Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the real estate sector worldwide is stepping up its response to climate change and sustainable development.

At the same time, there is an increasing awareness of the environmental impact of real estate: the World Green Building Council suggests that buildings are responsible for upwards of 40% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Investors, occupiers and real estate companies all have an equal responsibility to support and drive sustainable development.

With an aim to create a consistent agenda and definition, the World Green Building council in 2016 set up the Advancing Net Zero campaign. Since then, it has gained enough momentum and has come to influence actions of all stakeholders including governments, city councils, property owners, investors and occupiers alike.

New buildings are readily adopting low or zero carbon-heating solutions; however, the challenge will be retrofitting older buildings as this may require updating traditional energy systems, as well as changing internal layouts and facades.

Achieving net zero, both in operations and construction, will mean re-thinking the way we approach design and construction and introduce circularity in the planning phase because much of the future performance of a building is dictated by early decisions.

Designs that use fewer material and recycle steel and concrete where possible, positively impacts embodied carbon of a building.

Ultimately, the industry will need to recognize net zero not as a label but as a process that demonstrates the performance of a building maintained at net zero.

Thus, moving from a compliance focused to a performance-focused approach will become the key step in advancing the…

Asia Pacific is leading the charge for the next generation of mobile connectivity. Major cities across the region are rolling out 5G networks this year, which are poised to reshape connectivity and big data with blazing-fast download speeds.

Hong Kong, Seoul, Sydney, Taipei, Manila, Tokyo and Shenzhen have already introduced 5G networks. In May, Bangkok became the first city in Southeast Asia to roll out a 5G network, while Singapore in August started a six-month trial.

With 1.14 billion subscribers, Asia Pacific is the largest region for 5G adoption. It could account for almost 65 percent of global 5G subscriptions by 2024, according to technology analyst GlobalData.

Governments and businesses are keen to take advantage of 5G technology. High-speed connectivity, reduced latency and greater reliability open up the potential for more widespread digitalisation of industries and allow businesses better access to the benefits of the internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence and big data.

“In previous generations of wireless internet, download speeds were the focus because information was largely stored on individual devices,” says Kostelac. “Cloud computing has shifted this requirement to focus on more upstream bandwidth. With greater capacity, 5G networks allow exponentially more data to be collected and organised to train AI and automate more of everything humans…