Officials from First Balfour, TOTC and GET-Philippines show copies of agreements they signed during an online signing ceremony Aug. 11 for the COMET buses. They are (clockwise from top left) GET-Philippines managing director Anthony Dy, TOTC president Anthony Fernandez, GET-Philippines vice president SP Sumulong, GET-Philippines president Freddie Tinga, TOTC GM Levi Dy and First Balfour CFO Jonathan TansengcoLopez Group companies under First Philippine Holdings Corporation (FPH) are working together to introduce a hi-tech, zero-emission bus shuttle service project as part of a program for integration of more green technology and decarbonization efforts in their businesses and allied services.

FPH said its engineering and construction subsidiary First Balfour, through unit Therma One Transport Corporation (TOTC), has reached an agreement with GET-Philippines, the local arm of US-based Global Electric Transport Worldwide Inc. (GET), for the initial acquisition from GET of two new-generation COMET electric buses.

TOTC has also finalized a separate agreement with First Philec Inc., another FPH subsidiary, for the use of the first COMET bus by First Philec employees in First Philippine Industrial Park in Batangas.

TOTC plans to replicate the nonpolluting transport project in other business sites and projects where the project will be suitable.

‘Integrating sustainability’

“We have been integrating sustainability in our businesses and in how we operate. We have been looking at investing in electric vehicles for service vehicles for some time now. For us, this is the future,” TOTC president Anthony Fernandez stressed during the agreement signing on Aug. 11.

Fernandez said the 30-passenger COMET buses, scheduled for delivery in October, can travel up to 100 kilometers on a single charge. Each bus comes equipped with WiFi connection, a GPS or global positioning system device and other amenities, including a contact tracing app.

He explained that each COMET bus can displace an estimated 40,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide that the bus would otherwise spew to the atmosphere if it were running on fossil fuel.

Studies have tagged the transport sector as a major emitter of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas whose massive and continued buildup in the atmosphere is being associated with climate change and destructive weather patterns, such as typhoons and floods. An overwhelming number of motor vehicles around the world runs on gasoline or diesel—fossil fuels with high carbon dioxide content.

Green transport solutions

A shift to the use of electric vehicles, which emit no carbon dioxide, has been identified as one solution to check the buildup of more greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. GET is developing green transport solutions, like the COMET— the acronym for Community Optimized Managed Electric Transport—as its response to the climate problem.

First Philec and TOTC tapped the services of GET-Philippines as their way of reinforcing support for FPH’s campaign against climate change.

“I personally believe that the greatest of all achievements starts with an agglomeration of small, meaningful and truly insightful steps. This demonstrates that we are ready to forge collaborations and partnerships for a decarbonized and regenerative future,” First Philec president Ariel Ong said during the online signing ceremony. “We hope this is just the beginning of a truly consistent set of activities in order for us to share the mission and the message to our employees, to the larger community and to the whole country.”

GET-Philippines president Freddie Tinga added: “Partnering with the Lopez Group, an organization renowned for its priority in the sustainable enterprise, is a huge milestone. We expect that we will be together at the forefront of what we believe is a changing of the guard in the transport and sustainability sector.” (Story/Photos by: Joel Gaborni)

Lopez companies to launch e-bus service in Batangas