Cebu exporters go green

CEBU, Philippines - Exporters are now taking a strong stand on providing green products and services to its clients, as the market now prefers green products.

PhilExport-Cebu executive director Fred Escalona said Cebu-based exporters are going to intensify its effort to make green export products, as well as making their operations environment-friendly.

First Carbon Solutions, chief executive officer (CEO) James Donovan cited a study conducted by Green Seal indicating that four out of five consumers were buying some level of green products and services.

Likewise, he said investors are starting to demand company disclosure and accountability of their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

“Unlike many of the big emitters, these ‘green’ industries are not driven by the compliance, rather they are feeling pressured to disclose and reduce GHG emissions from investors and consumers,” he said.

With this, Donovan said companies in these sectors are looking to turn carbon equivalent (CO2e) into a business advantage.

He cited as an example building management firms wanting to increase building occupancy through a green reputation. This is achieved by a certification under the Leadership for Energy and Environment Design (LEED) program, improve property value and simply improve energy management. 

The Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (PhilExport) earlier has announced its move to aggressively promote the green exports campaign, following the adoption of this particular program as priority focus of the newly issued Export Development Plan.

In a statement, PhilExport said that green exports or greening of exports, was adopted as new strategy of the three-year export plan recently approved by Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) secretary Gregory Domingo, that will be pushed by both exporters and their partners in the government starting this year.

The plan was also orchestrated by the semi-government Export Development Council (EDC).

Green exports was defined by the EDC as natural and organic products (NOP). Their inclusion as a special focus of attention was motivated by the fact that the market out there has grown to become a trillion dollars a year based on figures gathered by the Bureau of Export Trade Promotions (BETP).

"There is an expanding sector in the Philippine exporting community engaged in NOP and related enterprises successfully promoting Filipino talent and natural resources, “the EDC said.

It has been observed that with the domestic and international market for beauty care and anti-aging natural products and services, transnational companies based in the Philippines have joined the smaller players at riding on the bandwagon to produce and market green or green-able products.

According to the statement, the EDC and the BETP will continue to work with the NOP sector in achieving broad applications of this strategy and in developing metrics to measure progress, the plan pointed out.

PhilExport president Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis, Jr. said that part of that strategy is to closely ink tie-up with the NOP sector, particularly its health and wellness branch, to the domestic tourism industry.

Besides, aligning the export plan to the top economic strategy of the Aquino government to develop tourism as the main generator of jobs, the health and wellness industry, although still very young in the country, has been proving itself a rapidly growing sunrise industry, Ortiz said.

Outbound and in-bound trade promotions missions for green products will be synchronized with tourism promotions programs.

Efforts will likewise be pushed at setting in place the necessary infrastructure like testing laboratories for Philippine green products to meet international safety, health and quality standards.

In Cebu, export players had started their efforts in pursuing “green” operation to take advantage of the growing environment-conscious consumers around the world.

The European Commission released of 1-million Euros or approximately P65 million worth of grant for Cebu-based small and medium enterprise (SMEs) players, specifically exporters.

The program was implemented through the three-year SMART-Cebu (SMEs Environment Accountability, Responsibility, and Transparency) program. (FREEMAN)