By Myrna M. Velasco
The biogas project of Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC) in a joint venture with pineapple-canning firm Dole Philippines had been granted with a subsidy under the joint crediting mechanism (JCM) that is underpinned by the Japanese government.
The JCM is a trailblazing initiative of the Japanese government that stimulates private sector organizations to invest in low carbon technologies and/or in markets to keep pace with the global goal of abating climate change risks.
The subsidy scheme is mainly advanced by Japan’s Ministry of Environment in collaboration with partner-countries like the Philippines and with the support from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
In the JCM grant to the biogas facility as a “model venture” in pineapple canneries, the project was able to secure a maximum subsidy of 50 percent on capital cost.
Following meticulous validation process, “the project was qualified and confirmed by the Global Environment Centre,” the company said, in reference to the implementation agency of the JCM model project.
According to MPIC, it was Itochu Corporation of Japan, through its office in Manila, that had been “instrumental in initiating and leading the accreditation process” for the biogas project. That move came with the full support of METPower Venture Partners Holdings, Inc. (METPower), the corporate vehicle which concretized the project and a wholly owned subsidiary of MPIC.