KONE, a global leader in the elevator and escalator industry, is reinforcing its longterm commitment to the Philippines with future-ready solutions that help extend building lifespans, modernize aging infrastructure, and reduce carbon emissions.
At its signature KONEct 2025 customer event in Manila, the company shared its strategy to support buildings throughout their lifecycle – from construction to modernization and long-term maintenance – and introduced the KONE High-Rise MiniSpace DX elevator. This move underscores KONE’s role as a strategic partner in the Philippines’ built environment and climate action journey, contributing to the development of resilient, low-carbon cities.
Building future-ready urban infrastructure
Anchored in KONE’s global “Rise” strategy (2025 – 2030), the company’s approach and offerings integrate smart solutions for new building construction, predictive maintenance, and energy-efficient modernization. These services help developers and property owners extend asset life, optimize people flow, and reduce environmental impact – while minimizing the premature demolition of elevators and escalators or replacement of equipment.
Today, more than 40% of elevators in Asia Pacific have been operating for over 25 years. Yet only a small portion have been modernized to meet current safety and energy standards, highlighting the urgent need for sustainable infrastructure renewal across the region.
“As cities in the Philippines rapidly expand, we are committed to growing with them sustainably and strategically,” said Petteri Kyrklund, KONE’s Managing Director for Philippines. “From enabling bold new developments to revitalizing aging buildings, we are proud to support every stage of the building journey across the country.”
Supporting climate goals with smarter sustainability
Buildings account for nearly 40% of global carbon emissions, with two-thirds of these emissions stemming from daily operations. KONE’s approach and solutions help address this challenge by maximizing equipment longevity, minimizing waste, and upgrading only what’s essential.
This supports the Philippines’ Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), which targets a 75% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
“Driving sustainability isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s an urgent necessity,” said Effie Chew, KONE’s Head of Environment and Sustainability for Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa. “For fast-developing countries like the Philippines, modernizing existing buildings and embedding energy-efficient technology are key to achieving climate goals while improving quality of life.
KONE’s carbon-reduction strategy includes carbon-neutral elevator and escalator systems, energy-saving regenerative drives and gearless motors, and remote diagnostics that reduce technician travel and emissions. The company is committed to cutting operational emissions by 50%, as well as emissions from its products’ materials and lifetime energy consumption by 40% by 2030.
Modernizing without demolishing: A smarter urban strategy
With 80% of the buildings that will exist in 2050 already built, the challenge is no longer just about constructing new spaces, but adapting the ones we have. In dense urban centers like Metro Manila and Cebu, KONE is promoting modernization as the sustainable alternative to demolition, preserving value while cutting environmental costs.
The company supports this shift through condition-based maintenance, data-driven lifecycle planning, and modular upgrades that reduce disruption and maximize longterm asset value. Building owners can retain key components such as guide rails and counterweights, avoiding full system replacements and cutting embodied carbon emissions by 78%.
Additional energy savings come from gearless motors, smart standby modes, and regenerative drives that return electricity to the building. All modernization packages are installed with KONE 24/7 Connect, which leverages artificial intelligence (AI)-based analytics to enable predictive maintenance, enhancing reliability, minimizing downtime, and ensuring a smoother experience for building users.
Introducing the High-Rise MiniSpace DX elevator in the Philippines
The highlight of KONEct 2025 was the Philippine debut of the KONE High-Rise MiniSpace™ DX elevator, a next generation solution designed for new and existing buildings over 150 meters. It brings together compact design, digital intelligence, and energy efficiency to meet the demands of the modern urban skyline.
The KONE High-Rise MiniSpace DX delivers up to 30% energy savings in daily operations and up to 70% savings when replacing older systems. Its KONE UltraRope® hoisting technology, which is 80% lighter than traditional steel ropes, reduces energy use on long trips by up to 15%. Furthermore, its compact machine-room footprint makes it ideal for retrofitting in dense urban environments, while its advanced destination control system and digital connectivity enhance people flow and reduce wait times.
With its future-ready solutions, KONE is helping Philippine cities scale sustainably, meet emerging building standards, and improve urban quality of life for generations to come.
