Singapore Among Top Asia Pacific Cities With Greenest Office Markets

ASIA PACIFIC – Singapore was ranked as the second most eco-friendly office market in the region, according to a new report from Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL).

According to the real estate consultancy’s Sustainable Offices City Index, Singapore has the highest supply of green-certified office buildings in Asia Pacific. The republic also clinched the top ranking for city competitiveness.

However, the number one spot in the index was taken by Sydney, which edged out Singapore in terms of city proactiveness. The third spot was clinched by Melbourne, which received excellent scores for green office supply, city competitiveness, and city proactiveness.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong is among the laggards in JLL’s Sustainable Offices City Index. In fact, Singapore surpassed the Chinese territory in the three aforementioned criteria. Still, Hong Kong had a slight edge over Singapore in terms of physical risks.

Notably, green office supply refers to the percentage of green-certified office buildings in a city. City proactiveness is the proactive actions taken by the local government to promote a sustainable built environment. City competitiveness refers to indicators that directly or indirectly impact the pace of a city’s attainment of a green built environment. Lastly, physical risk is the proportion of office buildings at risk of being damaged by climate change and extreme weather.

Moreover, JLL stated that Hong Kong is forecasted to have a 68 percent undersupply of eco-friendly office properties until 2028. In comparison, Singapore is expected to have a 56 percent undersupply of such buildings. As for Sydney and Melbourne, they are projected to have an undersupply of 84 percent and 43 percent respectively.

“Even for cities like Singapore and Sydney, which are currently at the top of our Sustainable Offices City Index, the next five years would see an undersupply of low-carbon workplaces,” noted JLL.