Bangkok, Thailand – With less than a month to go before the COP30 Climate Summit in Belém, Brazil, the climate clock is forcing both governments and business leaders to move beyond lip service. They are now racing to embed decarbonization not only across their own value chains, but deep into the carbon core of their suppliers, where real credibility will be judged.

With the 1.5°C global warming limit still slipping further out of reach and the climate crisis boiling over, leading corporations are being cornered—so, no more hiding behind offsets or empty promises. From gutting carbon out of their operations to forcing accountability across Scope 3 emissions of the GHG Protocol, circularity, and capital allocation, the narrative is clear: decarbonization must break free from the sidelines and turn into a relentless drive for businesses and industries.

At the CDx Summit 2025 during the Bangkok Climate Week, the spotlight was firmly on Southeast Asia—not just as a climate risk zone, but as a trillion-dollar decarbonization opportunity. Despite the pain points, momentum is unmistakably gathering steam. Philippine frontrunners under the Net Zero Carbon Alliance (NZCA)—primarily the Energy Development Corp. (EDC) of the Lopez group, Unilever Philippines, and International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) of the Razon group, along with the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as represented by Department of Trade and Industry Executive Director Clare Mari Torralba—are united in this one unyielding message: decarbonization is no longer just a sustainability side quest, but a major business strategy, a competitive edge, and above all, a tangible commitment to safeguard the planet’s future for the next generations.

In a fishbowl session where I also joined as a co-speaker, ICTSI Global Environmental Manager John Joseph Ilagan highlighted that their company’s decarbonization journey really started at home base in the Philippines, then it's now being scaled across their global operations. This involves pushing hard on supplier compliance—especially with the IMO standards, which is among the key components of their science-based target on emissions reduction under Scope 3. To ICTSI, it’s not just about cleaning their own house, but pursuing carbon cuts also across the entire logistics chain.

Rondell Torres, Unilever Philippines & Greater Asia Sustainability Lead, similarly shared that their supplier decarbonization program, which was launched in 2021, has evolved from a modest initiative into a strategic business weapon. By engaging suppliers directly to slash Scope 3 emissions, Unilever isn’t just driving climate impact; they’re also mining the real gold: the collection of tangible data that sharpens their emissions baselines and powers them with smarter decisions. And for their partners, decarbonization is no longer just about shrinking footprints; it’s also turning into a viable survival play and a gateway to unlocking climate-linked funding flow.

“Under the climate supplier program, we capacitate them—yes, but we also ask from them supplier data. Then we also open sustainability-linked supply chain financing option for them. We don’t finance them directly, but we have institutional partners to basically reward behavior progress, etc.; so we’re able to capacitate and once they’re ready, we make sure that we help them on finance operations,” he explained.

Torres added, “we do it as aggregate… we need to prioritize our top 300 suppliers for their contribution to our emissions, so that we can make the most impact—because essentially, we don’t have unlimited time and resources.”

Through various insights shared by speakers at the fishbowl session on Building Trust: Credible Claims, Stakeholder Buy-In and Supplier Engagement, Ping Manongdo, head of Partnerships at Southeast Asia Corporate Decarbonization Exchange (CDx), somehow pulled the brakes when it comes to sloppy emissions reduction pretenses. He emphasized that what’s needed shall be accuracy, specificity, and verifiability of the data being claimed. Because in the end, it’s not just about reporting; it’s more about integrating real emission cuts into national policy and community-level governance where these businesses operate.

Frances Ariola, NZCA’s lead convenor and EDC’s Corporate Communications head, qualified that it’s not enough to just track emissions anymore. Real progress toward corporate actions on concretizing their net zero goals must thrive as strategic, no-excuses action on cutting carbon—and that’s exactly what their alliance and members are laser-focused on delivering on.

“We actually joined the CDx summit this year officially representing NZCA because our goal is to find more enablers for those that can provide technology, services, advice that can help us—we already have 41 members as of 2025, so we need more help in achieving our net zero goals,” she said.

Ariola specified that NZCA’s mission is uncompromising—to exist as a one-stop shop on helping provide the tools, resources, as well as support to partners in achieving their net zero targets.

“We’re expanding our circle, lining up new players to join next year’s Net Zero Conference—and we’re ready to back not just our partners, but the entire business ecosystem. So, it’s really working for us; and then we would also be able to share our experiences in mobilizing the private sector in the Philippines in delivering real climate action,” she further noted.

Ariola qualified that for their members in the organization, “it’s important we align our claims with our actions—it’s is something that also serves as a reminder to us in NZCA that we’re not there just making all these claims, but let’s make sure that we’re not greenwashing.”

Validation of science-based targets initiative (SBTi) as well as GHG emissions reduction pledges must not be optional; instead, it is the frontline defense against false claims. Plugging the gaps shall also be the hard grind that separates real progress from empty promises.

At NZCA, Ariola asserted that validation of claimed emissions reduction is methodically weaved into their framework. So before anyone of their members could claim to be carbon-neutral or net zero, they must first prove their GHG reductions and science-based targets with solid data—no shortcuts, no spin, and the minimum bar is full transparency and verification.

“We just keep reminding our members because it is part of the framework to seek validation for GHG or science-based targets—and then when you are already at that stage where you need to claim that you are carbon-neutral or you are net zero, you also need to get another validation for that—so that’s always the advice that we give to the parties. The minimum requirement is to really submit their data,” she expounded.

Ariola likewise conveyed that they keep their members in check. The reward for top-tier performers will be a strategic spotlight, while they’re not also turning a blind eye on the laggards. Yet they’re not exactly quick on instituting harsh crackdowns, as they hold firm to the belief that there’s still room for growth and course correction among these members. The goal? Inspire learning, growth, and a real climb toward accountability, then help each other step up on their climate actions.

When it is time for NZCA members to renew their Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the organization—which is done every three years—Ariola indicated that they just don’t nod and move on; instead, these business-partners are often put under the microscope. If they haven’t shown effort to learn or crunch their emissions data, then NZCA could opt to focus on those who are actually committed to the climate fight.

“There will come a time especially when they renew their MOUs that they will be subjected to evaluation—we will check: has this company even tried to learn or compute; but if we see that there’s inaction, then we can conclude that perhaps they’re not really here for true action—they might just be here for PR—and we will talk to them and let them know that this is something where we provide assistance to them. But if there would still be no action on their part, then let’s focus on other companies—those that are true to their commitments, trying to learn, compute and submit data—so that’s how we police our members,” she pointed out.

On validation, Ariola emphasized that they expect partner-companies to seek their own third-party verification; so there’s no resorting to shortcuts and guesswork. And when NZCA would report progress, they only count what’s been externally validated and data that could be made publicly available—because collective claims mean nothing without proof that can stand up to scrutiny, by anyone, anywhere.

“There is an assumption already that if they submit it to us, it shall be publicly available data because we’re also going to show that. Even if that would be collective—it must be validated, something that cannot be questioned,” she stated.

The intensifying voice of NZCA carries one uncompromising aspiration: that their science-backed targets, verified data, and concrete decarbonization efforts don’t just sit on paper but become a driving force in national policy. They are ultimately imploring the Philippine government to embed private sector action into the core of its next nationally determined contribution (NDC) submission under the Paris Agreement.

“The hope is to be able to finalize this conversation with the Climate Change Commission on how our contribution—in terms of our reduction on GHG—will be able to help the NDC; because it’s really our objective to make sense of all these actions—it’s not just for our individual companies, but it’s something that we’d be able to help the country. And this is something wherein we would be able to finalize with the CCC on how NZCA can really contribute; and eventually, that will also elevate our commitment because that will already be country-level,” Ariola indicated.

Beyond backing the government’s NDC submission, NZCA is similarly charging ahead to claim its rightful seat at the policymaking table, primarily in shaping the future of Philippine climate action. With a position paper in the works on the Low Carbon Economy Bill and a desire to help in crafting the nation’s emerging carbon trading market, the group is aiming for a bigger role not just as a participant, but a persuasive prime mover in the climate policy arena.

Sure, NZCA may still be a lean force compared to the vast landscape of Philippine corporations—but never underestimate the power of a focused handful. History has always proven that being a ‘disruptive few’ is never a weakness, but it’s the incendiary spark that fuels an unstoppable rising force; and that could happen even in the climate action juggernaut.