Energy Development Corp. said Tuesday its sustainability reporting signals the company’s response to the need for businesses and individuals to go beyond sustainability that simply seeks to do less harm.
EDC, the country’s geothermal leader, said it marked nine years of reporting on its sustainability performance following the Global Reporting Initiative’s framework.
EDC said in a statement it was enhancing its business performance and impact by fostering regenerative development—a globally emerging business principle centered on elevating everything that the company touches.
The IR framework is set forth by the International Integrated Reporting Council and seeks to go beyond organizational impact on the “triple bottom line” of people, planet and profit, extending to how the company intends to create value in the short to medium and long term.
EDC’s shift is also articulated through the Lopez Group’s renewed mission statement—“forging collaborative pathways for a decarbonized and regenerative future.”
The company said its key achievement in 2019 was attaining lower carbon intensity in its operations achieved through several efficiency initiatives across its operations, such as power plant retrofitting, cooling tower improvements and replacements and timely completion of planned outages during preventive maintenance.
Carbon intensity refers to the emission rate of a given pollutant relative to a business metric to signify the intensity of a specific activity.
EDC’s carbon footprint, being a 100-percent renewable energy company, is only a tenth of an average coal power plant’s carbon footprint.
This is on top of EDC’s efforts to be carbon-neutral year after year, with its annual carbon sequestration of 3.9 metric tons of CO2 from the watersheds that it manages in its geothermal reservations and carbon emissions of only 865,652 tons from its operations.
Apart from reforesting close to 10,000 hectares of land and planting over six million seedlings in the past 11 years, EDC has been able to partner with 178 various public and private organizations all over the country to help restore 96 threatened native tree species—making BINHI the country’s biggest and most extensive private sector-led greening programs.
Another important factor in EDC’s shift to regenerative development is the commitment of its employees which are its most valuable capital.
EDC president Richard Tantoco said the company was able to record-high overall employee engagement rating of 91 percent. “Our employees are truly our partners, and these results indicate that they are willing to go the extra mile to support EDC,” he said.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic in the first quarter, EDC sought to keep its facilities running to supply the essential resource of electricity throughout the nation through its employees.
“Our teams continue to outperform to keep EDC ahead of the curve by not only providing an uninterrupted supply of clean, renewable power to our customers but also by keeping our employees and their families safe,” said Tantoco.
