Published March 4, 2020, 10:00 PM By Myrna M.
Velasco
Touting climate science as the
linchpin, Federico R. Lopez, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of
First Gen Corporation has stepped up his call on counterpart corporates as well
as government leaders and consumers to pursue shifts in strategies toward
decoupling growth in the gross domestic product (GDP) vis-à-vis the country’s
carbon emissions.
Lopez said he is batting for a
paradigm shift “in the way people think and behave” in order to keep in check
the continuing temperature rise that could push planet Earth in crumble if not
abated.
“We can no longer measure our
success purely by bottom line growth and shareholder value,” he stressed, while
emphasizing that “my own measure of success will be judged by how well we can
aid the decoupling of GDP growth from carbon emissions.”
He added “the climate crisis we face
today is a golden opportunity for humanity to re-examine our way of thinking
and begin rewriting the rules of how our world works…in short, everything must
change. We are living through what will be history’s greatest paradigm shift.
We no longer have a choice.”
Primarily, Lopez is practicing what
he preaches as it was him who initiated the call for the entire Lopez group to
patronize only clean technology sources not just on their portfolio of
investments, but also in energy usage of various subsidiaries and
affiliate-companies.
“I believe it will be the role of
businesses like ours to go beyond sustainability and into discovering creative
new ways to improve and regenerate everything we touch,” he declared, adding
that such chain must include customers, the company’s co-creators like
employees, suppliers and contractors as well as shareholders and other
stakeholders.
“I believe it will be the role of
businesses like ours to go beyond sustainability and into discovering creative
new ways to improve and regenerate everything we touch,” he declared, adding
that such chain must include customers, the company’s co-creators like employees,
suppliers and contractors as well as shareholders and other stakeholders.
Lopez expounded “every decision we
make must consider the betterment of all stakeholders in that order,” as he
noted that “it no longer works the other way around if you consider
shareholders the priority.’
He similarly contended that if a
company has enlightened shareholders, they would be able to “realize that there
are no jobs, profits or even remnants of shareholder value on a dead planet.”
To date, the Lopez group’s investments in the energy sector comprise of gas and renewable energy technologies, such as solar, wind, hydro and geothermal.
To date, the Lopez group’s investments in the energy sector comprise of gas and renewable energy technologies, such as solar, wind, hydro and geothermal.
Lopez acknowledged that
‘intermittency’ remains a dilemma for RE sources like solar and wind, although
that could eventually be underpinned by large-scale battery systems.
But while the energy transition does
not posit commercial availability of such battery storage yet, he said their
gas generating fleets could be the ‘bridge solution’ to that given the very
fast ramp-up that the technology provides so it can plug gaps in any sudden
fluctuation in the generation of solar and wind.
“While large scale battery systems remain uneconomical in solving the intermittency of RE plants, First Gen’s natural gas-fired power plants will remain the ‘best alternative’ because of their fast ramp-up capability,” Lopez stressed.
“While large scale battery systems remain uneconomical in solving the intermittency of RE plants, First Gen’s natural gas-fired power plants will remain the ‘best alternative’ because of their fast ramp-up capability,” Lopez stressed.
Nevertheless, he indicated that gas
is still fossil fuel-based with sizeable greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (albeit
way lower than coal and other fossil fuels), hence, Lopez noted that in time,
they would also be “phased down and phased out as soon as the
renewables-batteries combinations becomes economically feasible.”
The other option for gas, he said,
is for these plants to be “powered by much cleaner hydrogen in the future when
and if this becomes possible.”
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