An article by Mickael Feige, Eco-business.com.

The development of green buildings in Thailand started just a few years ago. It is in 2007 that the first certified green building in Bangkok was inaugurated. The number has rapidly increased since, nearly doubling every year, and Thailand now accounts for 22 LEED and TREES certified green buildings. If we add the registered green buildings not yet certified, there would be another 67 buildings to add to the list.

In Thailand, a building is certified green if it complies with a number of requirements. There are two main certifications in Thailand: LEED which is the US certification launched by the US Green Building Council and the local Thai certification called TREES, launched by the Thai Green Building Institute which includes some of the LEED requirements such as energy consumption, material and resources, indoor environmental quality, but adds specific requirements such as building management.

Corporate branding spurs green building adoption

According to a white paper titled “Thailand’s Green Buildings Goals” recently released by Solidiance, several factors have encouraged building owners in Thailand to go green in these past six years, with improving corporate image and CSR as parts of the key drivers quoted by companies. Large corporations are more and more sensitive to green concepts to project a better corporate image, especially if these firms develop eco-friendly products. Toyota Motor Corporation Thailand is a good example of a company embracing the green building concept to build an even more eco-friendly image. The Japanese automaker is implementing a worldwide initiative to convert existing dealerships into green buildings. In Thailand, 374 dealers will take part in the program that will run until 2015. Already about 30 dealerships have received the TREES certification. The idea is for the dealership to meet specific standards in energy, water, and quality management to become certified. New eco-dealerships benefit on average of a 40 per cent reduction in energy consumption.

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