Month: June 2025

Green Convergence (GC), through its Ako Ang Bukas (AAB) Advocacy Program, held a seminar-workshop on greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting for the First Philippine Holdings (FPH) suppliers last June 16, 2025 at the Rockwell Business Center in Pasig City, with around 300 participants in attendance.

In his opening remarks, FPH and First Gen Corporation Procurement Head Adrian Anthony Co said that it is imperative that they, along with their partners, vendors, and suppliers, collaborate, following the pending requirement of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for publicly listed companies to quantify their carbon emissions.

“Our aim is twofold; Not only to prepare FPH for SEC’s compliance requirement to report our vendors’ emissions, but more importantly, to empower and assist each and everyone of our valued suppliers, vendors, and partners,” Co emphasized.

He also highlighted the importance of participating in the capacity-building workshop on GHG accounting in moving towards sustainable business practices.

As foundation, GC Trustee and AAB Program Director Dr. Angelina Galang tackled the seven environmental principles: (1) Nature knows best, (2) All forms of life are important, (3) Everything is connected to everything else, (4) Everything changes, (5) Ours is a finite Earth, (6) Everything must go somewhere, and (7) Nature is beautiful and we are the stewards of God’s creation.

Dr. Galang mentioned that these principles are the qualitative framework, while GHG accounting is the quantitative counterpart, in making corporate decisions in terms of climate action.

A significant discussion in Dr. Galang’s presentation was the excessive use of plastics, destroying the balance of nature, which was then echoed by First Gen Corporation’s Quality, Environment, and Safety Compliance Assurance Manager Engr. Patrick Correa.

Engr. Correa shared that FPH has started implementing its Single-Use Plastic (SUP) Policy since June 1 this year, given the global concern on plastic pollution and, ultimately, FPH’s commitment to decarbonize.

The SUP Policy simply implies that single-use plastics such as disposable plastic cups, drinking straws, coffee stirrers, plastic labo or thin-film sando bags, PET bottles and other plastic containers for beverages, and plastic packaging from delivery of purchased items are prohibited on FPH premises.

He also called for engagement of their suppliers for alternative packaging, noting the inevitability of the use of some single-use plastics, especially in terms of manufacturing processes.

“The challenge for all of us [is] to think of our children, the next, and the future generation. The choices that we make will determine our tomorrow,” Engr. Correa said, amplifying the need for GHG emission reduction efforts.

FPH Chief Sustainability Officer Agnes de Jesus then talked about the impacts of climate change, our Nationally Determined Contributions’ (NDCs) 75% reduction goal in line with the Paris Agreement, and the plan of the government to require submission of the carbon footprint of publicly listed and unlisted enterprises in a phased manner.

Linking these, De Jesus introduced the use of GHG emission calculators to aid not only in complying with the requirement for submission of GHG emissions report, but also to gauge how entities should mitigate their GHG emissions.

In terms of mitigation, she also introduced the mitigation hierarchy, which entities can use as reference—avoidance (zero energy, zero emissions), minimize, reduce, and remove (efficient activities mean less energy, less emissions), and the natural or man-made carbon offset as last resort.

Following De Jesus’ introduction to GHG accounting, AAB Program Leader Prof. Milagros Serrana ran through the AAB entity-level GHG calculator and led the workshop on how to use it.

Attendees were provided with dummy data for an electronics manufacturing company to accompany the calculator workshop.

Attendees attentively engaged in the workshop, making the exchange of insights productive with some expressing the big help that the AAB entity-level GHG calculator will provide them and their companies in their decarbonization efforts.

Ako Ang Bukas (or “I am the future”) is a movement with a central campaign, “Quantum Leap NOW: Climate Neutrality 2050.” It seeks to involve all sectors and levels of society nationwide in taking urgent, concerted action to address the climate crisis facing the country and the world.

Be part of a bigger change by signing the pledge and joining the AAB program through this link: bit.ly/AKOANGBUKAS. Moreover, calculate your carbon footprint using the AAB household GHG calculator through this link: aab-household-ghg-web.app.

Green Convergence, in collaboration with Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), held a seminar-workshop on greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting titled “Watt’s Up?: The Basics of Green Energy and Decarbonization” last May 28, 2025 at Citynet Central in Mandaluyong City.

The event was held in line with PBSP’s decarbonization efforts. As the largest business non-governmental organization (NGO), PBSP equips its members with the knowledge and tools to effectively mitigate climate change.

PBSP’s Grant Management and Implementation Manager Amanda Bacani said that climate change impacts businesses. She emphasized the advantages of “greening” the business, like going into renewable energy. Among the benefits are cost savings and consumer appeal.

As a framework for businesses’ decision-making on future actions, AAB Program Director and Green Convergence Trustee Dr. Angelina Galang discussed the seven environmental principles, most of which were adapted from the American biologist Barry Commoner: (1) Nature knows best, (2) All forms of life are important, (3) Everything is connected to everything else, (4) Everything changes, (5) Ours is a finite Earth, (6) Everything must go somewhere, and (7) Nature is beautiful and we are the stewards of God’s creation. Dr. Galang said that transgressions of these principles have brought about global warming, and eventually to our present state of “global boiling.”

Emphasizing interdependence and our dependence on nature, Dr. Galang remarked, “In spite of our intelligence [and] our technologies, ultimately, we still depend on nature—even businesses, which get their materials [and] fuels from nature.”

Delving deeper into the climate issues, the First Philippine Holdings’ (FPH) Chief Sustainability Officer and AAB Program’s Business Sector Head Agnes de Jesus discussed the global trajectory of GHG emissions and how it negatively impacts the planet.

Citing scientific studies, she said that the progressing global heating up to 4.4⁰C can make the Philippines and the other countries along the equator uninhabitable. Considering that the emissions and temperature today is ten to 20 times higher than the last mass species extinction, there is the possibility that the same would occur, unless everyone takes action.

Thus, the Paris Agreement obliges all entities from countries down to organizations and individuals to target a 45% reduction in their GHG emissions by year 2030, and to be net zero by year 2050. De Jesus congratulated PBSP’s members and suppliers in attendance for being years ahead of the possible government requirement for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to submit their carbon footprint for audit.

De Jesus then introduced GHG calculators as a basis for climate action, notably the AAB entity-level and household GHG calculators.

She then discussed the mitigation hierarchy—avoidance (zero energy, zero emissions), minimize, reduce, and remove (efficient activities mean less energy, less emissions), and the natural or man-made carbon offset as last resort.

De Jesus hoped that the GHG emissions audit is a process “to mobilize everyone and embrace the fact that we should act now.”

For the last part of the seminar-workshop, AAB Program Leader Milagros Serrana went into the details of the AAB entity-level GHG calculator and guided the attendees on how to use it.

A workshop followed where the participants tried out the entity calculator with the use of a logistics company dummy data. Some participants were also able to input their company’s data, making the subsequent sharing more productive.

The link to the AAB household GHG calculator web app was shared to the attendees to enable them to do carbon audits of their own household. Dummy data for a manufacturing company was also shared online for the attendees to work on as a take-home exercise.

Overall, the attendees shared that they found the seminar-workshop helpful and inspiring, as they embark into their own company’s and household’s GHG emissions accounting.

Ako Ang Bukas (or “I am the future”) is a movement with a central campaign, “Quantum Leap NOW: Climate Neutrality 2050.” It seeks to involve all sectors and levels of society nationwide in taking urgent, concerted action to address the climate crisis facing the country and the world.

Be part of a bigger change by joining the AAB program through this link: bit.ly/AKOANGBUKAS. Moreover, the AAB household GHG calculator can be accessed through this link: aab-household-ghg-web.app.