Net Zero Carbon Alliance Conference: Seeing net zero through Philippine lens

There should be no doubt that climate change is real – in fact, over 97% of climate scientists agree. And as it stands, one of the major causes of this harmful phenomenon are burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas. The Philippines alone has emitted approximately 146.5 million tons of carbon dioxide from energy consumption in 2022, which showed an increase from the previous year’s total of 135.8 million tons of carbon dioxide.

To address this, various professionals and organizations from all over the world are sharing their strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve net zero carbon by 2050, as called for in the Paris Agreement. However, the standards set by these international institutions does not necessarily translate well in the Philippine setting. As a developing country, the Philippines is admittedly behind in the commitment to attain net zero by 2050, as the government is primarily focused on meeting the goals for emerging renewable energy technologies first. This puts pressure and a higher calling for the Philippine business sector to take the initiative in the movement towards reaching carbon neutrality. 

The Net Zero Carbon Alliance (NZCA) is the first private sector-led initiative that has created a framework to attain carbon neutrality as a transition to achieving net zero for the Philippine business sector. Spearheaded by First Gen-owned Energy Development Corporation (EDC), the country’s largest renewable energy producer by way of its core geothermal operations, NZCA seeks to invite private Filipino companies and businesses to join the movement and work together in achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

How is this possible? NZCA’s program is strategically developed to guide partners in coming up with their roadmap to attain carbon neutrality through the sharing of best practices and scaling up of carbon emission offsetting and tracking, as well as assistance in obtaining third-party certification of carbon emissions and offsets, and even access to “green” financing, among many other capacity-building tools. Basically, the alliance is there to provide guidance and trusted partners to help companies achieve their net zero carbon goals through the Filipino lens.

As NZCA celebrates its second anniversary, companies operating in the Philippines are highly encouraged to attend their whole-day conference entitled “Zeroing in on Net-Zero: From corporate pledges to action,” wherein international and local experts on climate and sustainability gather to discuss the challenges, opportunities, and solutions to expedite the Philippines’ private sector net-zero journey, from commitment to execution and completion. From learning about the state of net-zero corporate pledges in the Philippines and the potential of carbon capture technologies in decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors, to exploring the business case of embarking on a net-zero journey and gaining insights into strategies to mitigate ESG risks while driving long-term profitability, NZCA sets this event as a stage for businesses to explore opportunities in transitioning to net zero and help pave the way toward a safe and regenerative future.

Happening on September 25, 2023, from 8:30 AM onwards at the Marco Polo Hotel Ortigas. Hurry!  Register now to join the conference and learn how your company can embark on its net-zero journey: