Malaysia’s Commitment to Sustainable Development: Expo 2020’s Net-Zero Carbon Pavilion

EXPO 2020 FEATURE MALAYSIA’S COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: EXPO 2020’S NET-ZERO CARBON PAVILION

Designed as a Rainforest Canopy pavilion with the theme ‘Energizing Sustainability’, the Malaysia pavilion will provide visitors an immersive experience of being in a rainforest. And with today’s pressing need to address climate change, HEALTH takes a closer look at Expo 2020’s Malaysia pavilion.

THE MESSAGE

Overall, the pavilion aims to inspire visitors through an immersive experience of Malaysian hospitality, the biodiversity of the rainforest and the country’s efforts at long-term sustainability across various industries.

THE SEGMENTS

The pavilion is sectioned into four segments with subthemes. The first segmentEnergizing Today-will take visitors through a narrative about their forest conservation and sustainable agricommodity and how it has shaped their socio-economic development.

The middle segmentEnergizing Tomorrowshowcases Malaysia’s commitment to become a developed and highincome nation, driving the agenda of carbon reduction and climate change with science, technology, and innovation as the main thrusts. The third segmentEnergizing Harmonyencapsulates how Malaysians of diverse cultures, traditions, ethnicities, and languages live harmoniously, contributing to the nation’s progress, unity and stability. And the final segmentEnergizing Business-is a business center where the 26 weekly thematic trade and business programs will take place.

SUSTAINABILITY

Of the three sub-themes of Expo 2020-Sustainability, Mobility, and Opportunity, Malaysia has chosen Sustainability. At Expo 2020,

they are presenting to the world their long-standing vision on sustainable development and will continue telling their stories of development anchored firmly on the principles of sustainability.

A NET ZERO CARBON PAVILION

Despite being a small, merging nation, Malaysia’s pavilion is Net Zero Carbon; in fact, the first such initiative for Expo 2020 Dubai. They want to ensure their participation does not contribute to GHGs by offsetting carbon emitted.

To account for the emissions, three stages for calculation have been identified which are materials and energy usage during construction stage (embodied carbon), operations during event and decommissioning of the pavilion after the event. The embodied energy involves majorly used materials in the stages of cradle-to-gate, endof-life disposal, and recovery.

GREEN FEATURES

In line with the sustainability theme, it is only natural that their participation is climate-friendly. The pavilion is a high-efficiency green building and the green features will contribute to 20 percent energy savings. On the roof are 40 pieces of solar photovoltaic panel with an output of 12,000kWh throughout the Expo period which will contribute to 10 percent of the pavilion energy requirement. Other climate-friendly features are in the area of energy efficiency through LED lightings, natural lighting, self-shading and water harvesting features.

The façade of the pavilion is made from certified sustainable meranti timber from the Malaysia forest. Use of concrete is minimized and steel construction is used so that materials can be recycled after the pavilion is dismantled.

THE #MYBUTTERFLYEFFECT CAMPAIGN

The ‘chaos theory’ is about the way nature works and is pioneered by MIT Professor Edward Lorenz. It suggests that the flap of a butterfly’s wings might ultimately cause a tornado, or in other words, small causes in one place may have momentous effects in another area.

Therefore, their #MyButterfly Effect social media campaign is based on the premise that one small act can create a ripple effect elsewhere and that is what they aim to create at Expo 2020 – to cause a big impact on people by inspiring them to take sustainable actions. H