AYALA Land, Inc. recently earmarked 450 hectares as carbon forests, in line with an aggressive target to neutralize the carbon emissions of its properties by 2022.
“We have been tracking, among other environment, social, governance metrics, our greenhouse gas emissions throughout the various stages of our project development process,” said Anna Maria Gonzales, ALI sustainability manager. “We are taking this a step further by aiming for carbon neutrality, and one of the ways to achieve this is through our carbon forests.
The carbon forests consist of five sites located in different parts of the Philippines. Three of the sites are within or adjacent to existing Ayala Land developments. Forest sites in Lio and Sicogon are integrated into the estates’ masterplans as part of the developments’ nature trail areas, while the Alaminos site lies north of BellaVita subdivision. The Kan-irag and Talomo sites are located in the cities of Cebu and Davao.
Together with Center for Conservation Innovations, Inc, a study was conducted to determine the baseline carbon stock in these carbon forest sites. The carbon pool baseline of the five sites are estimated to be at 68k tCO2e.
The study also identified the best protection approach through Assisted Natural Regeneration (ANR), and other methods to maximize the carbon storage potential for each site.
ANR initiatives are activities that support forest regrowth through protection, tending of diverse native wildings found on site, and enhancement planting of other indigenous species.
ALI has partnered with community-based, non-government organizations like Pusod Foundation Inc., Soil & Water Conservation Foundation and Philippine Eagle Foundation which specialize in reforestation, native tree nursery management and volunteer mobilization.
Other than forest regeneration, ALI said it is using a combination of strategies to reach its carbon neutrality target, such as the implementation of passive cooling design in its developments, energy efficiency and renewable energy sourcing.
Ayala Land, a developer of large-scale, mixed-use estates, is embarking on an aggressive carbon emissions offsetting program – one of first Philippine companies to target carbon neutrality by 2022.