Local developer takes Paris Treaty challenge head-on

MANILA, Philippines - Among all the global initiatives in combating climate change, the most important of them all would probably be the United Nations Climate Change Conference. This yearly conference, which in 1992 made a large headway in the fight against climate change with the Kyoto Protocol, focuses on creating agreements  that push countries into finding ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG).

In the recently concluded 21st Conference of the Parties (also known as COP21) held in France, 195 members of the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change finalized an agreement that would create protocols mitigating carbon emissions in both developed and developing countries.

Indeed, in more recent years, initiatives to combat global warming have become part and parcel of business operations all over the world.

In the real estate industry in particular, property developers are not just focused on meeting physical needs, but environmental needs as well. The call to combat global warming is fast becoming, among development, a necessity rather than an added feature. Property developers undeniably plan an important role in the overall scheme of things – imagining, testing, and building nature-adaptive and innovative structures that work with the environment and respond to environmental concerns.

The Philippines, which is among the most vulnerable to climate change, joined the other 42 middle-economy and small-island developing nations of the Climate Vulnerable Forum in promising to limit their carbon emissions to 1.5 degrees Celsius. This means that local property developers now carry a heavier role in implementing effective and responsive measures that make sure that it alleviates carbon emission levels, but also meets the target by year 2030.

According to Eric Manuel, vice president for business development of Daiichi Properties: “We’ve seen how green technology has improved on building designs in countries abroad. What we need now is for more property developers to emulate that same success and efficiency in projects here in the Philippines.”

A number of buildings here in the Philippines have already received certifications in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), a program which accredits green buildings and recognizes best-in-class building strategies and, practices.

Among them, Daiichi’s own One World Place is already a pre-certified gold level LEED project. It is recognized as the first commercial building in Southeast Asia to feature “monsoon windows,” a concept which allows outside air into the building, improving the cooling system and providing more natural ventilation in public areas. It also features a system that collects rainwater and gray water which helps manage water consumption, efficient insulated glass, and a solar-reflecting coating that helps to lower electricity costs.