GreenA Consultants' Farizan d’Avezac de Moran on Singapore's sustaiblity eneavours

In many respects, Singapore’s sustainability landscape has seen significant progress. However, Farizan d’Avezac de Moran expresses mixed feelings. “In a way, I am happy for the change and the rise in interest. At the same time, I am not so happy with how it has been moulded,” she says with candour.

She is disheartened that some organisations engage in sustainability endeavours merely for compliance rather than embracing it as a core value.

Nevertheless, the founder of GreenA Consultants and a sustainability consultancy, opts to keep an open mind. “I pacify myself by saying that the results ultimately are the same despite the intention, and hopefully, it will turn into real belief.”

Sustainability struggles abound

For Farizan, managing disappointments, facing challenges and encountering setbacks are just part of the territory, beginning with the bold move to launch a company in a nascent industry.

The year was 2009, and she had left her specialist engineering profession behind to dive into the fairly new sustainability movement. The gap between the financial world and sustainability was glaring to her, and “I wanted to bridge that,” she says, “but it was too early to integrate sustainability and finance as there was no strong coupled mandate. 

The perception was also that it was expensive. They thought it meant installing solar panels, which would cost more money.”

After numerous presentations, Farizan came to a realisation: The market wasn’t quite ready to invest in sustainability purely for its intrinsic benefits. Instead, she noticed a willingness to engage with sustainability initiatives for commercial value.

With this understanding, the sustainability advocate adjusted her pitch, using such opportunities to spur an uptake in green implementation. Perhaps along the way, clients would develop a deeper appreciation of sustainability.

The tide changes

Over the following decade, the sustainability momentum rose steadily in the building and construction industry, and Farizan subsequently secured notable projects, including Changi Airport Terminal 4 and the PSA Tuas Maintenance Base. 

DBS Newton Green, Singapore’s first net-zero building by a bank, is one of her recent projects. A distinctive feature of the $5 million retrofitted structure is its slatted bamboo exterior, designed to provide shade.

Initially apprehensive about employing bamboo in a commercial building’s facade due to Singapore’s stringent building submission process, she was pleasantly surprised by the outcome. The project also catalysed her exploration of other sustainable materials.

The next IT material in sustainability

Presently, rattan has her attention. Farizan believes “rattan will eliminate the reliance on wooden furniture and other interior finishes, and lead to a reduced demand for deforestation”.

The utilisation of the tropical climbing plant is not entirely novel: Both Porsche’s second-model generation of the Macan and Nio’s ET7 feature karuun, a versatile rattan derivative that melds nature and technology. While still uncommon in Singapore, rattan will play a significant role in another of Farizan’s pending projects.

Enthusiastic as she is about rattan, her excitement heightens when discussing the broader impact she seeks to make. 

“If we manage to decarbonise the industrial infrastructure such as economic zones, ports, or airports,” explains the 2015 BCA-SGBC Green Advocate winner and Singapore Green Building Council member, “the ripple positive impact is greater than addressing each component independently.”

Through projects like the Tunas Prima Industrial Estate in Batam, powered by floating solar panels on a lake and featuring a circularity design, Farizan aims to catalyse transformative shifts in industrial infrastructure.

In mapping out the trajectory for the next 15 years, Farizan sets her sights on tapping into the strategic expertise amassed by GreenA Consultants. Her ambition is palpable: to increase its footprint through collaboration or acquisition, reaching into new countries, and offering its expertise where it’s most needed. Determined growth notwithstanding, Farizan emphasises that her core mission remains unchanged.

“I am a people person, and I value creating and fostering sustainability impact through observing transformation in individuals, cultivating connections, and nurturing relationships. I used to fight so hard to prove my cause that I sometimes cried in disappointment. But now, I’ve learned to accept (different views) and hope that time and exposure will be the change that is needed to sustain the positive difference the world needs.”

This article was originally published in The Peak.