EDC bags prestigious IFC Client Leadership Award

MANILA, Philippines - The International Finance Corp. (IFC) selected Energy Development Corp. as this year’s recipient of the prestigious Client Leadership award, citing the geothermal leader’s exemplary accomplishments in operational excellence, sustainability, environmental management, social responsibility and corporate governance.

IFC gave recognition to EDC’s pioneering role in developing and commercializing geothermal energy in the country and outstanding initiatives in sustainable development. While pursuing geothermal leadership, EDC builds model communities, promotes sustainable reforestation and biodiversity preservation through its greening program BINHI, molds world-class builders through its technical-vocational school KEITECH, and enhances the living conditions and well-being of its host communities through its various CSR projects on health, education and livelihood.

“This is indeed a solid testament to our groundbreaking and sustainable efforts to achieve development in our host sites where we serve 43 villages and 18,000 households. By integrating our business with the development needs of our project areas, we have prospered with our local stakeholders – resulting in smooth and enhanced operations. We are of the firm belief that as the company grows, the communities should also prosper and the environment continuously preserved and enhanced. Support for the development of the locality promotes trust, which in turn gives the company its social license to operate,” EDC president and COO Richard Tantoco said.

Tantoco personally received the award from IFC executive vice president and CEO Lars Thunell in a ceremony in Washington, DC. He also addressed the delegates of the IFC Workshop on the Institutional Development Goals (IDG) and shared EDC’s experience in linking strategies and targets to incentives, and using these business tools to impact development. Tantoco elaborated on EDC’s sustainability projects that are relevant to IFC’s own development goals and can be modeled by IFC for its other private sector partners.

Thunell said: “EDC was selected for its leadership and good environmental and social practices. We are proud to call EDC a client and partner, and we look forward to exploring new opportunities to bring renewable energy solutions to other emerging markets.”

IFC has been a key investor in the company ever since privatization in 2006 and continues to maintain a stake in EDC. It continues to support EDC, most recently in the form of a $75-million loan, to fund EDC’s capital expense in the medium term. This was the third such investment in EDC by IFC, and was largely due to EDC’s operational focus in producing renewable and clean energy. Throughout the development of its business, the company consistently meets all of IFC’s Performance Standards in managing the environmental and social impacts of its projects.

“We are putting extra effort in measuring and aligning our overall sustainability performance with global standards and practices. We institutionalized the Global Reporting Initiative framework in our operating system to make sustainability a corporate culture where measurements are done to help improve operational efficiency and protection of the environment and people,” Tantoco explained.