Some 1,300 volunteers from the Aboitiz group of 20 companies recently planted close to 30,000 tree seedlings in various locations in the country in line with the Abotiz Million Tree Challenge, the planting of one million trees to offset carbon emissions from electricity and fuel consumption.

The 30,000 trees when full grown will be able to offset some 680 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, says Erramon Aboitiz, president and CEO of Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. Carbon dioxide is one of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

Aboitiz added that they are also pledging the trees the volunteers of the group of companies planted to the United Nations’ Billion Tree Campaign which aims to plant seven billion trees worldwide in 2009.

The planting sites were designated in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The Visayas team, composed of over 720 volunteers, conducted their tree planting last October 10 while the Luzon contingent conducted theirs on another date due to weather concerns.

The Cebu volunteers planted 47 species of indigenous trees in Bojo, Aloguinsan in Southern Cebu. A big portion of Bojo is currently barren and Aboitiz intends to help resuscitate biodiversity in the area, earmarking 12 hectares for planting trees.

The selected site in Cebu is under the auspices of the local government unit (LGU) and the Bojo Aloguinsan Eco-Tourism Association (BAETAS). The support of Major Cynthia Go Moreno and the municipal council of Aloguinsan was instrumental in the Cebu contingent’s tree planting effort.

The Aboitiz Foundtion, through the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, will coordinate with the LGU and BAETAS to monitor growth of the trees.

TheAboitiz Group is led by the Aboitiz Power Corp. The other participating companies in the tree planting activity include Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. (AEV), Aboitiz Foundation Inc., Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Aboitiz Land, Cebu Industrial Park and Development, Aboitiz Transport Systems, City Savings Bank, Union Bank, Metaphil, Pilminco Foods Corp., Pilminco Animal Nutrition Corp., Balamban EnerZone, Mactan EnerZone, Cebu Private Power Corp., East Asia Utilities Corp., Davao Light & Power Co., Hedcor, Inc., Aboitiz Energy Solutions, and Visayan Electric Company.