First Gen joins global shift to net zero emissions

THE call to mitigate climate change has been greatly amplified in recent years and the Philippines is joining the global energy transition to net zero emissions.

First Gen Corp. of the Lopez Group is one of the first conglomerates to sound the call for sustainability and decarbonization.

First Gen chairman Federico Lopez’s battle cry is to not to ignore the worsening climate crisis. First Gen has been leading the way with clean energy through its portfolio of solar, hydro, wind, geothermal and natural gas power plants.

“If we’re not prepared and conveniently ignore it, we’ll be overwhelmed and not recognize the world around us in the coming thirty years,” Lopez said.

He said decarbonizing and scaling up a green electricity grid over the next three decades is the greatest energy transition in the history of mankind.

Lopez said government should craft a decarbonization and adaptation plan to address the growing impact of climate change,

“We need a comprehensive, integrated, and well-studied national decarbonization and adaptation plan of our own, backed by constant feedback from what science is telling us,” he said.

The decarbonization and adaptation plan should cut across all affected sectors such as agriculture and energy, he said.

Lopez said almost every major developed city has climate change action plans and the Philippines’ climate vulnerability necessitates that cities, communities and infrastructure prepare for resilience in a climate-changed world.

First Gen has helped companies in its decarbonization efforts. it recently forged a renewable energy supply agreement with Japanese waste management and recycling company GUUN Co. Ltd.

The move would help GUNN achieve its 42-percent target carbon dioxide reduction by 2030.

GUUN’s Philippine branch in Consolacion, Cebu produces 8,000 tons of fluff fuel annually, an alternative fuel from waste plastics and residual waste that is used in cement plants as a substitute for coal.

First Gen’s power marketing, trading, and economics vice president Carlo Vega said “this greening of supply chains is necessary if we truly want to be a part of the solution to our climate crisis and at the same time, future-proof our businesses.”

“Looking at all providers of this 24/7 source of RE, we chose to partner with First Gen because of its proven track record in supplying geothermal power to its customers all over the country,” said GUUN’s senior managing director and general manager Takeshi Konishi.

Hocheng Philippines Corp., a leading total bathroom solutions, recently renewed its partnership with First Gen over clean, reliable and renewable energy supply.

Other companies are also aggressively moving with RE development such as Ayalaowned ACEN Corp., which has bared plans to put up 5,000 megawatts of RE by 2030, and Aboitiz Power Corp. which is aiming to increase its RE capacity by 3,700 megawatts by 2030.

Meanwhile, San Miguel Corp. has dropped plans to build more coal projects and focus on RE and gas while Meralco PowerGen Corp. is putting up 1,500 MW of RE projects.