To proactively address the negative impacts of climate change, a coalition of public and private sector leaders representing more than 300 organizations committed to promoting sustainability in the property sector, the Philippine Green Building Council, has launched BERDE Project, which stands for Building for Ecologically Responsive Design Excellence.

The PHILGBC, an alliance of leaders with corporate members and partners in the building industry, leads the action in greening. Its built environment in the Philippines with the objective to ensure a sustainable environment where everyone can live, work and play.

The program was established to develop the Philippines' own national voluntary green building projects in the country, inspire confidence and build trust in the industry.

The group also kicked off the Green Building Rating System, developed under the project, as a tool to assess, measure, monitor, and certify the performance of green building projects above and beyond existing national and local building and environmental laws, regulations, and mandatory standards.

The program is recognized by the Philippines government, through the Department of Energy, as the National Voluntary Green Building Rating System.

The PHILGBC developed the BERDE Buildings Version 4.2.0 rating tool as a compliance and policy support tool to measure the performance of buildings above and beyond building and environmental laws, regulations, and mandatory standards.

The rating tool was also developed as a guidance tool as the project's User Guide is made freely available online and may be used in guiding the design, construction, and operations of projects in a resource-efficient, economically viable and socially responsible manner.