Aboitiz Group joins Earth Hour

CEBU, Philippines - The Aboitiz Group, one of the country’s biggest conglomerates and a long-term investor in Cebu, will join this year’s celebration of the Earth Hour on March 23 at the Plaza Independencia, Cebu. 

The Earth Hour is a worldwide event, organized in 2007 by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to encourage households and businesses to switch off their lights for one hour to raise awareness about the need to take action on climate change. 

In 2012, WWF launched its  “I Will If You Will” campaign, with the intent of engaging its growing global community to go beyond the hour and thru the digital community, inspire people from all corners of the globe to take sustainability actions and share their commitment to the environment.   

This campaign spread to more than 50 countries, generating momentum behind Earth Hour’s push to be an ongoing movement for change. 

“The Aboitiz Group believes in Earth Hour’s cause and for the 4th straight year, takes part in this Earth Hour movement.   Our group, driven by our Passion for a Better World, continues to pursue initiatives that are aligned with our sustainability pillars – Rejuvenate nature, Reuse and recycle, Reduce, Renewable energy and Recharge communities,” said Erramon Aboitiz, Aboitiz Equity Ventures president and CEO. 

The Aboitiz group’s participation in Earth Hour is the group's manifestation of its strong commitment to sustainability and called on the Earth Hour community to go beyond the one hour. 

“Our APARK (Aboitiz Passion for Reforest and Agro forest to Keep) program is the group’s biodiversity enhancement program that aims to plant 3 million trees by 2015,”  he said. 

To date, the Aboitiz Group planted a total of 2.68 million trees and they are expecting to hit APARK’s goal of 3 million this year, ahead of our target schedule.   

“We will not stop here.  We will continue with this initiative because we believe that no one can ever plant enough trees.  We will align APARK with the “I Will If You Will” campaign and challenge not just our team members but our business partners, suppliers and the communities where our businesses operate,” he said.

Another Aboitiz group-wide initiative is the Race to Reduce program where team members from the different business units participate in reducing consumption of energy, water and paper.  

“Our sustainability advocacy continues as we explore ways to strike the balance of People, Planet and Profit in our business operations. It is only in striking this balance can we pass on a robust business operating on a healthy planet for future generations,”  he said. (FREEMAN)