarded under the international Green Globe Benchmarking programme, this Benchmarked status places the Centre as pioneer of the Asian region.

A worldwide Benchmarking, Certification and improvement system, Green Globe assists the international travel and tourism industry to attain sustainability. It provides a certification system that responds directly to the major environmental problems facing the planet, including the greenhouse effect, over-use of freshwater resources and the destruction of biodiversity.

On achieving this status, Mr Geoff Hayward, Director of Facilities, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre says: “It is really quite a coup and we are extremely proud to be the first Asian convention centre to be recognised for operating with these environmental performance standards. This is certainly in line with our goal to establish the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre as not only a world-class international venue, but a leader in the local community working towards more environmentally sound operating processes”.

The Benchmarked status commits the Centre to a standard of excellence in energy and water consumption, total waste production and community commitment, as determined by their unique earthcheck measures. It also commits the Centre to implementing an integrated environmental and social sustainability policy.

With a commendable sustainability policy already in place, the Centre achieved above earthcheck’s best practice results in energy consumption (41 per cent), water consumption (27 per cent), water saving (25 points), waste recycling (7.6 points) and pesticides (25 points).

According to Mr Hayward, measures implemented to accomplish this include taking maximum advantage of the Centre’s natural light, courtesy of its intelligent building design; keeping a keen eye on energy-saving technology innovations; and pushing the 3R (Reduce, Re-use and Recycle) campaign. The latter encourages the Centre’s staff and visitors to segregate their rubbish into colourful bins strategically located around the Centre.

Mr Jason Keating, General Manager of Green Globe Asia Pacific and Green Globe International says: “I am delighted that the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre has achieved Benchmarked status. The Centre is a prime example of an organisation committed to environmentally sustainable tourism. They have demonstrated through a variety of initiatives, that the business and its employees can make a difference by reducing their environmental impact. The commitment they have shown with their participation in the Green Globe programme and their achievements set an example for similar facilities worldwide and other businesses to pursue.”

The Centre’s Benchmarked status will be reviewed annually, against changing criteria to reflect the increasing sophistication in environmental needs. From here, the next step for the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre will be moving forward towards being Green Globe certified.