The Net Zero Carbon Alliance (NZCA) called for a stronger collaboration between the private sector and the government to realize the country’s net- zero carbon emissions goal by 2050.
NZCA, led by renewable energy leader Energy Development Corp. (EDC), also said there should be a clear government framework on how the country plans to achieve its net-zero goals.
“There should be clearly a pathway to zero, specifically each country has to have a bespoke solution on their decarbonization journey. Decarbonization actually translates in mathematical terms to increased electrification so you will need more electricity to decarbonize but that source of electricity has to come from renewable energy sources,” EDC chairman Francis Giles Puno said during the NZCA 2nd anniversary forum.
EDC, owned by First Gen Corp., initiated in 2021 NZCA, a pioneering consortium of Philippine enterprises aiming for carbon neutrality as a transition to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
“The question is how do we do that math towards Net-Zero? Accommodate the early retirement of existing fossil fuel, save some money on all of this imported fuel and then figure out the math,” Puno said.
He said achieving net-zero is a challenge for the Philippines, and the formula to attaining it may be more expensive.
Wan Yang, head of sustainability solutions, APAC at the British Standards Institution (BSI), said governments should set examples by setting carbon-reduction targets while setting the regulation for compliance of businesses.
“There needs to be some requirements or regulations or policies to ask them to calculate their carbon emissions. That could be the first step to do,” Yang said.
BSI, CEMEX Holdings Philippines, ECC International, EV Mobility Ventures, First Philippine Industrial Park, Holcim Philippines, Mondelez Philippines, Monde Nissin Corp. and People360 Consulting Group signed the pledge of commitment to carbon neutrality at the annual NZCA conference held recently in Ortigas Center, Pasig City.
EDC president and chief operating officer Jerome Cainglet said they received interest from numerous organizations and companies to be part of NZCA.
He said this is a strong indication that many businesses are now aware of the need to step up their decarbonization programs.
This year’s forum, with the theme “Zeroing in on Net-Zero: From Corporate Pledges to Action”, was organized by EDC in partnership with Eco-Business, Asia Pacific’s largest media and business intelligence organization dedicated to sustainable development and ESG (environmental, social and governance) performance.
Close to 200 delegates from 69 companies participated in plenary sessions with industry experts and representatives from NZCA member-companies on best practices in climate action, as well as existing and emerging solutions to accelerate the Philippines’ private sector net-zero journey. These included carbon capture technology, green investments and financing, continuing government legislation and incentivization, and greening the supply value chain.
The consortium also strengthened its call for vigilance against greenwashing and urged the private sector to increasingly implement measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) in climate change mitigation efforts.
“Intent is not enough. Impact is what we are after. We’ve already seen the outcome first-hand in carbon markets and ESG frameworks, where investigation after investigation revealed the gap between intention and reality. Sound data must sit at the heart of all net-zero action,” said Laure Beaufils, British Ambassador to the Philippines and Palau, in her opening keynote during the event.
NZCA’s list of partners include Arthaland, Converge ICT Solutions, Drink sustainability communications, Ecolab, First Balfour, Knowles Electronics, INAEC Aviation, Menarco Development Corporation, Silliman University, SGV & Co and Unilever Philippines. This year, NZCA also enlisted Eco-Business and Ako Ang Bukas multi-sectoral environmental movement of the Green Convergence coalition as enabler partners.