Ayala Land Hotels and Resorts Becomes The First Hotel Group in the Philippines to Target Edge Zero Carbon Certification by 2026

March 2024…..AyalaLand Hotels and Resorts Corp (AHRC) has signed an agreement with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) signifying its commitment to achieve EDGE Zero Carbon certification for 2,826 rooms in its hotel portfolio by 2026, a first for a hotel group in the Philippines.

EDGE Zero Carbon is a globally recognized net zero building certification and the highest of three levels of certification for EDGE, which stands for Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies. An innovation of IFC, EDGE is a green building certification system that promotes resource-efficient, low-carbon buildings, requiring a 20 percent improvement for each of energy use, water use, and embodied carbon in materials compared to base case. EDGE Zero Carbon goes further, requiring 40 percent savings on energy use via onsite measures, and that the buildings must be carbon neutral, through renewable energy, carbon offsets, or a combination of both. AHRC’s pursuit of EDGE Zero Carbon certification follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Ayala Land Inc (ALI), AREIT, and IFC in September 2023, aimed at achieving EDGE Zero Carbon certification for 1.5 million square meters by 2025, establishing the Philippines’ largest net zero building portfolio, of which 354,000 square meters (eight buildings) have been certified.

According to IFC Philippines Country Manager, Jean-Marc Arbogast, "IFC is proud to support Ayala Land in their pursuit of EDGE Zero Carbon certification for their hotel portfolio. Ayala Land is a longstanding partner of IFC and we hope this latest commitment will spur more partners from the hospitality industry to translate their net zero commitments to concrete climate action." Javier Hernandez, Head of Hotels Group says that "While we will initially target EDGE Zero Carbon Certification for 11 of our hotel buildings with 2,826 rooms, the view is to add more to this in the future."