Faced with what is called a “threshold of survival,” First Gen Corporation has renewed its commitment to lead the country’s transition to clean energy, highlighting the urgent and accelerating impacts of climate change on the Philippines.
In separate messages delivered during the company’s 2025 Annual Stockholders’ Meeting and its recently released Integrated Report, First Gen Chairman Federico R. Lopez and President Francis Giles B. Puno both stressed that the climate emergency is no longer a distant threat but a national crisis unfolding in the real time present.
“In 2024, we saw global temperatures rise by 1.55 degrees Celsius since the industrial revolution,” Puno said. “That number might sound abstract, but it is very real,” he added, pointing to the extreme heat and rainfall events that set new records across the country. Eastern Samar recorded a 55°C heat index, while Metro Manila endured consecutive days of 40°C-plus temperatures. There was also severe flooding brought by Super Typhoon Carina and Tropical Storm Kristine, which further highlighted the growing volatility of our climate.
“The 1.5-degree target, once a goal set in Paris in 2016, is no longer just an ambition — it is now a threshold of survival,” Puno said.
In response, First Gen is fast-tracking its decarbonization agenda. The company’s portfolio—long founded on renewable energy and natural gas—continues to expand with significant new investments from geothermal, hydro, wind, to solar power.
Geothermal subsidiary Energy Development Corporation (EDC) carried out its most aggressive drilling campaign to date in 2024, drilling a total of 24 new wells and preparing 19 more in 2025, including its first exploration project in Mindanao’s Amacan region. An additional 140 MW of baseload steam capacity is to be expected this year.
Meanwhile, First Gen integrated the 165 MW Casecnan hydro plant into its operations and is set to begin construction on a 150 MW solar facility in Batangas in 2025. The facility will supply renewable power to the Batangas Electric Cooperative (BATELEC) and over 150 global firms located in the First Philippine Industrial Park.
These strategic actions are part of the company’s roadmap to grow its renewable and low-carbon energy capacity to 13 GW by 2030.
While emphasizing the importance of renewables, First Gen also underscored the continued role of natural gas as a transitional fuel. The company’s San Gabriel and Santa Rita power plants provided critical support to the grid during the peak summer months, despite facing pricing constraints from market interventions.
Its LNG terminal in Batangas—which is now fully operational—has completed eight shipments to date, helping balance the decline in output from the Malampaya gas field. “This infrastructure strengthens the backbone of our energy security,” said Puno.
Although 55% of First Gen’s total energy capacity remains in natural gas, the company emphasized that 72% of its asset investments in 2024 were already invested in renewables—a proportion expected to grow further in 2025.
“This may give the wrong impression that our focus still remains on growing our natural gas business,” Puno explained. “But our balance sheet tells a different story.”
The company also sent a strong call for policy reform, warning that current regulatory structures deter investment in clean energy. Puno urged the government to reconsider price caps, improve power contracting mechanisms, fully implement Retail Competition and Open Access (RCOA), and uphold the moratorium on new coal plants.
“The Philippines’ growing power demand and increasingly fragile grid require bold and sustained investments,” he said. “Without margins, we cannot lead the energy transition critical to our future.”
Chairman Federico R. Lopez echoed the need for a collective response, calling the energy transition a “grand human project” requiring cooperation among businesses, governments, and communities. “We owe it to future generations to act now,” Lopez said in his statement.
Both executives concluded with a note of cautious optimism, committing to forge ahead despite financial and regulatory headwinds as well as present challenges.
“In 2025, we move forward with urgent optimism — with eyes wide open to the crisis, but with every fibre of our being fully committed to the opportunity to do more,” Puno said.
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