Two girls collect pebbles along the shore with the 20 units of 70 meter high wind turbines of the Bangui wind farm in the background. The turbines are arranged in a single row that stretches along a nine kilometer shoreline of Bangui Bay in Ilocos Norte. FILE PHOTO
CEBU CITY — President Bongbong Marcos Jr. has sought the help of the business sector in the plan to boost the use of renewable energy.
“We have identified the use of renewable energy as the top of our climate agenda and we need the full support of the business sector to make this happen,” he told delegates at the 3rd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Advisory Council ( APEC) (ABAC III) Meeting on Friday, July 28 in this city.
Marcos said the shared investment would ease the financial burden on governments, while the expertise of companies in areas such as planning, operations and execution, and guaranteeing returns, could be integrated into government sustainability projects.
“There are benefits to using data and models that come only from business activities,” he said.
He cited as an example the design of the transition of the transport sector through the use of sustainable and clean fuels, the construction of green corridors and the modernization of public transport.
He said they had to analyze fleet capacity and travel time, fuel consumption and other data to be able to make informed decisions about projects.
“To extend this further, data templates, indicators and baselines across all of our economies need to be standardized to facilitate data collection and sharing, which will, in turn, strengthen technical cooperation within Apec” said Mark.
But he stressed the need for cooperation, as well as leadership from the business sector in setting standards for responsible business conduct that encourage sustainable practices and balance rapid growth.
Marcos was a guest speaker at the opening of the three-day ABAC III meeting at the NUSTAR Convention Center in Cebu City on July 28.
He was accompanied by the Secretary of Industry and Commerce, Alfredo Pascual, and the special assistant to the Presidency, Antonio Lagdameo.
The Philippines was selected to host the third leg of ABAC this year, with more than 200 delegates from Apec’s 21 member economies attending the three-day event in Cebu City.
For their Cebu stage, the organizers decided to highlight the roles of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), artificial intelligence (AI), and environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment, among others.
Aboitiz Equity Ventures President and CEO Sabin Aboitiz, who is an ABAC Fellow for the Philippines, said his goal was to give Asia a bigger voice.
“Every country has to transition differently in their sustainability program. So we want to make sure that Asia’s voice is as strong as anyone else’s voice. Basically, that’s the short and sweet thing about what we’re doing,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the ABAC meeting.
He added that so far there has been a lot of interest among investors in the Philippines.
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