FROM RATING SYSTEM TO ASSESSMENT TOOL: GREENING THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES LIKE MALAYSIA

The construction industry significantly contributes to the development of the economic sector for every country. In addition, the construction industry has a significant impact to the environment in form of greenhouse gases (GHGs) with their harming effects. Although the buildings and construction industry is a key sector for sustainable development, but still they are amongst the biggest threat to the ecological systems. In Malaysia, the construction industry consumes huge amount of natural resources and produces about 20% of green house gasses (GHGs) into our planet. Several studies identified the main sources of GHGs from the construction industry & introduce various assessment methods which could help to reduce the carbon emission amount to the environment such as green building rating system (GBRS) in assessing for the construction’s stakeholders during the selection of construction projects. The Green Building Rating System (GBRS) is an effective framework for assessing building environmental performance into green building. Several GBRS are in use today and are developing at all levels. A difficulty then arises when those systems do not imply to be used across multiple countries and often they have features with a significant local favor. The CIDB Malaysia developed a new assessment tool called Green PASS to assist the industry in evaluating the impact of buildings on the environment. Therefore, this paper reviews the old and the newly Malaysian standard assessment tool (Green PASS) as an enabler for the construction industry facing environmental challenges.