EDC: Forging pathways for regenerative future
Aft er championing sustainability, the Energy Development Corp. ( EDC) recently said it is high time to be regenerative to ensure the survival of the planet.
“For us in the Lopez Group of Companies, which EDC is a part of, it is about aligning our business, our resources and our capabilities to fulfill a mission. That is to elevate everything we touch,” EDC President Richard Tantoco said.
Tantoco gave his address at a recent virtual forum on the Global Catholic Climate Movement’s series in celebration of the “Season of Creation,” a monthlong prayerful observance that calls on the planet’s 2.2 billion Christians to pray and care for God’s creation.
Forging collaborative pathways
Tantoco said regeneration means “everything,” including the group’s employees, community, environment, co- creators ( such as their customers, partners, contractors, suppliers) and shareholders.
He said that nobody should be left behind to benefit from the positive impact of their decisions and actions.
“While our investors are important, regenerative thinking demands that we look at our business from a wider lens than just profitability,” Tantoco explained.
“This year, we crystallized our mission among our group of companies, including EDC, and that is ‘ to forge collaborative pathways for a decarbonized and regenerative future.’”
EDC deliberately set a high bar and and expect the green company to use this short, 10- word phrase to be the beacon that guide them through this turbulent decade and beyond.
“We recognize that our planet’s life support systems and social institutions are now at a breaking point. Unbridled consumption and primacy of bottomline growth are at the root of the climate crisis. Our alienation from nature, and the profound social and economic divisions, have become existential threats to humanity today,” Tantoco explained.
Paradigm shift
To hurdle the challenges, he said, will require a paradigm shift in the ways the company thinks, lives and does business.
He said EDC has now realized that pursuing sustainability that seeks only to do less harm is no longer good enough.
Instead, EDC needs to create symbiotic, mutually beneficial relationships with nature and society that benefit more than just shareholders.
Tantoco urged to become a regenerative force that elevates everything that they touch— customers, employees, suppliers, contractors, the environment, communities and investors.
He said the transformation should be a collective undertaking because each stakeholder has a unique role to play.
He said the collective success will be measured by how quickly “we can decouple economic and social prosperity from the destruction of our planet’s life support systems.”
EDC selected this path because it believes this is the only way to thrive and prosper on a healthy planet.
“We choose this path because we believe it is the only way to create lasting value for all stakeholders and not just shareholders,” he explained.
Tantoco said EDC and the rest in the Lopez Group still have a long way to go and they are a work in progress.
Litmus test
Nevert heless , he said EDC has always strived to foster a healthy and positive working environment. The Covid- 19 was the litmus test for the management to show its genuine familial care.
While most of the staff were required to work from home, EDC formed a skeletal force that expertly operates its power plants and they are provided with good sleeping quarters, appetizing food, and stable Internet ”so they can always get in touch with their loved ones while working on site.”
Even before the start of the lockdown, Tantoco said EDC has been conducting climate- change workshops, helping the stakeholders find ways to reduce their energy consumption and become more energy efficient to lower their businesses’ carbon footprint.
At the start of the pandemic, EDC also agreed to defer its customers’ payments on the orders of the Department of Energy and the Energy Regulatory Commission.
“At the same time, we decided to provide them with a prompt payment discount to help them cushion the blow from their nonpaying retail customers,” Tantoco said.
On top of this, EDC donated sacks of rice, face masks, medicines, vitamins and conducted webinars on business continuity.
Miracle
He said the company was worried of huge drop in demand. In addition, it expected zero revenue in April 2020.
But EDC experienced a surprise when it achieved a 72- percent payment in April. He said it was nothing short of a miracle.
Through this wonderful gesture, Tantoco said, the stakeholders value their partnership with EDC.
He emphasized that EDC could not do it alone because the issues are so daunting that it needs everyone’s help.
“We will only successfully fulfill our mission if we collaborate with others,” he said.
Tantoco said this is definitely not competitive beauty contest. It is not about which company won the most awards.
“As our Chairman [ Federico] Piki Lopez keeps stressing, if we find ourselves ahead but alone at the finish line of this massive and humbling under taking, we will then have failed in our mission.” he explained.
Tantoco stressed regenerative thinking is also not a light switch that you turn on when you’re at work and turn off in your personal life.
“Since EDC’S chosen path is anchored on the Lopez values, all of us employees are enjoined to walk the talk. Leaders need to lead by example in our company, and even in our private life, to have a truly regenerative company,” he pointed out.