The convention and exhibition centre Kuala Lumpur efforts to reduce carbon footprint and to provide healthy food to meetings and events delegates and guests. The KLCC now has reportedly celebrated the first harvest of its hydroponic farm on its rooftop.
The Centre, partnered with Green Attap, an urban farming solutions company based in Kuala Lumpur, to set-up and maintain the farm on its rooftop. Driven by passion for healthy and sustainable living, Green Attap was founded by two single mothers with the aim to provide pesticide-free food for children. “Green Attap is the perfect partner to help us with this initiative as we are aligned in our sustainable goals and vision,” said Alan Pryor, General Manager of KLCC.
According to a press release, food security is a growing concern as pesticide-reliant contemporary agriculture loses popularity amongst health and environment-conscious modern societies. Urban farming is mushrooming in the nooks and corners of cities, with private to commercially-owned buildings being transformed into sustainable agricultural spaces.
“Sustainability is a primary business focus for us. We have a taskforce that constantly looks for ways to maximise our efforts in reducing our carbon footprint, addressing the impacts of climate change. As part of that, the farm on our rooftop is our latest roll-out and we have been looking forward to the first harvest and to bring these fresh, pesticide-free vegetables from our rooftop directly to delegates’ plates,” continued Pryor.
The KLCC’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Taskforce is said to be committed to elevating the venue’s sustainable journey and, in that, assisting conference organisers and meeting planners to deliver environmentally-responsible events.
“As a leading business events player, we want to provide the thousands of people meeting at our venue daily with healthy food that is free from pesticide. Currently, we are growing a variety of lettuces, lollo bionda, lollo rossa and butterhead, serving them fresh at small and short lead meetings,” explained Hisham Jaafar. The KLCC’s Executive Chef continued: “Our rainwater harvesting system is channelling water to the farm, making it completely sustainable.”
For more details on how the venue has been pushing the sustainability envelope in Malaysia’s business events industry, visit the Centre’s sustainability page.