September 2022

The Making of the KLCC SDG Precinct

Overview

In 2022, the Centre spearheaded a bold longterm project to create a sustainable precinct with its precinct partners comprising Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Malaysia Airlines, Traders Hotel, Impiana KLCC Hotel, and Suria KLCC Shopping Mall with the clear purpose of turning the KLCC precinct into a haven where event delegates and visitors could “meet, dine, sleep, play and shop” sustainably.

The Journey

In 2022, the Centre entered into the first public and private partnership with Urbanice Malaysia (Malaysia’s Centre of Excellence to assist the Centre with its sustainability pathway and align our sustainability initiatives with the UNSDGs. One of the key results of this partnership is the galvanizing of the precinct partners to participate in the strategic project of a sustainable precinct.

Urbanice Malaysia, established under the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, serves as a Center of Excellence for Sustainable Cities and Community Wellbeing. Its primary objective is to foster a sustainable urban nation by acting as a facilitator and hub for the dissemination of sustainable knowledge, and inspiring innovation through collaborative partnerships with industry.

The Centre envisioned presenting a sustainable destination where delegates can meet, dine, stay, and play responsibly when attending events here. In line with that, we organised a workshop by Guy Bigwood, who founded the Global Destination Sustainability Movement and is also a global expert and consultant on regenerative tourism and business events. Bringing together our precinct partners, the workshop presented the platform for us to share our experiences and knowledge on ways to make the KLCC precinct a more regenerative, flourishing, and sustainable place to visit, meet and stay.

In addition to the workshop, we also hosted the KLCCBEA and Urbanice Symposium to map out all our ongoing initiatives based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs).

KLCCBEA is the acronym for Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre Business Events Alliance comprising the Centre, Malaysia Airlines, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Traders Hotel, Impiana KLCC Hotel and Suria Shopping Mall.

The project helped us initiate the drive to address the growing industry demand around sustainability, increasing the venue and precinct’s competitive edge and marketability as an ideal sustainable meeting destination. As part of the program, we visited each other’s properties to further understand the respective properties/partners’ sustainability initiatives.

KLCCBEA and Urbanice Symposium

This symposium served as a catalyst for forging stronger bonds and enriching our collective comprehension of each participant's sustainability aspirations and objectives.

A pivotal component of our engagement was the meticulous process of aligining our individual sustainability initiatives with the targets established by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs).

Under the guidance of Urbanice Malaysia, we, the precinct partners, engaged in a dialogue that allowed us to align our shared aspirations and objectives and paved the way for the inception of a series of precinct-level activities. These activities are poised to become the building blocks of a collaborative journey towards the creation of a sustainable precinct.

The Result

The symposium culminated in the publication of a report by Urbanice Malaysia, revealing an alignment of the KLCCBEA partners' sustainability initiatives with all 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs), encompassing 119 of the 169 specified targets.

We, the partners, collectively, agreed and committed to collaborate on projects aimed at addressing the pressing issue of food waste generation, a common concern within the service industry, and on initiatives designed to involve the precinct community with the partners’ joint precinct-level sustainability
efforts.