CAPITALAND Group may be a titan in the real estate industry, but that does not mean it works only with the big boys.
In fact, it is the entrepreneurs and startups that the property player is particularly interested in for the CapitaLand Sustainability X Challenge (CSXC).
The challenge was launched in November 2020 for green tech startups to come up with innovative solutions to make the real estate sector more sustainable. Winners then have the opportunity to pilot their solutions in select CapitaLand properties in over 220 cities and 30 countries.
Why only entrepreneurs and startups? That is mainly because mature solutions are already accessible in the market, CapitaLand Investment’s chief sustainability officer Vinamra Srivastava told The Business Times (BT).
“But this is a field that is rapidly evolving, and just like artificial intelligence, climate tech is probably one of the hottest areas in the venture capital space right now,” he said. “We wanted to tap this global push on climate tech innovation.”
This initiative, among others, helped CapitaLand clinch the Impact Enterprise Excellence Award for large enterprises at the inaugural Sustainability Impact Awards organised by UOB and BT. Judges cited the group’s work in encouraging the community, partners and staff to pilot sustainability-related developments.
A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU
Property Insights
Get an exclusive analysis of real estate and property news in Singapore and beyond.
Since the CSXC’s launch in 2020, the group has received more than a thousand submissions from countries all across the globe.
Its latest iteration of the challenge, which began in March, saw over 680 entries from close to 80 countries – double the previous year, in which there were over 340 entries from more than 50 countries.
To date, 20 solutions have been piloted at 24 CapitaLand properties in Singapore, China, India, Thailand and the US.
This includes two successfully completed pilots in Singapore. First, WS-Stick, a water-saving device from Austria that transfers moisture from the air to the soil, reducing water consumption for irrigation.
Second, a patented ceramic air-conditioning net from Japan that acts as an infrared-emitting filter, reducing a building’s fan consumption and cooling load.
The WS-Stick, which was trialled at commercial development Aperia, achieved up to 33 per cent in irrigation water savings. Meanwhile, the ceramic net achieved an up to 51 per cent reduction in fan consumption and 16 per cent reduction in cooling load, when two air handling units at logistics building LogisTech were equipped with 50 of these nets.
Vinamra pointed out that it is not just the top 10 winning solutions that benefit from the competition.
Should other solutions “make sense” and meet CapitaLand’s criteria – in terms of impact, scalability and innovation – the group will still share the details of these solutions with all its business units, he said. “We will help connect them and if some (of these solutions) may make sense for one particular business unit, they can go ahead and implement it.”
To support the CSXC, an innovation fund was set up in 2021 with a S$50 million commitment over five years. The fund aims to encourage innovation among CapitaLand staff.
Since its inception, 44 ideas have been selected for further development and pilot testing, with more than half being sustainability-related, said Vinamra.
This includes one at Citadines OMR Chennai in India, which pulls drinking water from humidity in the air. The project has reduced the use of more than 25,000 single-use plastic bottles at the serviced residence over a single year, he said.
Other sustainability-related pilots on the horizon include the adoption of solar energy to charge electric bicycles and scooters at a residential project, as well as a smart irrigation system that reduces water consumption through moisture and temperature sensors.
Vinamra believes that these initiatives have been “very successful” in helping CapitaLand source innovative tech solutions to decarbonise its portfolio of properties. “It not only allows us to have another innovation source, but it’s great for building a culture in the company and (in empowering) our people to be entrepreneurs,” he said.
“Our investors also appreciate it because this is where… the rubber hits the ground. It’s not a marketing campaign, but it’s about making progress on the ground, and we already have successful graduates from these programmes, which are in the process of being scaled up.”
An ongoing journey
Since CapitaLand laid the first stone in its path towards sustainability, Vinamra noted that the group has “gone from looking at sustainability from a compliance and reporting perspective” to using it as a key lever in its operations to achieve “operational excellence”.
That means all business units – from the operations and engineering teams, to the investment, finance and asset management ones – now keep sustainability at the forefront of everything they do, almost like an “internal mindset”, he said.
“It is not just the dollars and cents savings and the operational efficiency savings, but also what it means for my energy target or my water and waste targets,” he added.
Vinamra believes that CapitaLand, as an industry leader, holds great responsibility in embracing sustainable practices and solutions.
“Ultimately, we are custodians of capital that is given to us by investors… and it is a moral obligation to manage that capital in the most effective manner,” he said.
“The impact of our operations on the environment and the impact of climate change on our portfolio is extremely critical for us to be on top of.”
Keyword added to your list