3 million trees star firm’s greening efforts

ABOITIZPower subsidiary, Hedcor, commemorates a milestone that has echoed the organization’s love and commitment to the environment -- the feat of planting more than three million trees as of 2020.

On average, three million trees can cover a hundred times the size of Philippine Arena’s entire lot area in Bulacan.

Starting small, the organization began its tree planting initiatives by partnering with government agencies. As a Cleanergy company for Aboitiz Power Corporation, Hedcor’s team knew that it needed to be more proactive in its campaign for reforestation. Moreover, Hedcor’s operations rely on water availability, which is heavily influenced by the presence of trees.

Recognizing this, Hedcor began to hold its own regular tree planting activities at a larger scale. Today, as the organization and its manpower has grown, Hedcor has tripled its efforts in rehabilitating forests and watershed areas. In fact, Hedcor’s efforts alone fulfilled 33% of Aboitiz group’s goal of planting nine million trees by 2020.

Hedcor’s tree planting activities are planned efficiently to sustain and maximize their impact. According to Environmental Management Officer Junessa Guimalan, Hedcor partners with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to help identify reforestation sites, as well as catchment areas wherein water, seeped down by trees, flows directly into the water reservoir.

Aside from partnerships with DENR, Hedcor also collaborates with the communities near its reforestation sites to plant and care for the seedlings. Guimalan associates this collaboration to Hedcor’s impressive 87% survival rate for the seedlings they plant. To assist the communities who safekeep the reforested areas, Hedcor

ensures to plant fruit-bearing trees alongside non fruitbearing trees.

Aside from reforestation efforts, Hedcor rallies for the ban of single-use plastics in the organization’s events and premises, as well as wildlife and watershed preservation in its identified areas.

Hedcor is a run-ofriver hydropower arm of AboitizPower, operating 22 power facilities with a total generating capacity of 277.36 MW of Cleanergy. Hedcor’s greening efforts have since covered multiple areas in the company’s host communities of Ilocos Sur, Mt. Province, Benguet, Davao, and Bukidnon.