Carbon credit trading may soon be a thing in PH, says DMCI unit

DMCI Mining Corp., a unit of Consunji-led DMCI Holdings Inc., wants a carbon credit system put up in the Philippines in the hopes of beefing up global efforts to fight climate change.

With President Marcos, who is concurrently sitting as the country’s agriculture minister, and Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga “on board” with the concept, DMCI Mining president Tulsi Das Reyes told reporters a system could be in place in six years’ time.

Carbon credits are usually created by individuals or projects, say renewable energy plants or farmlands, that destroy or offset greenhouse gases. These are then purchased by individuals or companies that make unavoidable carbon dioxide emissions as a result of their production or operations.

According to financial jargon go-to Investopedia, these credits are usually sold or bought through a cap-and-trade program. A company will only be allowed a certain level of emission, going beyond such limit means it will have to buy credits from another party. Over time, the limit will train the company into reducing its emissions—and by going below its cap, it can make money by selling its extra credits.

“We’re after carbon credits. In our country, we don’t have a framework for carbon credits,” Reyes said, adding: “We were burning a lot of fossil fuels … and there’s no commercial value to that, there’s no story to that … I think it’s about time the Philippines become a leader in that.”

Reyes said Japanese trading company Marubeni Corp. has been helping various companies worldwide offset their carbon dioxide emissions.

“What’s nice about Secretary Loyzaga is that’s one of her primary ideas to put forward this thing. We would like to help her, with Marubeni our partner. Marubeni has a global framework. They’ve done it in other countries before,” he said.

Reyes said the plan would complement the government’s national greening program.

“We would like to make this thing because if you can have the national greening program … that’s already a good foundation,” he said.

He is referring to the initiative of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, which aims to cover 2 million hectares in vulnerable areas planted with trees by 2028. INQ