Let us strengthen our mission to promote Pope Francis’ call for ecological conversion as fully explained in his open letter to humanity “Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home.”
WeGen has established strategic relationships with most of the 85 Catholic dioceses covering the entire Philippines to install over 100 MW through 2023 of clean and sustainable solar power on the rooftops of churches, schools, seminaries, and other church-owned buildings.
We as a company observe high environmental standards and practices in adherence to the values and principles of Laudato Si’. We assist Catholic dioceses, parishes, and other Catholic institutions to transition to the use of renewable energy. We also establish partnerships with other faiths and religious formations such as the Methodist and Baptist churches that also believe in protecting the environment and fighting climate change. Taking the lead in our efforts in this area is our Vice-President for Laudato Si’ Relations Raymond Daniel H. Cruz, Jr, our Sir Jun.
Things Can Change
In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis writes: “There is an urgent need to develop policies so that, in the next few years, the emission of carbon dioxide and other highly polluting gases can be drastically reduced, for example, substituting for fossil fuels and developing sources of renewable energy. Worldwide there is minimal access to clean and renewable energy.” (26)
Fossil fuels including coal are a single-use energy source that spews harmful pollution and endangers people’s health. We want to help inform as many Filipinos as possible that there is a very viable alternative to coal – the main source of our electricity in the Philippines – and this is solar energy.
As individuals and in our churches, we can lessen our reliance on fossil fuels and make the transition to renewable sources of energy like solar. WeGen Laudato Si’ can help churches, religious communities, and other owners of religious facilities to deploy energy efficiency programs and adopt renewable energy. On a conceptual level, it is easy to understand that solar energy is a cleaner and more sustainable source of energy for a church, and the numbers support this claim.
An average-sized Catholic property that completes a 100-kW solar project and switches to efficient LED lighting will offset about 82% of the energy they would traditionally get from their utility company. Over 25 years, a single church would eliminate 2,900 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, the equivalent of 7.2 million miles driven by an average passenger vehicle.
MOAs with Dioceses
WeGen Laudato Si’helps Catholic and other religious institutions make the transition to renewable energy. Parishes, dioceses, and institutions can cut their energy costs, lower carbon emissions, and show a concrete example to the wider community and answer Pope Francis’ call to protect the earth by making the transition to clean energy.
As part of our efforts, we encourage the signing of Memoranda of Agreement (MOAs) between the different dioceses in the Philippines and WeGen. To date, we have signed MOAs with over 75 dioceses.
These MOAs provide the basic understanding and agreements on our common response to Laudato Si’. The MOA signing is a significant step in communicating to all dioceses, the clergy, the lay faithful, and to the rest of the community the “ethical imperative” called forth by Laudato Si’.
In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis wrote: “The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change.”
Let us make ourselves part and parcel of God’s creation, using all the things that God has given us, especially the sun, which produces so much energy for humanity.#