BPI inks pioneering deal with IFC as partner for more green buildings
Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) has signed a pioneering agreement with the Philippine Green Building Initiative (PGBI), the local partner of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, to help turn more buildings in the country into energy-saving, low-carbon, and environment-friendly structures.
PGBI is a private organization which promotes compliance to the Philippine Green Building Code (PGBC) and conducts training and certification programs for auditors and technical experts on the code, whose implementation started in February 2016.
Under the memorandum of understanding (MOU) recently signed by the two parties, BPI and PGBI will help BPI clients comply with the code, and help building developers and project owners, who wish to acquire a green building certification, by guiding them in using and complying with IFC's EDGE, short for Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies. EDGE measures actual savings on water, energy, and materials via a free online tool. PGBI is pushing for the EDGE certification system because of its worldwide recognition and its green building verification standards backed by the World Bank.
“Aside from the opportunity to help clients comply with the green building code, this underpins our commitment to doing business with a purpose, our contribution to the protection of the environment,” said Cezar P. Consing, BPI President and CEO.
New hotels, malls, offices, residential condominiums, schools, hospitals, and other mixed occupancy buildings are mandated to comply with the code. For example, a hotel with at least 10,000 square meters of gross floor area must meet minimum standards of energy efficiency, water and wastewater management, materials sustainability, solid waste management, site sustainability, and indoor environmental quality.
At present, BPI is the leading bank in sustainable energy finance (SEF), with a dedicated SEF team and a total energy savings and production totaling 4,062 Gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity from 2008 until September 2017. This is roughly equivalent to cutting 3 million metric tons of CO2 emissions or foregoing the consumption of 6.9 million barrels of oil. It is equivalent to planting 98.4 million trees.
Since 2008, BPI successfully provided financing for 272 projects involving energy efficiency, renewable energy, and climate resilience, which helps clients adapt to climate changes while improving efficiency and lowering energy costs.
BPI launched its partnership with IFC in 2008, when the two parties started helping clients with free energy walk-through audits, technical evaluation, technical sessions, vendor track record verification, and assistance from a highly trained SEF team. Moreover, IFCprovided a 50% guarantee cover for eligible SEF loans to BPI clients of up to R200 million.
Through this new MOU with PGBI, BPI aims to continue helping clients create a business case that demonstrates a decrease in building operating and maintenance costs, climate resilience, and overall increase in the bottomline.