Going beyond the energy value chain
‘As the Philippines’ premier electric distribution utility, Meralco plays a vital role in nation-building. Our primary mandate is to ensure that electricity continually flows from our grid to our customers — to light up homes and offices, to power industries and to energize our economy’
Three million trees. To plant and maintain is the mission.
Put that into perspective visà-vis what the country is losing every year: 47,000 hectares of forest cover per the numbers of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Trees absorb carbon dioxide — a major greenhouse gas — produce oxygen, protect coastal communities, prevent soil erosion and retain water among many other benefits.
Planting more to reverse climate change is just logical.
One Meralco Foundation (OMF), the corporate foundation and social development arm of Meralco, is duty-bound to make this happen, and just rightly so as Meralco’s sustainable way to give back and preserve its source of energy.
“As the Philippines’ premier electric distribution utility, Meralco plays a vital role in nation-building. Our primary mandate is to ensure that electricity continually flows from our grid to our customers — to light up homes and offices, to power industries and to energize our economy,” Meralco CEO Atty. Ray Espinosa said. “But all this will be for naught if the communities, cities and the country we seek to uplift are not equipped to deal with the mounting challenges our world faces.”
Espinosa said part of Meralco’s commitment to prosperity is a pledge to create better lives for the people they touch through the many ways we are able to create value.
One for Trees is the name of Meralco’s environmental stewardship program launched in 2019, the brainchild of Espinosa, which hopes to restore biodiversity and enrich the lives of our local farmers and communities.
The dream is to reach the number in a period of six years, planting in forest lands and critical watersheds within the Meralco franchise area and beyond.
Although the official start of the program is 2020, OMF started planting trees in 2019, in Payatas, Quezon City, with the help of employee volunteers. Majority of the trees planted are species native to the Philippines.
Meralco raises funds to make this cause possible by, for instance, by holding its annual Meralco Cup at the Sta. Elena Golf Club with teams composed of customers and representatives from the government and private sector in November last year.
For every P200 donation, OMF volunteers will plant and nurture a tree at the Green Earth Heritage Farm located in San Miguel, Bulacan. The amount covers the costs of planting and maintaining the trees for the first two years, which are critical if they are to survive.
One for Trees is a long-term commitment that sees a seedling grow up to when it is mature enough to thrive. During the first years of a tree seedling, it must be tended as meticulously as a flower in a garden. It needs to be watered constantly, to have weed taken out, and to be transplanted if growing too close to each other.
Part of the mission of “One for Trees” is also to help organize groups near protected biodiversity zones to give them a sustainable source of income while protecting the forests and agro-forests. OMF’s partnerships with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, environmental nongovernment organizations, local governments and people’s organizations will help bring together stakeholders from every industry.
To ensure that the trees are properly maintained, for instance, OMF recently partnered with GreenEarth Heritage Foundation, which has the capacity and track record to sustain such an environmental advocacy.
Since 2019, the One for Trees program has planted 99,361 trees, 81,495 of which are planted on GreenEarth.
“Through the years, these trees will help mitigate the effects of climate change,” Meralco chief corporate social responsibility officer and OMF president Jeffrey Tarayao said. “I believe that through One for Trees, we are able to contribute to our shared responsibility of providing a livable, more sustainable world for our children.”
“Business as usual is no longer a viable option. We, in Meralco, believe we have a crucial role to play to shift these adverse realities going forward through the different companies we manage and operate. Indeed, this is the essence of sustainability,” Espinosa said. “It is a commitment to not only build the nation, but also to sustain our future. What we have achieved so far is encouraging, but there is much more to do as we join the world in creating a better planet and a better life for all.”