DENR partners with EDC to support LGU climate action and resiliency

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has partnered with First Gen Corporation’s 100–percent renewable energy (RE) subsidiary Energy Development Corporation (EDC) in developing a strategic program to complement and enhance the existing climate action and resilience initiatives of local government units (LGU) in the country.

Dubbed “TRANSFORM” (Transdisciplinary Approach for Resilience and Environmental Sustainability Through Multistakeholder Engagement), the program supports the government agency’s Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) framework that is envisioned to be scaled up and adopted by LGUs throughout the Philippines.

“Synergizing best practices from both government and the private sector, the program can thus serve as a template and be replicated to strategically multiply our efforts in fighting the accelerating climate emergency,” said Atty. Allan V. Barcena, Assistant Vice President and head of Corporate Relations & Communications at EDC.

TRANSFORM will be piloted in Ormoc City, Leyte, home to EDC’s largest geothermal site, in cooperation with the LGU and the National Resilience Council (NRC), Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), Peace and Equity Foundation (PEF), and Zuellig Family Foundation (ZFF).

“Essentially, our localized sustainability and resilience program will now be boosted by the DENR to offer higher level solutions to raising ecological integrity and improving socio-economic conditions, not only for Ormocanons, but for the surrounding municipalities as well,” stated Ormoc City Mayor Lucy Torres-Gomez.

The multi-sectoral partners signed a pledge of commitment signifying their partnership toward the achievement of shared goals, at the DENR Multistakeholder Forum on January 18-19, held at the Grand Xing Imperial Hotel in Iloilo City.

The ENR framework seeks to measure positive impact on communities in terms of environmental, social, and economic gains. To this end, LGUs have existing programs in place that cover human development, infrastructure, environmental resilience, and economic resilience.

DENR and EDC have developed five modules that strengthen these existing programs in various aspects:

Biodiversity – profiling and inventory of flora and fauna for enterprise development;

Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Accounting – including assistance in project design for mitigation measures under the LGU’s local climate change action plan (LCCAP);

Financial Literacy – basic bookkeeping processes as well as revenue and reinvestment analysis as template for the annual audit of livelihood projects;

Disaster Management – training on disaster awareness, preparedness and response for both natural and man-made disasters, including knowledge and analyzed data sharing as well as climate scenario analysis and protocols; and,

Nature-based Solutions – carbon policies, tenure instruments and other approaches to environmental resilience.

These modules aim to produce ecological, social, and economic gains in terms of reducing supply chain disruption and enhancing the water-energy-food nexus; contribute inputs to the LGU’s LCCAP and comprehensive land use plan (CLUP); and expand options for enterprise development from the inventory of the local biodiversity.

Overall, the modules also aim to realize gains in augmenting fund allocations for LGU projects by requiring less budget and contributing more taxes from livelihood activities.

“Through the complementation of the efforts of the LGU, DENR, EDC, NRC, PBSP, PEF, ZFF, and non-profit partners, we want to meet the overall goal of the ENR to improve the environmental integrity of the area, to improve people’s well-being and to achieve a robust local economy,” said Barcena.

EDC has over 1,480MW total installed capacity that accounts for 19 percent of the country’s total installed RE capacity, while its 1,188MW geothermal portfolio comprises 62 percent of the country’s total installed geothermal capacity and makes it the third largest geothermal producer in the world.