Ayala Land Hotels and Resorts is the country's first hotel group to target Edge Zero Carbon Certification by 2026. 

"We at Ayala Land have been steadfast in our allegiance to sustainability and this partnership with IFC is a significant step in ensuring environmental sustainability in our hotel group. These efforts fall in line with Ayala Group's commitment to achieve zero greenhouse gas emission by 2050," said Mariana Zobel de Ayala, senior vice president, Leasing and Hospitality head, Ayala Land Inc.

An innovation of International Finance Corporation, 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 the base case. It requires 40 percent savings on energy use via onsite measures. Buildings must be carbon neutral.

Zero Carbon, meanwhile, is a globally recognized net zero building certification and the highest of three levels of certification for EDGE.

This move by AHRC follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Ayala Land Inc., AREIT, and IFC in September 2023, aimed at achieving EDGE Zero Carbon certification for 1.5 million square meters by 2025.

"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," IFC Philippines country manager Jean-Marc Arbogast said.