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World Sustainable Built Environment Conference 2024 Concluded by Consolidating Global Efforts in Promoting Green Building Development and Creating Sustainable and Resilient Cities

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The HK Report 2024 has been officially launched with over 100 groundbreaking projects, indicating remarkable surge of 40% in project submissions compared to the previous edition

HONG KONG, July 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Highlighting Hong Kong’s position as a global leader in green built environment through the joint efforts of The Government of the HKSAR and the industry in developing a sustainable city, the Construction Industry Council (CIC) and the Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) recently participated in the world-renowned triennial World Sustainable Built Environment Conference (WSBE24), held online from 12 to 14 June. Returning this year with the support of the CIC and HKGBC as the highest-tier Gold Sponsors, this high-profile event provided a valuable series of speaking opportunities for the city, including plenary keynote sessions, plenary roundtable sessions, and scientific and technical sessions. The event was well received by government officials, industry and business leaders and academic institutions from many countries and regions, who seized this valuable opportunity to exchange their insights and experiences virtually.

With an overarching theme “Innovation Pathways & Partnerships for Sustainable Built and Urban Environments”, WSBE24 explored the role of innovative technologies in achieving carbon neutrality in the built environment. Overcoming regional barriers, industry professionals have come together through online collaboration to learn from each other and collectively advance the global green development of green building. This concerted effort seeks to forge a shared vision for the creation of sustainable cities.

On the first day of the event, an exclusive Hong Kong keynote session was concurrently held in person and with live streaming. Ms Bernadette LINN, JP, Secretary for Development, The Government of the HKSAR, Ir Prof. Thomas HO, JP, Chairman of the CIC, and Dr CHEUNG Tin-cheung, SBS, Chairman of the HKGBC, were invited to speak on the topic of Hong Kong’s policy blueprint and industry practices for promoting green building and achieving carbon neutrality. They also explored the city’s net zero carbon emissions vision and the progress of its built environment. Other eminent speakers included representatives from Aalborg University, Australian National University, CSIRO Australia, the European Commission, the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC), the United Nations Environment Programme, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

Meanwhile, roundtable sessions also brought together experts and academic institutions from different disciplines to exchange views on topics such as green finance, green building certifications and innovative technologies, as well as global green building trends and successful case studies. Ir Dr Bruce CHONG, Fellow and Director, Climate & Sustainability of Arup, hosted the first day’s opening roundtable session, titled “Innovation Pathways and Partnerships Towards a Net Zero Emissions Built Environment: State of Practice”, as moderator. He was joined by Ir Harry LAI, BBS, Executive Director of the HKGBC, Mr Clarence LEUNG, Chairperson of the Committee on Environment and Sustainability of the CIC, Mr Jonathan CHIU, President of Schneider Electric (Hong Kong) Limited, and Mr Brandon NG, Co-Founder and CEO of Ampd Energy.

On the second day, Prof. Christine LOH, Chief Development Strategist of the Institute for the Environment at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, hosted a roundtable session on “Accelerating Green Building Movement through Green Finance and Certifications” with Dr MA Jun, Chairman and President of Hong Kong Green Finance Association, Ir HO Chi-sing, General Manager of BEAM Society Limited, Ir Wallace LIN, General Manager for Technical Services and Sustainable Development of Swire Properties Limited, Mr Ivan FU, Chairperson of the CIC-Zero Carbon Park of the CIC, Mr Nicholas HO, Commissioner for Belt and Road of Belt and Road Office, The Government of the HKSAR, and Mr Angus WONG, Managing Director for Wholesale Client Coverage of Hang Seng Bank Limited.

In addition, several key industry players from Hong Kong participated in the scientific and technical sessions to provide a comprehensive illustration of the local industry’s contributions in driving a sustainable community and city. The topics covered included concepts and strategies for a sustainable built environment, environmental performance assessment, life cycle assessment, decarbonisation measures and carbon neutrality.

With both online and offline exchange opportunities, the three-day conference offered the global green building community a high-quality platform for the synergetic development of low-carbon, smart and resilient cities of the future.

The CIC and the HKGBC also published the Hong Kong Report on the State of Sustainable Built Environment 2024 (HK Report 2024) on the first day of the event. Themed “Innovations towards Net Zero: Building Sustainable and Resilient Urban Environments”, the Report showcases the collective efforts of the Government, industry and academia in navigating the path towards achieving net-zero emissions. It highlights successful collaborations that have resulted in noteworthy green building projects and significant research and planning. The number of project submissions received by the Report grew by approximately 40% compared to the previous edition, with a total of 107 shortlisted projects. This edition also features a novel chapter dedicated to exploring green building materials and technologies. The chapter delves into how innovative solutions facilitate sustainable construction practices, presenting a more comprehensive view of the latest advancements made by Hong Kong towards sustainable development. In addition, the Report also features inspiring interviews with five renowned experts and young advocates, including Ir Dr Conrad WONG, Vice Chairman of Yau Lee Holdings Limited, Prof. Christine LOH, Chief Development Strategist of the Institute for the Environment at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Prof. Edward NG, Yao Ling Sun Professor of Architecture in the School of Architecture at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Mr Arthur LAM, Co-Founder and CEO of Negawatt Utility Limited, and Ms Natalie CHUNG, a member of the Council for Carbon Neutrality and Sustainable Development, The Government of the HKSAR, who shared valuable insights into the city’s decarbonisation blueprint and strategic planning.

Committed to accelerating green building development, The Government of the HKSAR, along with industry and academia, will continue to support green building projects, insightful planning and research, the application of green building materials, and the implementation of innovative ideas in building design and practices. The ultimate goal is to advance green building development and foster a greener, more sustainable city.

For details and to download the Report: https://bit.ly/4509XDP

About World Sustainable Built Environment Conference

The Sustainable Built Environment (SBE) series began in 2000 and is now the pre-eminent international conference series on sustainable building and construction. The series operates on a three-year cycle with planning in year one, regional conferences in year two and a global conference in year three. Albeit strong competition, Hong Kong won the hosting right of the 2015-2017 cycle global conference, jointly presented WSBE17 Hong Kong by the CIC and the HKGBC.

With the theme of “Innovation Pathways & Partnerships for Sustainable Built and Urban Environments”, WSBE24 has brought together green building advocates, policy-makers, academics, and industry practitioners from all around the world. The three-day virtual event includes plenary keynote sessions, plenary roundtable sessions, and scientific and technical sessions.

About the Construction Industry Council (CIC)

The Construction Industry Council (CIC) was formed in 2007 under the Construction Industry Council Ordinance (Cap. 587). The CIC consists of a chairman and 24 members representing various sectors of the industry including employers, professionals, academics, contractors, workers, independent persons and Government officials.

The main functions of the CIC are to forge consensus on long-term strategic issues, convey the industry’s needs and aspirations to the Government, provide professional training and registration services, and serve as a communication channel between the Government and the construction industry.

Please visit www.cic.hk for further details.

About the Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC)

The Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) is a non-profit, member-led organisation established in 2009 and has become a public body under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance since 2016. The HKGBC strives to promote the standard and development of sustainable buildings in Hong Kong. The HKGBC also aims to raise green building awareness by engaging the government, the industry and the public, and to develop practical solutions for Hong Kong’s unique, subtropical built environment of high-rise, high density urban area, leading Hong Kong to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and to become a world’s exemplar of green building development. The Founding Members of the HKGBC include the Construction Industry Council (CIC), the Business Environment Council (BEC), the BEAM Society Limited (BSL) and the Professional Green Building Council (PGBC).

To learn more about the HKGBC, please visit www.hkgbc.org.hk.

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SOURCE Hong Kong Green Building Council Limited

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NetZoom Announces Data Center Infrastructure Management Solution for Higher Education Institutions

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NetZoom® is a robust DCIM for managing College and University data centers, campus infrastructure and smart classrooms

CHICAGO, June 18, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — NetZoom offers an intuitive Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) solution designed to help colleges and universities document, visualize, and manage the infrastructure supporting campus IT services, research computing, smart classrooms, and distributed data center environments.

NetZoom helps colleges and universities establish a reliable source of truth, improve operational planning, and support critical infrastructure without adding unnecessary burden to IT and facilities teams.

Higher education institutions often manage infrastructure spread across data centers, MDF/IDF closets, labs, classrooms, and multiple campus locations while supporting digital learning, campus connectivity, research workloads, and administrative systems. These environments require accurate asset management, reliable connectivity documentation, capacity planning, and operational visibility across IT and facilities.

Common infrastructure management challenges in higher education include:

Lack of a single source of truth for asset managementDistributed assets across the entire campusLimited space, power, cooling, and budget resources as digital learning, research computing, and campus IT services continue to expandMaintaining uptime and resiliency for critical academic, research, and administrative systems

“Higher education institutions are managing increasingly complex data center environments that support students, faculty, research, and campus-wide digital services,” said Uriel Campos, General Manager at NetZoom, Inc. “To manage these environments effectively, teams need clear visibility into their assets, connectivity, capacity, power, and cooling. NetZoom helps colleges and universities establish a reliable source of truth, improve operational planning, and support critical infrastructure without adding unnecessary burden to IT and facilities teams.”

NetZoom also supports IT and facilities teams by centralizing asset, connectivity, capacity, power, cooling, and change management data in a visual DCIM platform. By bringing these functions together, institutions can improve resource planning, reduce reliance on manual tracking, identify capacity constraints, and better understand the impact of infrastructure changes.

NetZoom’s DCIM solution offers significant benefits to higher education institutions including:

Campus-wide infrastructure visibility: Helps IT and facilities teams maintain a centralized view of assets across data centers, MDF/IDF closets, labs, classrooms, and distributed campus locations.Improved planning for space, power, and cooling: Provides visibility into capacity utilization so institutions can better support growing digital learning, research computing, and administrative systems.Reduced reliance on manual tracking: Centralizes asset, connectivity, capacity, and change management data to help reduce spreadsheet dependency, duplicate records, and inconsistent documentation.Operational support for limited IT resources: Helps streamline day-to-day infrastructure management, giving campus teams better access to the information needed to plan changes, troubleshoot issues, and manage equipment lifecycles.Scalable support for evolving campus technology: Allows institutions to start with core DCIM functions and expand into areas such as monitoring, reporting, service management, integrations, and advanced capacity planning as their needs grow.

Availability

NetZoom DCIM for Higher Education is immediately available in both SaaS and On-Premises deployments. For demonstrations, POCs, pricing and deployment options, contact NetZoom at 630-281-6464, email Sales@NetZoom.com or visit NetZoom.com

About NetZoom

Founded in 1995, NetZoom, Inc. is an Illinois corporation with headquarters in the Chicago area. NetZoom offers a flexible and powerful application that integrates with on-premise, virtual and cloud resources and many third-party tools like ServiceNow® to create a complete DCIM solution for data center professionals worldwide to effectively model, manage, monitor and maximize IT and Facility infrastructure.

For more information, visit NetZoom.com

NetZoom is a registered trademark of NetZoom, Inc. All other marks and names are trademarks of their respective companies.

Media Contact

Marketing Department, NetZoom, Inc., 1 630-281-6464, Marketing@NetZoom.com, https://NetZoom.com

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SOURCE NetZoom, Inc.

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NOVVA Group acquires 120 MWp Philippines solar project, anchoring its AI-era power platform in Southeast Asia

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HONG KONG, June 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — NOVVA Group (“Novva”), a global AI-enabling energy infrastructure platform, announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of San Jose Solar Power Plant (“SJSP”), a utility-scale solar PV project in Bukidnon, Mindanao, from Mabuhay Power Holdings Corporation. The acquisition marks Novva’s first investment in the Philippines and a critical milestone in its strategy to build a scalable, bankable power platform across Southeast Asia.

SJSP is a 120 MWp greenfield solar project located in Barangay San Jose, in the Municipality of Quezon, Bukidnon. Once operational, it is expected to generate over 200 GWh of clean electricity per year. Construction is scheduled to begin in Q1 2027, with commercial operation targeted for 2028.

The transaction comes amid an unprecedented surge in Asian power demand, driven by the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and digital infrastructure. With energy availability emerging as the primary constraint on sustained economic growth, resilient power infrastructure has become vital. The project also advances the Philippines’ goal of a 35% renewable energy share by 2030, channelling clean capacity into one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing digital economies.

Steven Liu, Founder and CEO of Novva, said: “Power availability has become one of the defining constraints on future growth. With SJSP, we are securing the strategic infrastructure needed to support the next wave of industrial and digital development. By combining disciplined execution with long-term partnerships, Novva is building a reliable clean energy foundation to power the future of Southeast Asia.”

SJSP will integrate directly into Novva’s regional platform, which combines renewable generation, flexible power solutions, energy storage, grid connectivity and infrastructure financing capabilities. Novva remains committed to scaling clean energy capacity to sustain the next generation of hyperscale data centres and digital economies.

About Novva
Novva (NOVVA Group Pte. Ltd.) is a global AI-enabling energy infrastructure platform that originates, finances, builds, and operates bankable clean energy assets across Southeast Asia and Latin America. As digital transformation drives an unprecedented increase in global electricity demand, Novva scales its clean power capabilities to build the reliable energy foundation for the AI era and beyond.
www.novvaglobal.com

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SOURCE NOVVA Group

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Kevin Murphy Grows Marketplace Revenue 141% with Pattern

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Premium haircare brand strengthens marketplace control while maintaining salon channel growth

MELBOURNE, Australia, June 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Premium haircare brand Kevin Murphy has grown its Amazon Australia revenue by 141% with ecommerce accelerator Pattern, transforming the marketplace from a grey market challenge into one of the brand’s fastest growing retail channels.

Distributed in Australia by Ozdare, Kevin Murphy partnered with Pattern to manage its presence on Amazon Australia amid growing consumer demand and unauthorised reseller activity.

“Given the growing influence of marketplaces in Australia, it was important for Kevin Murphy to establish a stronger presence where consumers are increasingly searching for and purchasing products,” explained George Leighton, Head of Retail (Consumer) for Ozdare/Kevin Murphy. “At the same time, maintaining the balance between our professional salon channel and consumer retail presence remained a key priority throughout the process.”

Launched in November 2025 ahead of the peak Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) shopping period, Kevin Murphy entered Amazon Australia with no official marketplace presence despite significant existing consumer demand on the platform. Within just four months of launch, the brand increased units sold by 115% quarter-on-quarter while simultaneously increasing average order value by 8.4%, demonstrating strong consumer demand for premium haircare products on Amazon Australia.

Pattern’s ANZ Managing Director, Merline McGregor said the results reflected a broader shift occurring across the Australian retail landscape as premium brands increasingly embrace marketplaces as strategic growth channels rather than viewing them as discount environments.

“Many premium beauty and haircare brands have historically approached Amazon cautiously because of concerns around pricing control, unauthorised sellers and protecting brand equity,” McGregor said. “What Kevin Murphy has demonstrated is that with the right retail media, marketplace and brand protection strategy, Amazon can become a highly effective growth channel that complements existing retail and salon partnerships rather than competing against them.”

Kevin Murphy’s growth trajectory is significant given the brand launched during the peak BFCM promotional period yet continued accelerating well beyond the initial sales surge. Strong March performance against a BFCM-boosted comparison period highlighted that the brand’s Amazon Australia strategy was driving sustained long-term growth rather than short-term discount-driven spikes.

Working with Pattern has helped Kevin Murphy regain greater control over its marketplace presence and pricing environment. Since launch, Buy Box ownership increased from 65% to 91% while multiple unauthorised sellers were successfully removed from the platform, helping to protect brand integrity.

As part of the ongoing partnership, Pattern developed and manages Kevin Murphy’s Amazon Australia storefront, optimising all product listings and implementing a full-funnel advertising strategy spanning branded search, generic category discovery and competitor targeting. By the end of the first quarter, approximately 80% of ad-driven sales were coming from first-time Kevin Murphy customers on Amazon Australia, highlighting the platform’s ability to drive new customer acquisition.

“The reality is consumers are already searching for premium brands like Kevin Murphy on marketplaces, regardless of whether those brands officially sell there or not. What Kevin Murphy has demonstrated is that when brands take ownership of that customer experience with the right marketplace, retail media and brand protection strategy, Amazon can become a powerful channel for both growth and new customer acquisition,” concluded McGregor.

About Pattern Inc

Pattern accelerates brands on global ecommerce marketplaces leveraging proprietary technology and AI. Utilising more than 77 trillion data points, sophisticated machine learning and AI models, Pattern optimises and automates all levers of ecommerce growth for global brands, including advertising, content management, logistics and fulfilment, pricing, forecasting and customer service. Hundreds of global brands depend on Pattern’s ecommerce acceleration platform every day to drive profitable revenue growth across 60+ global marketplaces—including Amazon, TikTok Shop, Walmart.com, Target.com, eBay, Tmall, JD, and Mercado Libre.  For more information, visit https://au.pattern.com/

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/kevin-murphy-grows-marketplace-revenue-141-with-pattern-302805051.html

SOURCE Pattern

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