MANILA, Philippines — Hundreds of trade organizations promoting green technology are gathering in the country’s first-ever Green Philippines 2011 next month.

Event chairman Engr. Cezar Punsalan disclosed that Green Philippines 2011 aims to promote sustainable innovations and technologies, along with influencing people to go green.

“We aim to promote lifestyle change for a better environment and a better life,” he said during a press conference held Saturday at the SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia Complex, which will also be the venue of the event to be held on August 17-19, 2011.

Organized by Global-Link Exhibitions Specialist, Inc. (GESI), Philippine Constructors Association, Inc. (PCA), Philippine Society of Ventilating, Air-Conditioning, and Refrigerating Engineers, Inc. (PSVARE), Philippine Center for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development, Inc. (PCEPSDI), and Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) Manila Chapter, the event will highlight four major sectors which include building and construction, energy, manufacturing and lifestyle.

The three-day event will feature four exhibit segments representing each category – Green Construct, Green Energy, Green Living and Lifestyle, and Green Manufacturing. It will also be holding two conferences with world-renowned speakers in the construction industry and government and business officials.

The 2nd Sustainable Building Technology Conference will provide the learning, buying and selling platform for the construction industry and the GP3 Conference 2011 which aims to educate business executives, government officials, and other professionals on current best practices and strategies for green growth.

Engr. Levi Espiritu, president of the PCA, expressed confidence that the gathering will showcase that business and environment can go together. “We hope that the exhibit (and conference) shall impart the important message of balance between business and environment and shall make it an effective platform for addressing inter-link agency concerns for sustainable development,” he said.

Architect Felino Palafox, president of the Management Association of the Philippines, said that development must focus on the triple bottom line – people, planet, and profit. “There must be a balance on these three aspects. Before, we used to regulate but now, we need to stimulate green and environment-friendly policies because with going green comes a new paradigm for society,” he said.

He also revealed that the gathering will be a venue to strengthen public and private partnership and will give them the opportunity to discuss reduction of taxes for green construction. “In other countries, green construction and manufacturing get financial bonuses from the government because they are cleaning the environment. But in the Philippines, green developers are taxed by around a high of 35 percent. It is like we are penalized for cleaning the environment,” Palafox said.

Espiritu said that the PCA has endorsed to the Construction Industry Association of the Philippines (CIAP) the roadmap for the construction industry in the country and strengthening the CIAP from regulatory functions to developmental. “By shifting from regulatory which imposes sanctions, going developmental is by giving an effective rewards and incentive system,” he said.

With this, June Alvarez, executive director of PCEPSDI, expressed hope that the event will enable the government to strengthen its policies in green sustainable development. “We hope that the government will present to us its climate change action plan in line with our goals of fighting climate change with green strategies, strengthening the core of sustainable development, and building a better future. We also expect that the gathering will make industries updated with the current trends and make environmentally preferred products,” he said.