The Green Dragon Media Project: Report Summary

REPORT SUMMARY

"I’ve heard various people say this phase of growth in China will last another 30-50 years. All things being equal, I could see that happening. But can our planet sustain that given what is going on in the rest of the world? I’m not so sure."

- James Heinrick, Roggeo Design

The following three columns summarize the most significant takeaways from our research within four main topics: Construction Industry, Government, Awareness, and Products & Services. Click on the three column headers below and discover how certain barriers are leading to opportunity and therefore, action. We encourage you to take the initiative to address some of the opportunities and to contact organizations listed under Actions. At the bottom of this page we have also summarized the key geographies & audiences to target and the site footer links to detailed report pages.

Construction Industry
BARRIERS	OPPORTUNITY	ACTION
Lack of 3rd-Party Trade Organizations	3rd-Party Trade Organizations	American-Sinotech and the USGBC are working to license a local version of LEED and setup a Chinese affiliate program.
China market entry difficult for smaller firms	Partner or band together with others	Eco Energy Cities has put together a menu of products & services that they offer clients. EMSI recommends green building products to their LEED clients.
Limitations for Foreign Architects and Builders	Local Partnerships	Roggeo Design setup a joint venture with a Local Design Institute. SOM often partners with developers such as Shui On to oversee projects through to completion.
Limited visibility of projects, products, and techniques	Centers of Excellence	Exposition area in pilot projects. The US DOE and China Technology Bureau are working together to turn the 2nd floor (1,200 sqm) of Accord 21 into a green technology exposition and training area. Other pilot projects could have similar areas.
Few examples of green building	Case studies and pilot projects	JUCCCE is putting together green building case studies while many organizations are partnering with the government to launch pilot projects including: JUCCCE, NRDC, Tsinghua, Arup, American-Sinotech, and EMSI
Ad-hoc knowledge sharing	Industry Network	JUCCCE is developing an online virtual network for industry professionals based on sub-sector and expertise.
Government
BARRIERS	OPPORTUNITY	ACTION
Artificially low public services & utilities costs	Raise price of public services & utilies	SEPA recently announced it will encourage the use of market pricing for drinking water and waste water charges. This will raise levels of quality on the supply side and efficiency on the demand side.
Stakeholders not incentivized to develop efficient infrastructure	Cost and benefit redistribution policies for decentralized utilities	Chinese central and local governments need to enact policy measures that will redistribute the costs and benefits appropriately across the four major stakeholder groups.
Lack of coherent, consistent product standards and certification	Green building product certification schemes and standards bodies	CABR is working on this but there is room for others.
Awareness and Attitudes
BARRIERS	OPPORTUNITY	ACTION
Limited Consumer Demand	Marketing	JUCCCE has begun a marketing campaign targeting the Chinese middle class, including print advertising and a feature-length film.
Limited Local Government Demand	Marketing	The Green Dragon Pioneers series will provide films for mayoral trainings introducing successfully implemented Chinese and international green building projects and industry leaders.
Low appeal for green building	Increase visibility	Establish internationally recognized contests highlighting Chinese leaders in the green building movement.
Limited Local Government Knowledge	Education	JUCCCE and the Clinton Climate Initiative have begun developing mayoral training modules.
Limited Industry Knowledge and Experience	Resources	JUCCCE is facilitating this type of technology transfer/toolbox. Some initial projects include the translation of LEED manuals as well as an online Chinese-English technical glossary.
Products and Services
BARRIERS	OPPORTUNITY	ACTION
Limited Project Funding	Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and White Certificates	ESD Sinosphere is exploring carbon financing mechanisms for the green building industry.
High cost of some green building products	Bulk Purchasing Consortium for green building products	JUCCCE and the Clinton Climate Initiative are developing a bulk purchasing consortium for key components as well as distributing 10 million CFLs to the general public.
Lack of information on green building product availability	Product database	JUCCCE is developing an online marketplace to increase awareness and usage of green building products.
Lack of Availability for High-Tech Green Products	Concrete, insulation, lighting controls, HVAC, renewable energy	Companies such as American-Sinotech, TPR, Eco Energy Cities and others are bringing foreign technologies to the Chinese market.
Carbon intense building in rural areas	Straw building in Northeast China	Green Dragon and ADRA are now planning a new capacity building project that will train 200 local builders, construct 250 buildings, cost $78,000 and reduce 80,000 tons of CO2. Learn more here.

Target Geographies (in order of importance and foreign accessibility)

Rapidly growing, larger cities such as Tianjin and Chongqing.
Cities with reputations for greater business professionalism and efficient municipal government. Some of these cities include Qingdao, Suzhou, and Shekou/Shenzhen.
Smaller 2nd, 3rd and 4th-tier cities located close to the major 1st-tier cities and key logistics routes, such as Lianyungang or Cixi. These cities are less built out and offer more opportunities for green improvement. They are also under serious pressure from the central government to improve their environmental performance but lack much of the expertise and experience seen in the larger cities.

Target Audiences (in order of importance and foreign accessibility)

Commercial/Industrial Developer/Funders.
1. The largest industrial/commercial investors/developers – Prologis, Capital Land, Shimao, Hutchison Wampoa, China Merchants, Sun Hung Kai, Yan Lord, etc. – that care about their image and have enormous volume. These organizations will drive the mass Chinese market. Full-circle players that fund, develop, and manage are best (ex: Prologis).
2. Major banks that control much of the capital and would be swayed by arguments linking green building to reuced risk.
3. International companies locating operations in China that are concerned about corporate social responsibility (CSR).
Residential Developers. The initial target would be large owner/operators such as Vanke.
Urban Residents. Since they use 3 times the resources as their rural counterparts and the group is growing rapidly. Their primary concerns are closely related to green design: location, position relative to sun/airflow, comfort of relatives, and nationalism (environmental security).
Government. There is great potential here in both new and existing building projects but it is difficult for foreigners to access the market.

PAGE LAST UPDATED 08/15/2008