An office building under the portfolio of Robinsons Land Corp.’s real estate investment trust (REIT) RL Commercial REIT (RCR) has been recognized for its green building efforts as it was named the first Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies (EDGE)-certified REIT building in the country.
RCR said Robinsons Cyberscape Gamma in the Ortigas Central Business district in Pasig City was awarded the EDGE certificate by the Philippine Green Building Initiative (PBGI) after an assessment of its audit report.
EDGE is an international green building certification system that focuses purely on energy, water, and embodied energy in materials for a quantitative approach to sustainability.
The World Bank’s International Finance Corp. (IFC) created EDGE to respond to the need for a measurable and credible solution to prove the business case for building green and to unlock financial investment.
PGBI vice chairman Amado De Jesus, Jr. congratulated RLC upon achieving final EDGE certification for Robinsons Cyberscape Gamma.
“Our assessment confirms the auditor’s report that Robinsons Cyberscape Gamma’s resource-efficient design will result in reduction of 34 percent in energy, 31 percent in water and 69 percent in materials’ embodied energy compared to a local base case,” De Jesus said.
Cyberscape Gamma’s EDGE certificate shows that it successfully reduced energy consumption because of its lower window-to-wall ratio, use of high-performance glass, fresh air pre-conditioning system, efficient lighting, and power factor correction.
It also has water-saving measures such as the installation of water-efficient faucets and urinals and a rainwater harvesting system. The building also uses material-efficient floor and roof slabs, window-glazing, and interior and exterior walls.
“Together with IFC, we rely on the expertise of those in the industry so that we are continuously advancing the capabilities of EDGE and increasing our standard in marketplaces around the world,” De Jesus said.
As an internationally-recognized green building certification system, EDGE can be deployed to fulfill the requirements of prominent global standards.
The Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) includes EDGE as a qualifying certification system for improved scoring for the GRESB Real Estate Assessment and the GRESB Developer Assessment.
GRESB is the global standard for ESG benchmarking and is used by investors to obtain data on the ESG performance of real assets.
The International Capital Markets Association recognizes EDGE as a qualifying certification system in its green bond principles, which are a set of guidelines recommended for issuing green bonds.
The Climate Bonds Initiative also includes EDGE as a qualifying certification system to achieve the Climate Bonds Standard and Certification Scheme. EDGE certification fulfills both residential and commercial requirements for the allocation of proceeds from green bonds.
“This is an important milestone for Robinsons Offices and especially for RCR,” said Jericho Go, RLC senior vice president and general manager for offices and RCR president.
He added that RLC is looking to increase the impact of its sustainability initiatives, while delivering value to the business, by incorporating sustainable development features in all its properties, to fight climate change.
RLC continues to engage green-certified contractors and consultants, as well as establish guidelines on landscaping, to achieve carbon neutrality and improve resiliency,” Go said.
RLC has also created its own roadmap toward a net zero carbon ambition by 2050, in line with the global push to limit global warming to within 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The company is also committed to harness clean and renewable energy (RE) as it intends to use clean power in all its current and future mall projects, in line with its goal of shifting power requirements to RE sources by 2035.
