We are pleased to announce that BioRegional has just won funding from the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office Global Prosperity Fund to help shape supportive policies for low and zero carbon community real estate projects in Chongqing, south west China.

Our Chongqing based team will work in partnership with Vanke, China’s largest real estate developer, to review existing institutional, technical and economic barriers to achieving two emissions reduction scenarios: net zero carbon (in line with the One Planet Common International Target) and a 45% reduction (in line with China’s 12^th Five Year Plan targets).

Having identified the barriers the team will then model what support mechanisms would be necessary to enable a real estate project to be commercially viable when meeting the emissions reduction targets. Evidence-based draft policies will then be developed with Chongqing Municipal Government and applied to three low carbon demonstration projects (including BioRegional’s planned Chongqing One Planet Community) in order for policy makers to assess practical feasibility. The findings will be publicly available in Spring 2012.

BioRegional developed the project in response to two existing barriers limiting the growth of low carbon communities in China’s rapid urbanization. Firstly, the perception amongst real estate developers and government that low carbon communities are commercially unviable; secondly, the absence of effective policies which support low carbon real estate development. The importance of sustainable urbanization for China is put into context by the scale of development, for example the urban population is estimated to expand by 350million by 2025 and 40 billion m² of new floor space will be constructed to accommodate this growth. By tackling these barriers we hope to accelerate the construction of low carbon communities in Chongqing.

With an initial focus on the One Planet Communities programme, panel members have been selected for their expertise in areas including urban planning, green building, ecological footprinting, policy, and campaigning.

Its six independent members are: Susan Burns, CEO of ecological footprinting think tank, Global Footprint Network; Jim Heid, President and co-founder of US based sustainable development advisory company, UrbanGreen; Kevin Hydes, CEO of deep green building services engineering company, Integral Group and former Chair of the World Green Building Council; Tony Juniper, UK based author and environmental campaigner; Professor Li Shirong, Professor of construction management at Chongqing University and Deputy Director General of Chongqing Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Commission, China; and Raf Tuts, Chief of the Urban Environment and Planning Branch, UN-HABITAT.

They are joined by representatives from BioRegional’s endorsed One Planet Communities partner organisations, with their experience of practical delivery of the One Planet Communities programme: Pete Halsall, BioRegional Quintain Ltd; Geof Syphers, Codding Enterprises and Paulo Reis Silva, Pelicano.

The role of the Expert Panel is to ensure that the ‘planet with a heart’ logo remains, and is increasingly recognised as, a symbol of truly exemplary commitment to, and leadership in, sustainability.

The One Planet Communities programme is using the concepts of One Planet Living and sustainable ecological footprint to create a network of the earth’s greenest neighbourhoods. These neighbourhoods will be showcased at the Rio+20 World Summit in 2012 to demonstrate to policy makers, business leaders and civil society that it can be easy, attractive and affordable for people to live happy and healthy lives within a fair share of the earth’s resources. BioRegional are excited and pleased to have the support of the Expert Panel in making this happen.

The Panel will be run using a virtual network, with three group sessions each year – the first is scheduled for 17^th March.

To read more visit the role of the panel and member profile pages of this site.

To suport BioRegional and the One Planet initiative’s increasing presence in China, a Chinese-language website has been launched. An English translation is also available on the site.

www.bioregional.cn

Click here for more details

Tune into your region’s CNBC channel at the following times to see several of the ground-breaking projects showcased and an interview with International Director,  Pooran Desai OBE:

CNBC Asia

1st Broadcast: 30 October 17:30 SIN/HK Time

2nd Broadcast: 31 October 09:30 SIN/HK Time

CNBC Europe

1st Broadcast: 30 October 08:30 CET

2nd Broadcast: 30 October 13:30 CET

CNBC USA

Single Broadcast: 30 October 16:00 EST

If you miss the broadcast the film will go up on www.oneplanetcommunities.org early next week.

The team in China is currently working with RHS (a Chongqing based architectural and urban planning practice) to complete the concept planning stage. Once the concept has been approved by the Municipal Government a developer will be appointed and the detailed design process can begin. We will assemble an experienced design team able to present a solution that will enable One Planet Living; the team will comprise RHS, Chongqing University, AECOM (to lead engineering solutions) and UCL’s Bartlett School of Architecture (critical design support).

We have lots of exciting ideas for the project, including a professional training centre for built environment professionals and academics that will link leading academic research from Universities in China, Europe and the US with professional best practice in China’s real estate sector.

News of the MoU has been greeted with considerable interest both in China and the UK, and has featured in a number of national and local television programmes and newspaper articles.

And if that wasn’t exciting enough – we are entering into negotiations with China Merchants Property Development with a view to endorsing the final phase of Jinshan ‘The Hills’ as China’s first One Planet Community. If the project progresses as planned, BioRegional will be working closely with the appointed design team at RMJM Architects to ensure the plans meet the Common International Targets.

For the next few months the team will be working with potential investors. If you are interested in learning more about the investment opportunities or participating in the project please contact Alastair McMahon (alastair.mcmahon@bioregional.com +86 136 583 111 45).

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The One Planet visitor centre at Jinshan

The One Planet visitor centre at the Jinshan development in Panyu since opening in 2008 has been a great success, attracting more than 4000 visitors to date. Our project partner, China Merchants Property Development, has now opened a second visitor centre on the ground floor of their new head office in Shenzhen. The Headquarter offices themselves have been built to a very high environmental performance specification- LEED Gold equivalent.

China Merchants Property Development was awarded a UN-Habitat award for Jinshan

China Merchants Property Development have won one of five UN-Habitat green business awards for their Jinshan project which incorporates the 10 One Planet principles. Workshops are now planned for the next phase which is hoped will become a fully endorsed One Planet Community.

More information about Jinshan can be found here.

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