Lopez group exec lands in ‘Modern Governance 100’ global leaders’ list

fph exec edited

A senior executive of Lopez-led First Philippine Holdings Corporation (FPH) has been recognized by a US-based governance, risk and compliance (GRC) company as one of the world’s top 100 GRC leaders for driving FPH’s efforts toward greater diversity, sustainable practices, and sharper insights for company leadership. 

Diligent Corporation, a leading GRC software-as-a-service or SaaS company, announced that FPH Chief Sustainability Officer Agnes de Jesus is one of the honorees in Diligent’s list of “Modern Governance 100” global leaders of 2021.

De Jesus received the honor under the “ESG [environment, social and governance] and Diversity Trailblazer” category for her role in the accomplishments of FPH and its subsidiaries in environment and human rights protection, promoting gender diversity and equality, and in recognizing the rights of indigenous people on top of preserving their cultural heritage.

She won the recognition, based on the nomination coming from the Center for Social Responsibility of the University of Asia and the Pacific. 

Diligent is the leading GRC SaaS company, serving more than one million users from over 25,000 organizations around the globe. Its modern GRC platform ensures that boards, executives and other leaders have a holistic, integrated view of ESG data, audit, risk, information security, ethics and compliance across the organization. 

FPH’s advocacy explains why its energy arm First Gen Corporation prioritizes the use of clean and renewable energy (RE) to run its power plants, with a total installed capacity of 3,492 megawatts. 

First Gen’s portfolio includes the Avion, San Gabriel, San Lorenzo, and Sta. Rita gas-fired power plants in Batangas City, which all rely on the Malampaya field’s production output. Meanwhile, Energy Development Corporation (EDC) — a First Gen unit — manages the Burgos solar farm in Ilocos Norte, as well as solar, wind, and geothermal projects nationwide.

Under the leadership of Chairman and CEO Federico R. Lopez, FPH drew up last year the conglomerate’s new mission: “Forging collaborative pathways for a decarbonized and regenerative future.” With the new nine-word FPH mission, the conglomerate shifted its advocacy beyond sustainability to collaborative regeneration.

The new FPH mission’s call for collaboration also recognizes the urgency of the message in the latest assessment of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC said in its latest report that, in order to reverse the destructive impact of climate change, Earth needs a sustained, rapid and large-scale reduction in carbon emissions – a task that no one company can achieve.