Mexico City, Mexico, November 6, 2012—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, awarded its first two EDGE (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies) green building certifications to Mexican hotel chain Hoteles City Express and homebuilder Vinte Viviendas Integrales.

The two IFC clients were selected to pilot EDGE, an innovative green building certification system for emerging economies. EDGE was created to encourage business development in green buildings and to meet demand for a faster, simpler, and more affordable green-building certification process. It helps identify technical solutions at a building’s early design stage to increase resource efficiencies and reduce impacts on human health and the environment.

City Express was the first company worldwide to receive the certification for its hotel in Villahermosa, Mexico. VINTE received its certification for Privada Cresida, an affordable housing development in the Mexican state of Querétaro de Arteaga.

For their projects to earn certification, both companies had to achieve EDGE’s minimum standard 20 percent reduction in the use of energy, water, and other materials when compared to local benchmarks. Four more City Express hotels are being assessed by the EDGE program, along with one additional VINTE housing development.

"City Express was founded with a vision for sustainability, and this has been reflected in the company's actions across its hotel network,” said Luis Barrios, CEO of City Express. “IFC's EDGE certification provides an incentive to maintain and improve our processes for protecting the environment.”

"The EDGE certification provided by IFC will help expand sustainable financing from development institutions, which will facilitate the replication of our inclusive business model,” said Sergio Leal, CEO of VINTE.

With building-related greenhouse emissions likely doubling by 2030 and 70 percent of the world’s population living in urban areas by 2050, the demand for low-cost and energy-efficient buildings is growing. Green construction responds by lowering operating costs, reducing carbon footprints, and generating jobs through home-grown innovation.

“Now is the time to encourage large-scale adoption of green building design, before it is too late,” said Prashant Kapoor, IFC’s Senior Industry Specialist for Green Buildings. “By introducing EDGE, IFC has brought a solution to the marketplace that spells out the cost advantages of building green, while at the same time defining a much-needed universal green building standard.”

For more information on EDGE, contact IFC’s Climate Business Group at edge@ifc.org, or visit www.ifc.org/edge.

About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. We help developing countries achieve sustainable growth by financing investment, mobilizing capital in international financial markets, and providing advisory services to businesses and governments. In FY12, our investments reached an all-time high of more than $20 billion, leveraging the power of the private sector to create jobs, spark innovation, and tackle the world’s most pressing development challenges. For more information, visit www.ifc.org.

About City Express:
Hoteles City Express, S.A.P.I. de C.V. (“City Express”) was founded in 2002 and is engaged in the development and operation of budget business hotels for the middle and mid-low income markets in Mexico and Latin America.  It has successfully implemented 69 hotels and contributed significantly to increasing the competitiveness and standards of the hotel industry in Mexico’s second- and third-tier cities. City Express will open its first property outside of Mexico in San Jose, Costa Rica in November 2012. For more, visit www.cityexpress.com.mx.

About VINTE
Founded in 2001, VINTE is a homebuilder specializing in affordable, sustainable housing for low- and middle-income families in Mexico. As a vertically integrated company, VINTE has operations that span land acquisition, housing design, housing development planning, and construction.  VINTE’s shareholders have a collective vision to raise housing standards in Mexico while providing innovative, value-added affordable housing. For more information, visit www.vinte.com.mx.