BACKGROUND

The Climate Change Commission (CCC), in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through the NDC Support Project for the Philippines (NSPP), initiated the development of Philippine Standards for Climate-Smart Buildings (CSB). The development of the CSB Standards includes scoping studies on existing policies, frameworks and best practices locally and internationally, as well as assessment of existing metrics or indicators. These activities are intended to holistically generate the interest of stakeholders from various sectors in order to sustainably adopt and comply with said standards in support of Climate-Smart Buildings. The CSB will be used to provide inputs to the Philippine Green Building (GB) Code which was institutionalized by the Department of Public Works and Highways in June 2015. The Green Building Code (GBC) is a referral code of the National Building Code (NBC, PD 1096) of the Philippines and must be periodically reviewed every three (3) years by the Department of Public Works and Highways.

OBJECTIVES

As the country finalizes its first Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to be submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the development of the CSB Standards and its Implementation Plan would, among others, include measures to strengthen partnerships and institutional arrangements and to intensify or enhance advocacy and capacity building strategies to promote inclusive, convergent, and sustainable implementation and compliance with the standards. This shall include promoting the integration of the standards in the practice of the building industry professionals.

The CSB Standards will be based on the synthesis of the latest climate science, internationally and nationally adopted parameters, standards, and indicators. Hence, the CSB standards development should include formulating and/or identifying both mitigation and adaptation measures for the built environment in the form of standard features appropriate to the Philippines’ climate and environmental vulnerabilities, taking into account the vertical and horizontal approach as well as the circular economy. As the country continues to face the adverse impacts of climate change such as extreme weather events, design standards for buildings must incorporate elements that make CSBs the first line of defense against natural climate-related disasters. CSBs’ focus is to have old and new structures as places of safety and security, that even in the face of future lockdown threats due to another health outbreak, buildings and communities are able to thrive, with at the very least, basic necessities, such as food and water in order to survive.

To showcase ongoing efforts of the government on CSB standards development, a 2-day CSB Web-Conference on the CSB Standards will be conducted as part of the annual National Global Warming and Climate Change Consciousness Week celebrations being spearheaded by CCC with the theme, “Towards a Climate-Smart Built-Environment for the Philippines”.

Recognizing the strategic role of the private sector, this 2-day event will be held in collaboration with Green Architecture Advocacy Philippines (GreenAP), under its 17th Green Forum – the Philippines’ longest-running Green Architecture event. The Web-Conference is a special feature also supported by the United Architects of the Philippines (UAP) and Green Restorative Actions and Sustainable Solutions (GRASS).

PROCESS

The CSB Web-Conference will revolve around two major topics: (i) Designing for the Environment: Beyond Efficiencies, and (ii) Designing with Technology: Tools and Techniques for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation which consequently make up the programs for the first and second days of the Webinar.

The first-day webinar is comprised of plenary sessions on (i) Regenerative Built-Environment Systems Thinking including a discussion on CSB features for disaster preparedness, (ii) Strategies on Food Generation, and (iii) Strategies on Water Security. Each plenary session will be keynoted by leadership messages from representatives of both private and public sectors to be followed by a panel discussion wherein reactors from the same fields will provide inputs and technical knowledge either on the leadership message/presentation or the plenary session’s topic. To wrap up the fruitful discussion, a resolution report will be presented at the end of the program.

The program for second-day webinar, on the other hand, is comprised of plenary sessions on (i) Net-Zero towards Net Positive, (ii) Sustainability-Measuring-Technologies: Role of Information Technology for Building’s Performance, and (iii) Indoor Environment, Air quality & Hands-free Technology. As with the first-day webinar, it will have the panel discussions and presentation of the resolution report.

PARTICIPANTS

Officials, representatives, and/or members of:
▪ The DPWH, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA)
▪ Local Government Units, Leagues of Municipalities of the Philippines, League of Cities of the Philippines, Philippine League of Environment and Natural Resources Officers
▪ NSPP Project National Steering Committee
▪ NDC Technical Working Group
▪ CCC’s National Panel of Technical Experts
▪ Philippine Regulatory Commission
▪ United Architects of the Philippines, Officers and Leaders
▪ Philippine Institute of Environmental Planners
▪ Philippine Association of Landscape Architects
▪ Philippine Society of Mechanical Engineers
▪ Institute of Electrical Engineer of the Philippines
▪ Other Non-Government Organization/Civic Groups
▪ Alliance for Safe, Sustainable and Resilient Environment (ASSURE)
▪ Philippine Constructors Association (PCA)
▪ Philippine Green Building Council (PhilGBC)
▪ Philippine Green Building Institute (PGBI)
▪ Other Built-Environment Groups and Organizations
▪ ICLEI – Local Government for Sustainability
▪ Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation
▪ UP Resilience Institute
▪ Movement for Water Security

Participation in the Web-Conference is by invitation and requires online pre-registration.

GREEN WEBINAR POLICY

This is a green event. Every effort will be made to reduce the overall carbon footprint of the activity and to protect human health and the environment. Information and knowledge management materials/products will be disseminated and/or presented virtually.