Meralco to help convert EDSA into a green highway

MANILA, Philippines — Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is ramping up  its sustainability efforts to  help transform Metro Manila’s major thoroughfare into a green and people-friendly highway.

In a statement yesterday, Meralco has joined the Green EDSA Movement (GEM), an initiative led by private sector leaders and environment advocates with a vision of transforming EDSA into a green and people-friendly thoroughfare and helping mitigate the effects of climate change.

Meralco expressed its full support to GEM and to its vision of an iconic green EDSA, where the company manages and maintains multiple electric distribution facilities.

“I am convinced that the Green EDSA Movement is an excellent initiative and distinctive opportunity for us to work with like-minded individuals and organizations as we further Meralco’s sustainability agenda, which is anchored on promoting the well-being of communities, creating better lives for our stakeholders, and powering the good life for all,” Meralco president and CEO Ray Espinosa said.

Meralco’s sustainability agenda, which is characterized by the phrase Powering the Good Life, is anchored on four pillars – Power, Planet, People, Prosperity – and supports the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

In support of GEM, Meralco is converting its company-managed streetlights along EDSA to into LEDs energy conservation and efficiency.

Further, as part of Meralco’s heightening efforts to drive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support and promote the country’s transition to electric vehicles, the company is electrifying its vehicle fleet across its sector offices and business centers, including those situated in EDSA.

Through its subsidiary, eSakay Inc., Meralco is also providing green transport options for its institutional customers and for the riding public.

Meralco’s corporate social responsibility arm, One Meralco Foundation, is likewise prepared to partner with GEM in making EDSA a tree-lined greenway through its One for Trees program, which aims to sustainably plant and nurture trees in Philippine forests and critical watersheds.

To date, Meralco has planted more than one million trees in sites in Bulacan, Cebu and Panay, with a target of five million trees by 2025.

GEM gathers organizations from various sectors to declare their solidarity in making EDSA a safer place, where people mobility is prioritized over vehicle mobility, public transportation is fueled by clean energy, and greenways are developed.

“We are deeply committed to our civic duty to protect the environment, which enables us to lead lives in continuing socio-economic prosperity, ecological balance, and general well-being,” GEM chairman Eduardo Yap said.

“We aim to transform EDSA through robust advocacy for public-private partnership in carrying out green improvement projects,” he said.

The partnership and collaboration between the public and private sectors on the Green EDSA Movement will be vital in the restoration of EDSA into a safe and cleaner place for all, where people and establishments can thrive in a gentler and greener environment.