None of this happened by accident. Our tools stay relevant because we keep rewriting them with the industry, not for it. NRNC Version 2.0 went through soft launch, town hall feedback, working group reviews and stakeholder validation before it reached the stage at Datum. That is slow, careful work, and it is the reason a GBI certificate means something on site and in the market.

Behind that care stand our two founding institutions. I want to say plainly how seriously Pertubuhan Akitek Malaysia and the Association of Consulting Engineers Malaysia treat the adoption of sustainability. For PAM and ACEM this is not a side programme or a theme for one conference season. It is a professional duty, written into how architects and engineers are trained, how practices are run, and how the professions speak to government. GBI is the clearest expression of that seriousness: seventeen years of volunteer expertise, given freely, to build and maintain a national standard.

That seriousness now connects directly to the language of business. Boards, banks and investors measure companies through the lens of ESG, and the built environment sits squarely inside the E. A GBI certificate is one of the few pieces of ESG evidence that cannot be produced in a slide deck. It is measured, verified by an independent panel, and renewed against actual performance. For developers and asset owners, certification has become the bridge between doing the right thing and being able to prove it, in annual reports, in financing conversations, and to tenants who now ask hard questions about the buildings they occupy.

We are not stopping there. Development of the GBI Utilities Tool is well underway in partnership with Pengurusan Aset Air Berhad, and we are working towards launching it by the end of this year. It will be the first tool of its kind in Malaysia, extending green assessment beyond buildings into the infrastructure that serves them. Work also continues on tools for warehouses, eco resorts and existing residential buildings.

This quarter also brought a first I am particularly proud of: the first Design Assessment certifications under our NREB Heritage Tool in Kuala Lumpur, awarded to Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad and the Pejabat Pos Besar Lama. The tool made its national debut in Penang; it has now certified the capital's most treasured landmark. Our old buildings can be conserved and made sustainable at the same time, and we have the certificates to prove it.

So yes, I am hopeful. Hopeful about where the industry is heading, hopeful about the team at GBI, and hopeful that this newsletter finds its place again in your reading, quarter after quarter. If you want more frequent updates between issues, do follow us on LinkedIn.

On behalf of the GBI Board of Directors, thank you to our members, our Accreditation Panel, our Technical Committees and everyone who keeps this movement going. Enjoy the issue. GB

Ar. Dexter Koh Yew Peng
Chairman, GBI Board of Directors

For building owners, the practical difference is simple to state. A certificate under Version 2.0 will say not only that a building was designed green, but that it runs green. Continuous monitoring of indoor air quality, with CO2, PM2.5, temperature and humidity sensors, becomes part of the assessment. So does an energy management regime that carries on long after the construction crews have left the site.

The tool also speaks the language of today's regulatory environment. Its criteria are aligned with the two-star EECA rating requirement, and it brings embodied carbon, renewable energy and resiliency into the scoring alongside the six classic GBI criteria.

The launch caps a busy period for GBI's tool development programme. Version 2 of the Data Centre tool arrived last year, developed as data centre investment surged nationwide. The Utilities Tool, a first-of-its-kind collaboration with Pengurusan Aset Air Berhad, is targeted for launch by the end of 2026. Tools for warehouses, eco resorts and existing residential buildings are moving through development behind it.

Eighteen tools on, the fundamentals have not changed: frameworks written by industry volunteers, for the Malaysian tropical climate, under Malaysian codes of practice. What has changed is the scale of what they measure, and with NRNC Version 2.0, how honestly they measure it. GB

1 · EECA 2024

The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act came into force on 1 January 2025, and Version 2.0 is written to work with it, not beside it. The Building Energy Intensity benchmarks have been broadened and aligned so that all future GBI rated buildings will meet or exceed the minimum two-star rating under EECA 2024. The tool also promotes an Energy Management System modelled on ISO 50001: an energy policy, clear organisational roles, and a cycle of continuous improvement, mirroring what EECA now expects of designated buildings.

2 · Resilient design

Resilience is the ability to prepare for, absorb, recover from and adapt to adverse events. We read of news that schools closed over influenza outbreaks and businesses shuttered over water supply disruptions. Version 2.0 responds with two new demands. Resilient Indoor Air Quality draws on ASHRAE Standard 241 for the control of infectious aerosols, requiring buildings to provide an infection risk management mode for their occupants. Resilient Clean Water Supply guarantees a minimum of three days of water storage, sized on a water-efficient building's actual daily consumption, so that essential operations can ride out a disruption.

3 · Carbon management

Version 2.0 speaks the language of the GHG Protocol. Operational carbon is addressed through the BEI credit and renewable energy adoption. Refrigerant emissions are tackled through a new low-GWP refrigerant credit. And for the first time, MR8 confronts upfront carbon: the emissions embedded in materials and construction, before a building consumes its first kilowatt-hour. Whose scope those emissions fall into depends on who is reporting, a manufacturer, a developer or a tenant, and the tool now gives project teams the framework to compute and reduce them.

Version 1 had a single prerequisite. Version 2.0 has seven, and this is the change project teams will feel first. Before a project can qualify for any rating, it must now demonstrate minimum energy efficiency performance with a BEI of not more than 180 kWh per m² per year, sustainable maintenance facilities, environmental tobacco smoke control, responsible site selection, storage and collection of recyclables, and water-efficient fittings. The message is deliberate. A certificate should not celebrate a few visible green features on top of weak fundamentals; it should guarantee the fundamentals first.

The new features then push beyond the fundamentals. Lighting is now assessed for quality, not just power density: illuminance, glare rating, and reduced flicker in LED luminaires, because eye strain is a building performance issue too. Climate-based daylight modelling rewards designs that bring usable daylight deep into the floor plate. Electric vehicle infrastructure prepares car parks for the mobility transition, MR8 brings upfront carbon into the score, and WE6 asks buildings to hold enough water to ride out a supply disruption.

An interesting addition is the introduction of Continuous Indoor Air Quality Monitoring. A live dashboard integrated with the building automation system (BAS) tracks a minimum of three IAQ parameters, from CO2, temperature and relative humidity to particulate matter and volatile organic compounds, through sensors installed at every occupied floor. The cycle is simple: monitor, analyse, respond, improve, calibrate. With live data, the building can now respond to opportunities for energy savings while safeguarding the occupants' health and wellbeing. Paired with Continuous Energy Management, it means a Version 2.0 building cannot quietly decay after handover. Its real-time performance stays visible, to its managers and its occupants, for the life of the certificate. GB

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh, Salam Sejahtera and Salam Malaysia MADANI.

Yang Berusaha Ar. Dexter Koh Yew Peng, President of Pertubuhan Akitek Malaysia; Yang Berusaha Ir. Anuar Mohd Aris, President of the Association of Consulting Engineers Malaysia; members of the Board of Directors of Greenbuildingindex Sdn Bhd; members of the GBI Accreditation Panel; Ar. Sarly Adre Sarkum, Chief Executive Officer of Green Building Index; distinguished developers, architects, engineers, planners, sustainability professionals, members of the industry, ladies and gentlemen.

It gives me great pleasure to join you this afternoon for the official launch of the Green Building Index Non-Residential New Construction Tool Version 2.0, or GBI NRNC Version 2.0.

Every so often, an industry chooses to raise its own bar. Today is one of those moments, and I congratulate the Green Building Index, PAM, ACEM, the GBI Accreditation Panel, the technical committees and every professional whose expertise has brought us here.

This launch is more than the introduction of an updated assessment tool. It is a declaration that Malaysia's professions and private sector can turn our national climate aspirations into real, measurable action, one building at a time.

Ladies and gentlemen, since 2009, when PAM and ACEM came together to establish it, GBI has grown into Malaysia's industry-recognised green building rating system, created for our tropical climate and our own national context. That local relevance remains one of its greatest strengths.

Consider what has been achieved. As of June 2026, GBI has recorded 1,436 project applications and 804 certified projects across residential, commercial, industrial, interior and township categories. Together, GBI-rated buildings represent approximately 31.9 million square metres, or 342.8 million square feet, of certified floor area. By the end of this year, that figure is expected to exceed 350 million square feet.

More significantly, these projects collectively deliver a projected reduction of more than two million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent every single year, from electricity savings alone.

These are not merely certificates on a wall. They are proof that the physical performance of Malaysia's built environment is being transformed. Every efficient chiller, every better-performing facade, every responsibly selected site, every water-efficient fitting, every well-managed building: these quiet decisions, multiplied across hundreds of projects, are steadily reducing our nation's energy demand and environmental footprint.

This is precisely the transformation that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability champions. Under the NRES Strategic Plan 2024-2030, we are committed to advancing environmental protection, climate action, green growth and sustainable lifestyles, to building low-carbon cities, and to honouring Malaysia's greenhouse-gas commitments under the Paris Agreement.

Malaysia's latest Nationally Determined Contribution, NDC 3.0, raises our ambition further. We intend to peak national greenhouse-gas emissions by 2030, and to achieve an absolute reduction of between 15 and 30 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2035. No single sector can deliver this alone, but the building sector must be at the heart of it. Buildings are long-term assets. The choices we draw on paper today will shape energy use, carbon emissions and public health for decades to come.

That is why GBI NRNC Version 2.0 is so timely, and so strategically important. It makes three bold advances.

First, it raises the floor. Where Version 1 had a single prerequisite, Version 2.0 establishes seven mandatory prerequisites. These include minimum energy performance and an advanced Building Energy Intensity requirement of not more than 180 kilowatt-hours per square metre per year, sustainable maintenance facilities, environmental tobacco smoke control, responsible site selection, proper storage and collection of recyclables, and water-efficient fittings. This is a shift in philosophy. Green certification should not merely celebrate exceptional features; it must guarantee sound fundamentals.

Second, Version 2.0 moves us from design intention to living performance. Continuous Energy Management recognises that efficiency does not end on the day a certificate is issued. This mirrors Malaysia's regulatory direction under the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act 2024, in force since 1 January 2025. In the same spirit, Continuous Indoor Air Quality Monitoring ensures that a healthy building protects its occupants every day, not only on the day of assessment.

Third, Version 2.0 widens the very meaning of sustainability. Integrated Daylighting Design, Reduced Flickering and Resilient Indoor Air Quality place human health, comfort and well-being at the centre of building design. Electric Vehicle Infrastructure prepares our developments for Malaysia's transition to cleaner mobility. The Reduction of Upfront Carbon confronts the emissions embedded in construction materials and processes. And Resilient Clean Water Supply reminds us that sustainability must include resilience.

Taken together, these enhancements chart a clear and inspiring evolution: from efficiency to decarbonisation. From design compliance to continuous management. From individual green features to integrated building performance. And from sustainability under normal conditions to resilience under future conditions.

Ladies and gentlemen, the National Energy Transition Roadmap names energy efficiency as one of Malaysia's six energy-transition levers, because the cleanest kilowatt-hour is the one we never need to generate. GBI NRNC Version 2.0 places a practical instrument for that transition directly in the hands of our development and professional community.

And this is the true value of GBI to the nation. When the Government sets direction through the National Energy Transition Roadmap, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act and our NDC commitments, it is instruments like GBI that carry that direction into every drawing office, every site meeting and every boardroom. GBI translates policy into practice. That is a partnership of the highest value.

So let me give you this assurance. NRES is glad to support any measure that moves the sustainability needle forward. If it delivers real reductions in emissions and real improvements in the quality of our built environment, it will find a willing partner in this Ministry.

But a tool, however well crafted, succeeds only through the people who use it. So this afternoon, I make four appeals. To our developers: adopt these standards not as a burden of compliance, but as an investment in asset value, operational savings, climate resilience and long-term competitiveness. To our architects and engineers: let sustainability guide your hand from the very first sketch. To our building owners and facility managers: treat commissioning, monitoring and continuous improvement as a permanent duty of care. And to GBI: keep raising the bar, so that your tools remain credible, rigorous and worthy of Malaysia's future.

The buildings we design today will become the cities our children inherit tomorrow. Let us make them energy-efficient, healthy, low-carbon and resilient. And let us prove, together, that economic progress and environmental responsibility are not opposing ambitions, but twin foundations of national prosperity.

With the recitation of Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, it is my honour and pleasure to officially launch the Green Building Index Non-Residential New Construction Tool Version 2.0. Congratulations once again to Green Building Index, PAM, ACEM and everyone who has made this milestone possible.

Thank you. Wabillahi Taufik Walhidayah, Wassalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh. GB

Some certificates are routine. These two are not. Aset Warisan Tiga Sdn Bhd and Aset Warisan Empat Sdn Bhd have achieved GBI Design Assessment certification under the Non-Residential Existing Building (NREB) Heritage Tool for Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad and the Pejabat Pos Besar Lama, the first projects certified under the tool in Kuala Lumpur. The tool made its national debut in Penang; Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad is now the largest heritage building it has certified.

The two buildings need little introduction. One has watched over Dataran Merdeka since 1897; the other served for decades as the capital's general post office. What the certificates say is new: that buildings of this age and status can meet a modern sustainability standard without giving up the character that makes them worth keeping.

The Heritage Tool was developed with Badan Warisan Malaysia and George Town World Heritage Incorporated precisely for this moment. Conservation and sustainability have often been treated as competing goals. In these two projects they finally share a certificate. GB

CEO Ar. Sarly Adre Sarkum joined the panel discussion on smart cities development, covering regulations and public demand. His argument to the room: smart city technology only earns its keep when it serves governance, community expectations and measurable sustainability outcomes, and certification is one of the few tools that ties all three together.

The GBI booth kept the team busy for the full day. Developers, consultants and state officers came with practical questions: how to register a project, what the new NRNC Version 2.0 will ask of them, and how Penang's own buildings compare with the national registry. Conversations like these are where the next hundred certifications start.

The conference capped a strong quarter for GBI in Penang, which also saw the state's engineering students hosted at Engineers in Society 2026 at UiTM Penang, where GBI introduced green building principles to the profession's next intake. GB

What the visitors have in common is instructive. Each came to see how a voluntary, industry-run rating tool works in practice: how volunteers write the standards, how the Accreditation Panel keeps assessments independent, and how a certificate holds its value in the market. Malaysia solved these problems over seventeen years, and the region would rather learn from that experience than repeat it. Every delegation hosted, and every interview given, extends the reach of Malaysian expertise a little further.

The New York Times interview covered the proliferation of glass towers in a tropical climate, and what performance-based certification can do about a building type the world keeps constructing.

The quarter's renewals tell a story of staying power. S P Setia Berhad's Corporate HQ certificate was received by its Chief Executive Officer Datuk Zaini Yusoff. Menara Kementerian Pelaburan, Perdagangan dan Industri (MITI) achieved its RVA#3 Gold rating in April, marking more than 14 years of continuous certification with GBI.

Menara Hong Leong and Menara LGB renewed at Silver and Certified respectively, while Residensi Semarak added Felcra Properties to the list of owners certifying residential stock. Each renewal is a building that kept its promises years after the ribbon was cut. GB

Once a year, GBI puts down the assessment forms and asks its own community how it is doing. The 2026 Townhall brought facilitators, certifiers, board members and staff into one room, and it delivered two things: an unfiltered conversation, and the first public look at NRNC Version 2.0.

The interactive townhall session was the heart of the day. Questions came from the floor on assessment turnaround times, communication during reviews, and where the tools are heading next; the GBI Board, Accreditation Panel and management took them live on stage. The feedback and priorities identified that afternoon fed directly into the year's work programme: strengthening transparency, improving the stakeholder experience, and building a more responsive and inclusive organisation.

The townhall also hosted the soft launch of NRNC Version 2.0, months before its official debut at Datum GBI. Draft scoring, prerequisites and new features went in front of the practitioners who would use them, and their comments shaped the refinements that followed, right up to the version launched on 29 July. The story of what changed, told by the tool's development head, starts on page 9.

A second sitting is already on the calendar: GBI Townhall 2026 2.0 convenes at PAM Centre on 24 October. If this year's session is any guide, come with questions. GB

Speaking at the launch, the Deputy Minister described the tool as "a comprehensive, performance-based framework designed specifically for the Malaysian context", one that addresses critical sustainability concerns in a sector known for high consumption.

The tool has since been carried into GBI's technical seminar series and the national conversation, with GBI now contributing to the working group drafting Energy Efficiency Rating Guidelines for Data Centres under the EECA 2024. As Malaysia's digital economy grows, the certification framework for its most power-hungry buildings is already in place, and already in its second version. GB

Embodied carbon and circularity

The tool rewards projects that use materials with embodied carbon documentation, nudging suppliers toward transparency. It also incentivises circular construction: reuse, recycling, design for deconstruction, and renewable materials like bamboo and timber, pushing the industry closer to a circular economy.

Connectivity and development density

Data centres are often built in remote places, so the tool credits reductions in transport-related emissions: employee access to meals, flexible work options, EV charging points, and proximity to public transport all score.

E-waste and sustainable operations

With an e-waste crisis looming over the industry, the tool rewards responsible e-waste management, sustainable battery practices and zero-carbon backup power, extending sustainability across the full life cycle of a facility.

Health, wellness and resilience

Beyond infrastructure, the tool considers people. It encourages indoor air quality monitoring, pandemic preparedness, biophilic design, and even pocket forests for mental health and biodiversity. Climate resilience is built in too: trash screening, stormwater filtration and drought management strategies reduce flood risk and protect water resources through prolonged dry spells.

Data centres are usually cast as energy and water-hungry giants. With the right framework, they can become drivers of sustainability instead: pioneers in efficiency, clean energy, water stewardship and climate resilience. The GBI Data Centre Tool v2.0 provides that framework.

By prioritising efficiency first, renewables second and carbon offsetting last, it lays out a credible pathway toward Net Zero rather than a certificate of good intentions. Its water standards are among the toughest any rating tool in Asia asks of this building type.

A GBI-certified data centre is more than compliant. It is a statement that an operator is serious about climate responsibility and prepared to push the boundaries of innovation. For the wave of investment now arriving on Malaysian soil, this is the benchmark to aim for. GB

Site and transport

The centre sits within walking distance of at least ten basic services, in a development density exceeding 20,300 m². An erosion and sedimentation control plan protected the site through construction, and priority parking rewards green vehicles and carpoolers.

Materials and resources

Reusable plastic formwork makes up more than 2% of total building material cost, and recycled-content material such as rebar exceeds 30%. More than half of all materials were sourced regionally, cutting transport emissions before the building ever opened.

Water

Water-efficient fittings cut potable water consumption by about 30%, backed by a monitoring and management system that catches leaks early and sends notifications when something is wrong.

Innovation

A real-time energy and water display keeps occupants aware of what the building is doing. Condensate water recovery and firewater recycling reduce potable demand, a Distributed Pumping System raises chilled water efficiency while eliminating conventional balancing components, and a car park guidance system trims the emissions of every arriving vehicle. GB

Sarikei is not the obvious address for one of Malaysia's better-performing green office buildings, and that is exactly the point. The green initiatives here reduce operating costs and environmental impact while giving civil servants a healthier working environment, and they set a benchmark for future commercial developments across the state.

With Sarawak's low-carbon agenda gathering pace, from the SWG Green Complex in Kuching to the state's 45 registered GBI projects, this administrative centre shows what the standard looks like when a state government builds for itself. GB

Around the building, extensive landscaping of native and adaptive species creates an ecologically responsive setting, supported by open space, public transport access, green vehicle priority and stormwater systems that manage both the quantity and quality of runoff.

The renewal period saw no major renovations, and that is a feature, not an absence: existing materials and furnishings were deliberately retained and reused. Water systems, from rainwater harvesting and efficient irrigation to leak detection, keep potable consumption low, while innovations layer on: condensate water recovery, heat recovery, non-chemical water treatment, advanced air filtration and EV charging.

The lesson of Setia HQ is patience. Thoughtful design, continuous improvement and disciplined management deliver long-term sustainability outcomes that no ribbon-cutting can. Received by Datuk Zaini Yusoff, Chief Executive Officer, at the June certificate presentation, the renewal reaffirms the building's position as the benchmark for high-performance existing buildings in Malaysia. GB

The building systems suit a landlord in the energy business. A VRV air conditioning system with fresh air intake runs under a building management system with real-time energy monitoring, using the latest refrigerants with zero ozone depleting potential. Fire protection uses clean agents or CO2 systems, again with zero ODP, and digital power meters feed every reading back to the BMS.

Photovoltaic panels on the carpark shades will partly power the building, with public EV charging stations provided and future allocations planned, all pushing the Building Energy Intensity lower. Treated rainwater serves the landscape, sanitary fittings are water-efficient, lifts are regenerative, and a certified commissioning specialist signs off the lot.

Perhaps the most telling detail is administrative: the building arrives in move-in condition for TNB's own use, and all future fit-outs must abide by house rules set by the sustainability committee at design stage. The green performance is not a handover condition. It is a house policy. GB

Indoors, high-efficiency air conditioning brings fresh air with environmentally friendly refrigerants, while low-VOC paints, coatings and sealants and no-added-urea-formaldehyde products keep the working environment healthy. Outside, light-toned hardscape and roofing with high Solar Reflectance Index values push back against the urban heat island.

Materials were chosen with the score sheet in mind: recycled content, regional sourcing and certified sustainable timber. WELS and WEPLS-rated fittings and a sub-metered rainwater harvesting system handle water. Recycling bins segregate waste streams, green vehicles get priority, EV charging is installed, and the superstructure itself was optimised to use less concrete, cutting embodied carbon before the first customer drove in.

The result is a GBI Industrial New Construction Platinum rating, and a working showroom for what corporate sustainability looks like when it reaches the service bay. GB

Facilitators guide projects in; certifiers judge them. Growing that second bench is quieter work, and it is well underway. The Resident Certifier Programme, operating under the oversight of the GBI Accredited Professionals Committee and the relevant Technical Committees, continues to strengthen certification capacity and ensure continuity of technical expertise within the GBI ecosystem.

Alongside it, GBI is developing staff certifiers and carefully streamlining selected certification processes through governed self-certification mechanisms, always subject to governance controls, so that assessment capacity grows with the registry rather than behind it. Newly appointed certifiers will be announced here as the register updates.