Aboitiz Power Corp. signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) to help strengthen its emissions reduction efforts, introduce cutting-edge transition technologies like liquified natural gas (LNG) and fast track renewable energy development.
“We are pleased with our collaboration with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation as it revolves around a collective aspiration to help drive environmental sustainability and a just energy transition,” AboitizPower president Emmanuel Rubio said.
“With JBIC’s support, we can strengthen our efforts to reduce emissions, introduce cutting-edge technologies like LNG, and help accelerate renewable energy development in the Philippines,” Rubio said.
JBIC said the MOU contributes toward realizing global carbon neutrality by supporting and accelerating energy transition toward a decarbonized society in emerging and developing countries.
“The purpose of the MOU is to promote AboitizPower and Japanese companies’ collaborative projects in the Philippines by strengthening the cooperation between JBIC and AboitizPower in the area of energy,” JBIC said in a statement.
AboitizPower, a leading company in the country’s highly privatized infrastructure sector, has been focusing on achieving decarbonization. The company is embarking on transforming its generation portfolio to have 50 percent renewable energy equivalent to 4,600 megawatts by 2030.
This is in support of the government’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 75 percent with international support by 2030 under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat in April 2021.
The government set infrastructure improvement in areas such as electricity as one of its major policy goals.
JBIC said the MOU signing is in line with its Medium-term Business Plan and ESG Policy and aligns with the concept of the Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC) released by the Japan government as a framework for energy transition in Asia.
JBIC aims to respond to energy transformation toward the realization of a decarbonized society under the Fourth Medium-term Business Plan, released in June 202 .
JBIC said it is committed to pursuing ambitious and accelerated efforts to reduce its operational GHG emissions to net zero by 2030 and to achieve net zero emissions of its finance portfolio by 2050 as per its ESG Policy released in October 2021.
The ESG Policy states that JBIC will contribute toward realizing global carbon neutrality by supporting and accelerating energy transition toward a decarbonized society in emerging and developing countries. “As Japan’s policy-based financial institution, JBIC will continue to support the creation of business opportunities for Japanese companies through strengthened cooperation with important partners in the decarbonization sector,” it said.