De La Salle Philippines (DLSP) lives up to its green legacy through its new BINHI partnership with geothermal leader Energy Development Corporation (EDC).
BINHI is EDC’s greening legacy program that aims to bring back to abundance our endangered Philippine native tree species. It is also the only corporate-led forest restoration initiative that has been bridging forest gaps using these native tree species over 10 years now.
DLSP will build its first botanical garden in its 34-hectare property in Porac, Pampanga that will be a platform for understanding and identifying potential environmental solutions through scientific research, biodiversity conservation, education, and recreation.
DLSP has tapped EDC to provide technical assistance in propagating, sourcing, collecting, and transporting seedlings of threatened Philippine native tree species under the latter’s BINHI greening legacy program. EDC will also provide selected threatened Philippine native tree seedlings from the flagship 96 native tree species that it has identified, collected, and is currently propagating.
The company has already done an initial assessment and has given its recommendations on the native tree species that are suitable to the botanical garden but the actual project kick-off will be in 2020 for DLSP.
“The EDC partnership will be a key point as the La Salle Botanical Garden develops it programs, formulate its masterplan and phase to establish the different thematic gardens,” said Warren Joseph D. Dollente, Director of DLSP-Lasallian Institute for the Environment (LIFE).
“We are honored to have DLSP as our 177th BINHI partner,” expressed Atty. Allan V. Barcena, head of EDC’s CSR-PR group. “Ours is a greening legacy partnership that will benefit not only our current generation but even future generations as we save endangered native trees from extinction.” EDC’s 1,475MW capacity accounts for 37% of the country’s total generated renewable energy, making it the country’s leading RE company. Its 1,181MW geothermal portfolio accounts for 61% of the country’s total installed geothermal capacity and has put the Philippines on the map as the 3rd largest geothermal producer.
The Energy Development Corporation (EDC) is a pioneer in generating 100% clean, renewable, and reliable power as an electricity supplier in the Philippines for over 40 years. With power plants all over Visayas and Mindanao, the company is one of the biggest producers of geothermal energy in Asia and is expanding its reach in the international market, allowing it to offer customers affordable energy rates. EDC also strives to provide the best customer service it can to all its clients by having helpful salespeople and easy to understand contracts. Because of all of this, it is poised to become the premier supplier of electricity for the Philippines’ Green Energy Option Program. EDC takes its mission as a renewable energy provider seriously and goes beyond sustainability by investing in programs that enhance the environment and empower its partner communities, thereby fostering regenerative development. The company has also been working toward being carbon-neutral by improving its energy efficiency, as well as implementing various greening projects to ensure that its mission to provide future generations with a better life remains intact.