Vena Energy, a leading green energy solutions provider in the Asia-Pacific region, marked World Environment Day with a large-scale ceremonial tree-planting initiative in Sitio Kilingan, Barangay San Jose, Antipolo City, Rizal.
The activity brought together 19 employee volunteers from across the organization and 100 members of the local people’s organization, a community conservation group, to support the national goal of planting at least five million trees nationwide by 2028.
The initiative supports the Department of Environment and Natural Resources' (DENR) Forests for Life (FFL) programme. Employee volunteers made an early start, arriving at the site equipped with the necessary tools and planting 200 seedlings (50 molave, 100 white lauan, 50 soursop), demonstrating the company's commitment to environmental stewardship.
"As a company dedicated to accelerating the energy transition, we ensure that our responsibility to the environment extends beyond our renewable energy projects," said Samrinder Nehria, Head of Vena Energy in the Philippines.
"This ceremonial tree planting is our first step in honouring the commitment we have made to adopt and plant on an initial 50 hectares of forest land, with the aim of adopting more areas in the country that need our support and where tangible, hands-on actions are called for to ensure the promise of sustainable development is kept," Nehria added.
The tree-planting activity follows the memorandum of agreement signed between Vena Energy and the DENR on 11 February 2026, formalizing the company's support for the FFL programme. The FFL aims to establish at least 5 million indigenous forest tree species nationwide, from 2025 to 2028, to address forest conservation, biodiversity restoration and climate change mitigation, while enhancing community livelihoods and private-sector engagement.
A second memorandum of agreement was also signed at this week’s event between Vena Energy and the People’s Organization, Samahan ng Magsasaka sa Kilingan-Panusugin, Inc. (SMKPI), committing the company to plant 28,000 trees across 50 hectares of land in Rizal.
The agreement is the SMKPI’s first with a private sector partner, and SMKPI will oversee the establishment and maintenance of the 50-hectare plantation.
“This is the very first signing of an agreement with a People’s Organization. Let us not waste this opportunity. The importance of trees includes both tangible and intangible benefits. For example, better climatic conditions - we cannot pay for that. The motto of the CBFM is ‘People first and sustainability will follow,’ and this initiative will be one of our solutions for our sustainable environment," Bryan Ulic-Ulic, Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) Rizal Community-Based Forest Management (CBFM) Provincial Coordinator1, said.
The Antipolo site was carefully selected for its ecological significance to the Greater Metro Manila area. As the host province for several of the company's key renewable energy projects and ongoing community programmes, Rizal remains a primary focus of Vena Energy's environmental stewardship efforts.
SMKPI President Lito Abanto expressed his gratitude to the DENR for trusting them as forest managers to 430 hectares, and to Vena Energy for giving them the opportunity to help and protect the forest in the province.
"As of now, we can see here in the 430 hectares, in the protected area, that we are short of trees. Most of the trees are already endangered, such as palm trees, seedlings, and fruit-bearing trees," Abanto said.
"We are taking care of this protected area so that we can defend it and avoid flooding. We will do our best to maintain this area," he added.
