The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), along with international finance and energy officials, co­hosted the 4^th Philippine Energy Efficiency Forum (PEEF) held last week at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City.

The European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) was the principal host and organizer.

After the Manila run of the forum, the ECCP will head south to Cebu City on the July 16 and in Davao City on July 23, in a bid to promote energy efficiency among companies throughout the country.

As the only sponsor from the financial segment, BPI Sustainable Energy Finance Unit will have two of its clients present their energy efficiency cases in the Cebu and Davao conferences.

Sheridan Beach Resort and Spa will share its energy efficiency case for commercial buildings and Italpinas Eurasia Design and Eco­development Corp. will present for the real 'estate industry.

BPI also pioneered the use of solar technology to power selected branches to help curb energy costs and stabilize supply of electricity.

The bank is looking at having 400 of its more than 800 branches nationwide equipped with solar­powered systems in the next two to three years.

Over the years, BPI has embarked on several green initiatives such as paperless drives to energy conservation efforts, such as installing energy­saving LED lighting systems among others.

Meanwhile, United Kingdom's Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) senior energy adviser Angus Miller discussed energy efficiency and climate change among the more than 200 top cororate executives who attended the Manila leg of the forum.

Miller has been traveling extensively in the Asia Pacific region and actively providing energy efficiency inputs to the British government, embassies, national governments, inves­tors, and industries worldwide.

International Finance Corp (IFC) regional manager for sustainable energy finance Miles Stump also   presented and talked about the status of sustainable energy finance program in the Philippines. Stump has worked on enabling financial institutions create dedicated sustainable energy lending products.

The objective of the annual forum is to engage its participants in the collective actions that the Energy Smart program is initiating at two levels of interventions: government and private buildings, and   economic zones and industrial supply chains.

The Energy Smart Program has taken the challenge of promoting energy efficiency from the enterprise level to the community level.

This collective action will engage the government and the private sector to develop a policy environment that recognizes the importance of energy efficiency as a key action to address climate change issues while achieving business competitiveness. -Ted Torres

Source: The Philippine Star; News; 16 July 2013