The Green Performance Pledge Continues Its Momentum
Officially launched in Hong Kong in July 2022, the GPP is a performance-based landlord-tenant partnership. Building on the basic premise of a green lease, the GPP covers the entire tenancy cycle in two core areas, fit-out and operation, and focuses on creating a significant impact in terms of energy, water and waste reduction. The GPP enhances tenant-landlord collaboration by giving users access to an array of “green tools”.
2023 saw the GPP flourish in both Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland, with participation spanning diverse sectors, including but not limited to finance, luxury, legal and information technology:
- In Hong Kong, 87 tenants signed up from Taikoo Place, Pacific Place and Citygate Outlets, a sixfold increase compared with the GPP pilot year in 2021.
- Over 90% of new tenants at Two Taikoo Place, the Company’s newest triple Grade A office tower, have signed up to the GPP.
- In the Chinese Mainland, we received positive feedback from the GPP pilot with 15 tenants from Taikoo Hui Guangzhou, HKRI Taikoo Hui and INDIGO participating.
We are committed to supporting our tenants in enhancing their SD performance and promote the inclusion of GPP participation as part of the tenancy agreement wherever possible.
GPP Annual Award Ceremony in Hong Kong
In July, we held the GPP Annual Awards Ceremony at Blueprint in Taikoo Place to recognise the sustainability achievements of GPP tenants across our Hong Kong office portfolio. Attended by more than 100 business executives, including tenant representatives and other partners, the ceremony presented GPP awards to over 50 tenants.
The recipients of the awards included:
- Sustainable Office Operations Awards – 46 tenant companies participated, with five tenants achieving the highest platinum rating for demonstrating excellent energy and waste performance.
- Sustainable Fit-out and Renovation Awards – Six tenants completed their new office fit-outs in accordance with the programme’s Sustainable Fit-out Technical Guidelines, with four achieved the highest three-seed rating for incorporating features that improve energy and water efficiency, enable waste separation and improve employee wellbeing.
Prior to the awards ceremony, we held a Green Ideas Forum, bringing together 50 like-minded sustainability experts to exchange insights and experiences from their daily office operations.
Headline GPP achievements to date include:
- A 20% completion rate for energy audits – over 700,000 sq ft of GPP tenanted area – with most premises identifying potential energy savings of 10% or more.
- Improved water efficiency, recording a 5.6% reduction in tenant water consumption during the second half of 2023 compared to the second half of 2022 at Taikoo Place.
- A collective waste diversion rate of 39% between January and December 2023 resulting from the Smart Waste Reduction Challenge.
GPP Annual Award Ceremony in Hong Kong
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GPP Pilot Award Ceremony in the Chinese Mainland
In November, we held the GPP Pilot Annual Award Ceremony for office tenants in Taikoo Hui Guangzhou, HKRI Taikoo Hui and INDIGO. The hybrid event took place with a virtual presentation of programme results and in-person certification presentation, networking and best practices sharing at the respective portfolios.
Out of the 15 pilot participants, six tenants were recognised with Silver Awards for reaching specific performance targets in terms of sustainable operations.
Highlights included:
- Free energy audits conducted for 91% of participating tenants by area.
- Water flow test completed for all participating companies who own a wet pantry, and water flow restrictors installed for eight tenants.
- Waste data measurement provided for all participating tenants.
- A preliminary LEED readiness study was conducted for one tenant to map out the required steps for reaching the desired level of certification.
GPP Pilot Award Ceremony in the Chinese Mainland
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GPP Academy
The GPP also kicked off its newest initiative this year – the “GPP Academy”. This three-year partnership with the Business Environment Council (“BEC”) offers office tenants quarterly learning experiences to tap extensive industry knowledge; encourages the sharing of best practices; and inspires impactful actions – all with the aim of enhancing tenants’ abilities to improve their energy, water and waste reduction performance.
The inaugural workshop focused on company and workplace decarbonisation, and received overwhelmingly positive feedback from over 50 participants from 21 companies. Apart from technical sharing by the BEC on net-zero and carbon management strategies, tenants networked and discussed their sustainability efforts. They also shared insights on how the GPP has enhanced their sustainability capabilities, and provided them with practical tools that help identify workplace carbon reduction opportunities.
The second workshop, which centred around green building, received positive feedback from over 30 participants representing 15 companies. The workshop included an interactive building tour of One Taikoo Place and an experiential visit to a tenant’s LEED and WELL-accredited office. These activities provided participants with a deeper understanding of the inner workings of green buildings and offices, and inspired them to pursue sustainability in their own workplaces.
GPP Academy
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The Green Kitchen Initiative Reaches Scale
Launched in 2017, Swire Properties’ Green Kitchen Initiative is a platform that allows portfolio management teams and tenants to have sustainability conversations before fit-out and renovation projects commence, allowing both sides to collaborate on reducing energy and water usage and improving air quality and waste management, thus enhancing the sustainability performance of food and beverage outlets across our portfolios.
In 2022, we upgraded the scheme to include mandatory prerequisites including LED lights, flow controllers and food waste recycling. Tenants also incorporated additional green features recommended in the initiative’s Green Kitchen Technical Guidelines, including:
- Installing demand-controlled or variable-speed exhaust systems to reduce kitchen exhaust fan energy use and the associated cooling and heating costs.
- Putting in place spot cooling to ensure thermal comfort for kitchen staff.
- Installing dishwashing machines with water recycling and heat recovery functions.
- Performing waste segregation for coffee grounds, glass bottles, and polyfoam boxes.
- Adopting smart meters to monitor and optimise the electricity consumption of different kitchen appliances.
- Adopting sensors to prevent food spoilage and wastage.
Later in 2023, we held consultations to guide our development of the next phase of the initiative. The feedback collected will help us incorporate the latest technologies, equipment specifications, and sustainable operational practices that reflect the latest best practices in the future.
By the end of 2023, 107 F&B outlets across Swire Properties’ portfolios in Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland participated in the initiative, which shows the programme's growing popularity and recognition in the F&B industry. Among the awarded outlets, 35 have achieved the highest possible Three Leaf rating.
Cityplaza and Taikoo Hui Guangzhou have the highest number of Green Kitchen participants across Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland portfolios, with 19 and 16 outlets, respectively.
Partnering with Tenants to Promote Green Kitchens
In 2023, we hosted a media event in collaboration with a leading Asian F&B group to showcase the benefits of green kitchen design and operations. The event also highlighted the successful results of one of the group’s Three Leaf-rated restaurants in Pacific Place. By following the Green Kitchen Technical Guidelines in a renovation project, the restaurant achieved greener operations by (compared to the 2020-21 baseline):
7%
Electricity efficiency
26%
Towngas efficiency
59%
Water efficiency
14%
Overall carbon emissions
- Separating seven types of waste at source and diverting 37% of its total waste from landfills.
- The event attracted participation from 12 media outlets and generated 20 pieces of online and print coverage.
Partnering with Tenants to Promote Green Kitchens
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Swire Hotels Showcases Green Kitchen Success
As part of the World Environment Day celebrations in 2023, Swire Hotels launched a publicity campaign to promote sustainability efforts across our hotels. The campaign featured a promotional video with chefs from EAST Hong Kong, The Upper House and The Temple House speaking to the younger generation about the “Green Kitchen” concept and how the initiative is helping to save water, energy and resources across our hotels in Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland.
Swire Hotels Showcases Green Kitchen Success
100th Green Kitchen Celebration and Awards Ceremony
In October 2023, we welcomed the 100th outlet into the Green Kitchen network. To encourage more customers to support sustainability-minded tenants, Cityplaza ran the GREENER TOGETHER marketing campaign in October and November 2023. The campaign involved in-mall and social media promotions communicating the benefits of sustainable kitchen design and operations, with customers becoming eligible for additional LIVE+ points (equivalent to a HKD20 mall coupon) when dining at Green Kitchen-recognised outlets. Over 1,600 redemptions were offered.
100th Green Kitchen Celebration and Awards Ceremony
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Energy Audit
In 2023, we continued to offer free energy audits for our tenants to help them identify energy-saving opportunities.
Free Energy Audits Offered to Commercial Tenants (since 2008)
Hong Kong
The Chinese Mainland
Tenanted area
Hong Kong
4.2 million sq ft
Chinese Mainland
2.8 million sq ft
Hong Kong
4.2 million sq ft
Chinese Mainland
2.8 million sq ft
Potential annual energy savings identified
Hong Kong
3.4 million kWh
Chinese Mainland
7.8 million kWh
Hong Kong
3.4 million kWh
Chinese Mainland
7.8 million kWh
The Loop and Urban Farming Programmes
Launched in 2017, The Loop began with the establishment of our SD exhibition centre in Devon House at Taikoo Place, which features a recycling centre, food waste composter and an “eco-art” installation. The 4,000 sq ft space encourages tenants and the wider community to “close the loop” by incorporating sustainable practices into their business operations and daily lives.
In 2021, we began extending The Loop’s community engagement concept to other properties. This included partnering with Rooftop Republic, an urban farm-centric social enterprise to promote urban farming at our other The Loop spaces:
- The Loop at One Island East
- The Loop at One Pacific Place
- The Loop at Citygate
- The Loop at South Island Place
In 2022, INDIGO in Beijing unveiled another unique The Loop space – a multipurpose sustainable development centre with interactive displays to engage employees, tenants, business partners and the community in SD initiatives.
In 2023, we conducted urban farming workshops for office tenants and held public awareness activities for the community at our The Loop spaces across our Hong Kong portfolio.
The Loop 2023 Engagement Data Highlights
1,500
2,700
36
~600
~300
Taking a Circular Approach
Since May 2022, The Loop at One Island East has run a pilot kitchen waste collection programme. Kitchen waste is collected from participating tenant offices, transformed into digestate for further composting and eventually used to grow vegetables. In 2023, The Loop at One Pacific Place also embraced this circular organic farming approach. These rooftop urban farms provide the opportunity to grow food in urban areas that lack the space for food production. In 2023, the two farms diverted more than 1,000 kg of kitchen waste from landfills which produced over 200 kg of compost.
One Island East:
Weight of food waste collected: ~560 kg
Weight of compost used: ~63 kg
One Pacific Place:
Weight of food waste collected: ~480 kg
Weight of compost used: ~153 kg
Taking a Circular Approach
New Garden at The Loop at Devon House
In 2023, we established a biodiversity showcase at The Loop at Devon House. Working with the Urban Land Institute, we selected flowers, trees and shrubs that are significant to Hong Kong’s biodiversity and are useful for pollination or as food plants for birds and insects. Visitors can also scan QR codes placed nearby to learn about the biodiversity value of each plant. Timber planter benches were also built from wood upcycled from local trees that fell due to typhoons, ageing or during urban development.
In April, the space was launched with a seminar on how urban biodiversity is being preserved in Hong Kong and the importance of urban greening. The launch event also featured a tour of The Loop at Devon House to view the new plants and planters.
New Garden at The Loop at Devon House
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