Philippines breaks into Top 10 countries with most certified LEED space in 2022

MANILA, Philippines — As testament to the tremendous growth of green buildings in the country, the Philippines, for the first time, has made it to the US Green Building Council’s (USGBC) annual list of Top 10 Countries and Regions for LEED.

The country claimed the 10th spot for the most certified LEED space in 2022 outside of US with a total of 11 million certified square feet representing 24 projects.

To celebrate this achievement, the USGBC and Green Business Certification Institute (GBCI) recently concluded its maiden event in Manila titled, “LEED in Southeast Asia Series – In dialogue with USGBC & GBCI.”

Graced by over 100 key stakeholders, the event featured an exclusive panel of experts who discussed on why Philippines should continue to focus on sustainably built environment through “Building Design, Construction, and Performance Monitoring for Higher Efficiency towards NET ZERO.”

Members of the esteemed panel included Charmaine Uy, president and COO of Daiichi Properties; Architect Kristina Samantha Pobre, sustainability manager of Arthaland Corporation; Eric John Enriquez, VP at Megaworld Premiere Offices of Megaworld Corporation; Darneil Perez, BA director places and country director of ARCADIS Philippines; and Dr. Dodjie Maestrecampo, president and CEO of Mapúa Malayan Colleges Laguna and Mapúa Malayan Colleges Mindanao.

100+ building industry stakeholders at the event

“With cities around the world responsible for over 70% of global carbon emissions, the Philippines’ built environment should strive toward a net-zero future to foster a highly sustainable and resilient living environment for generations to come,” said Gopalakrishnan Padmanabhan, managing director for Southeast Asia and Middle East of GBCI and the moderator of the panel discussion.

LEED has provided a framework for high-performance buildings and spaces, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions through strategies impacting land, energy, transportation, water, waste and materials.

Building on that work, USGBC has developed LEED Zero, a complement to LEED that verifies the achievement of net-zero goals in existing buildings.

According to Uy and Enriquez, customer demand is fueling the rise of sustainable buildings in the country. The pandemic has highlighted the need for healthy buildings, and they are both seeing an increase in investors and tenants choosing certified sustainable offices over conventional buildings.

Many developers have also stepped up their commitment to building green recognizing their huge role in creating a sustainable future for everyone.

“Arthaland’s Board of Directors established a mandate that all our developments must be certified sustainable and emphasizing that we must conduct our business while creating environmental and social value for all,” Pobre said.

As the first Philippine and Asian property developer to be a signatory to the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment of the World Green Building Council, Arthaland is committed to decarbonize its development operations by 2030.

The commitment sends a bold and clear statement to the industry that building green can drive profit while advancing climate action and creating a better future for all.

The Philippines should continue to build its new and upcoming building stock as resilient and high-performing green buildings. And the time has come to increase its focus on performance monitoring of the existing building stock.

Both these approaches would address, first and foremost, the reduction of CO2 emissions through resource efficiency.

It also serves to promote human health and well-being inside LEED-certified buildings and creates a resilient built-environment thereby future-proofing the building’s performance.

With the increasing demand for sustainable projects, capacity building must follow to support the growth. USGBC’s education platform provides the best, most up-to-date green education courses for today’s market, professionals and students alike.

It equips them with proper tools to take advantage of opportunities and address the challenges related to the sustainable built environment.

For Perez, consulting is very challenging in this day and age as clients look at it as an added expense. That is why they are investing on training their people to get the necessary certifications to provide more value to their clients.

The students of Mapúa Malayan Colleges, on the other hand, benefit from the more than 900 green building and sustainability courses that will prepare them for a career in green building.

“The future of green building is in the hands of our youth. We expose our students to both theory and practice through involvement in long term projects and real-world experience,” said Maestrecampo.

The USGBC is also doing its part to advance the green school’s movement through free educational courses for school staff and engaging students in data-based investigations.

This will prepare them to succeed in 21st-century careers that value systems thinking and problem-solving. To date, there are more than 200 active green building professionals with LEED accreditation in the Philippines.

The event featured an exclusive award ceremony acknowledging the efforts of the green building leaders and 24 LEED-certified projects in 2022.

Arthaland, Ayala Land, Balenciaga, Daiichi Properties, Filinvest Land, Green Asia Resources Corporation, IRMO Inc., Megaworld Corporation, Metro Pacific Tollways South Corporation, NOVA Construction and Development, Robinson Land, SM Keppel Land, SM Prime Holdings and Union Bank of the Philippines are few prestigious organizations from the Philippines that were awarded LEED certifications for their projects during the event.