Manila, Philippines – The Philippine Green Building Council held a certification training programme for Green Professionals. On July 11-13, 2018 at the Dusit Thani Manila, PHILGBC conducted the BERDE Professionals Basic Training Course with professionals coming from different areas of the country.

The BERDE Professionals Basic Training Course is designed to provide participants robust understanding of the BERDE Green Building Rating System and prepare them to be Certified BERDE Professionals (CBP). CBPs are individuals who have the expertise to assist project proponents pursue BERDE Green Building Certification. BERDE measures how a building performs above and beyond existing national and local building and environmental laws, regulations, and mandatory standards. BERDE is recognised as the Philippines’ National Voluntary Green Building Rating System recognised under the Department of Energy’s Philippine Energy Efficiency Project-Efficient Buildings Initiative.

At the national level, as the recognised as the National Voluntary Green Building Rating System by the Philippine government, several national agencies have been using BERDE as a guide in developing policies and programmes for green building and sustainability for the building sector. At the local level, several local governments within the Philippines have incorporated BERDE as part of their policy to ensure the environmental performance of projects within their jurisdictions.

The Province of Cebu has established its green and resilient building programme that requires all provincial government buildings to be designed, constructed, and operated as green buildings. They also recognised BERDE as a tool for measuring the performance of buildings.

At the city-level, Quezon City, Mandaluyong City, Manila City, Pasig City and Mandaue City has established their own green building policies, identifying their own requirements and incentives for green buildings for their cities. Mandaue City and Pasig City uses BERDE as their tool to measure the performance of the design, construction, and operations of buildings in their cities. Buildings in planned unit developments are required to have BERDE Certification. In addition, project owners may apply for incentives if they achieve a higher rating under BERDE for their buildings.