All Megaworld buildings, malls now carbon neutral

MANILA, Philippines — Megaworld Corp., the real estate giant of tycoon Andrew Tan, has achieved carbon neutrality in all its company-owned office and mall developments across the country.

The achievement covers 52 developments, all of which are Megaworld-owned commercial properties located in its various townships all over the Philippines.

Megaworld said the achievement serves as its biggest sustainability milestone to date.

It said carbon neutrality means carbon dioxide emissions released by any public or private company’s operations is balanced with an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide they reduced or removed.

Citing data compiled by the company in partnership with Diligent, a global leader in leader in governance, risk and compliance, gross carbon emissions from operational Megaworld-owned properties accounted for about 69,000 metric tons in 2023, 98 percent of which came from electricity consumption (Scope 2), while the rest were from fuel consumption (Scope 1).

Of this total, 51 percent came from Megaworld-owned mall developments, while the remaining 49 percent was recorded from its office properties.

Megaworld said it was able to offset about 36,000 metric tons of carbon emissions during the previous year following its move to tap renewable energy as a power source.

The company targets 100 percent shift to renewable energy for all its company-owned office and mall properties in the next three years through its partnership with Meralco subsidiary MPower.

“In the next 10 years, the company is committing to plant 3.5 million trees across over 1,000 hectares of carbon forests in Batangas, Cavite, Tarlac, Iloilo, Palawan and Cebu,” Megaworld head of sustainability Jose Arnulfo Batac said.

Aside from planting trees inside its dedicated carbon forests across the country, Megaworld has also supported carbon offsetting projects certified by Verra, the world’s biggest certifier of voluntary carbon offsets.

Megaworld plans to tap a third-party organization to further evaluate its sustainability efforts, particularly those centered on carbon neutrality.

“We look forward to achieving carbon neutral emissions for Scopes 1 and 2 by 2035 for the entire Megaworld Group,” Batac said.

“We also turn our focus on accounting for our full Scope 3 emissions through our collaboration with our ESG data warehouse partner, Diligent, for a more ambitious target of achieving net zero by 2050. This is our way of continuing to champion our commitment to helping build a greener and cleaner future for everyone,” he said.

Megaworld has 31 master – planned integrated urban townships, integrated lifestyle communities and lifestyle estates across the country.