Carbon Sink Project Scubasurero Community

AboitizPower is Transforming Energy for a Better World for communities and the environment

February 12, 2025

Transforming Energy for a Better World is the purpose of Aboitiz Power Corporation (AboitizPower). It means adhering to sustainable business practices and social responsibility to help power a nation, support its host communities, and protect the environment to preserve it for the future.

With an advocacy towards sustainable development, AboitizPower responsibly operates its facilities, while also providing jobs and welfare to its partner communities through its corporate social responsibility initiatives. With its efforts, the Company pushes for a growth defined by equity and underpinned by access to basic needs like livelihood and access to clean water.

Scubasureros

Last year, AboitizPower invited diving enthusiasts called Scubasureros — a combination of the words scuba divers and basureros or garbage collectors — to dive in the jetty of its 340-megawatt Therma Visayas power plant. Located at the western coast of Cebu Island bordering Toledo City, the plant faces the Tañon Strait Protected Seascape, the largest marine protected area in the Philippines, covering 534,589 hectares.

“When we volunteered for this Scubasurero dive, our assumption was that we’d be collecting trash underwater. We thought the columns of the jetty would be entangled with a lot of trash. But when we went down, it was the exact opposite. Instead of trash, we found a thriving ecosystem instead,” said Roxie Diaz, diver and marine biologist.

“During the dive, the reef was pretty clean, and in the rock and rubble area, a lot of new coral growth was observed. We saw several fish species too,” added Agnes Sabonsolin-Bautista, also a diver and marine biologist. This was verified by a Marine Biodiversity Assessment Report by environmental firm Ridge to Reef, which found 56 species of fishes residing in coral reefs within the power plant’s vicinity. It also recorded six seagrass species and 28 genera of phytoplankton in the area, as well as 15 species of macroinvertebrates.

These results and observations reflect Therma Visayas’ regular monitoring of the marine biodiversity within and near its site of operations, complying with the provisions of its Environmental Compliance Certificate and other environmental plans to protect and conserve the coastal area and the waters. Therma Visayas also holds regular coastal clean-up drives along Toledo’s shores together with the local community, with over 9,300 kilograms of trash collected in foreshore areas since 2022.

“This shows how Therma Visayas is a partner when it comes to resource management, protection, and preservation in the area where they operate. We see how they take care of the sites where their structures are, as well the fulfillment of their social responsibilities to the community,” Diaz said.

“The power plant has a coastal resource management program, which includes our information, education, and communication campaign for our host community regarding solid waste management and policies on the Strait Protected Seascape,” said Therma Visayas Environmental Supervisor Emalyn Sevilla.

The Scubasurero project is being managed closely with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, local government offices, Bantay Dagat, and the Philippine Coast Guard. Composed of marine biologists, Therma Visayas team members, and volunteers, the Scubasureros have explored submerged coastal areas since 2022, observing marine ecosystems and leading underwater clean-up efforts.

Between 2017 to 2023, AboitizPower contributed to SDG 14 (Life Below Water) through 246 coastal and river cleanup activities, resulting in 162,847 kilograms of waste collected.

Carbon sink initiatives

From 2017 to 2023, AboitizPower also planted over 2.5 million trees in 6,127 hectares. In 2024, AboitizPower’s business units across the country rode on this momentum, working with local communities and stakeholders to further scale its carbon sequestration activities, while also bringing about livelihood and upskilling programs.

Generation companies Therma South Inc. and Therma Visayas Inc. have built carbon sinks in Davao del Sur and Toledo City, Cebu, respectively, planting one million trees each within their host communities. A carbon sink is anything that absorbs more carbon than it releases, helping lower the amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Therma South, Inc. planted a variety of endemic, fruit-bearing, and high-value trees in the Marilog district, including areas covering the ancestral domains of indigenous peoples (IP), who together with the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. were project partners. Likewise, Therma Visayas also teamed up with the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation and more than 400 tree farm partners to plant and nurture native tree seedlings.

Collectively, the programs have resulted in the restoration and rehabilitation of IP’s ancestral domains; various technical training sessions, orientations, and assistance; and a livelihood from seedling production, maintenance services, and the produce of fruit-bearing trees like Kakaw, Coffee, Guyabano, Rambutan, Lanzones, and Avocado.

AboitizPower distribution utility Visayan Electric Company, Inc., together with the Aboitiz Group, local residents, and other partners, also adopted 150 hectares of the Buhisan Watershed Forest Reserve for rehabilitation, protection, and conservation. The reserve is part of the Central Cebu Protected Landscape and provides water to Cebu City.

At the same time, AP Renewables Inc. (APRI), an AboitizPower geothermal energy producer, also adopted a 10-hectare forest in Sitio Panal, Tiwi, Albay and another 10 hectares in Mount Makiling. Together with the National Power Corporation, non-governmental organizations, and the local community, APRI planted over 24,000 seedlings, including Narra and some fruit-bearing trees, to reforest and rehabilitate the adopted areas.

Water filter buckets

After Typhoon Kristine disrupted life in affected communities during the latter part of last year, AboitizPower and the Aboitiz Foundation donated a total of 350 water filter buckets to immediately help address the need for clean and potable water. Developed by non-profit organization Waves for Water, the filtration system is a more efficient and sustainable way to provide drinking water to communities in need, compared to hauling heavy crates of bottled water.

“Considering the logistics of donating bottled water, it takes up a lot of space and a lot of weight. But if you have these water filter buckets, you can have drinking water anytime so long as you have a freshwater source,” explained AboitizPower Vice President for Corporate Affairs Suiee Suarez.

“Since Typhoon Odette in Cebu, where the Aboitiz Group also donated these water filter buckets, many more victims of various calamities have benefitted from these units,” he added. “In fact, even after the disaster, schools and barangays can still use it for a long period of time.”

According to the filter’s manufacturer, the unit is able to filter existing freshwater sources like rainwater, rivers, springs, and deep wells and remove bacteria and protozoan, functioning for a minimum of five years. The filter attached to a standard 20-liter bucket at sea level is capable of filtering up to 1,117 liters of water per day.

“Thank you to AboitizPower. The water filter buckets are already being used by the people [of Bulusan]. It is a big help because from time to time, we experience a shortage in our water supply,” said Chairman Francisco Miday of Bulusan, Libon in Albay.

Radio station DZRH distributed 300 water filter buckets through its public service arm Operation Tulong to the Bicol region, while the ABS-CBN Foundation received and will distribute the rest.

“The water filtration bucket is a big help to our fellow citizens,” said DZRH Head of Relief Operations Mae Binauhan in the vernacular. “We know that when areas become flooded, providing drinking water is really one of the problems.”

“This donation by AboitizPower is very important to places hit by calamities. We want to distribute it to areas in need, wherein it will have a deep impact and offer great benefit to the community,” said Marcel Riñon, Program Head of Sagip Kapamilya, ABS-CBN Foundation.