How this billionaire family business wants to become a better corporate citizen

Published

4 years ago

June 14, 2021

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In this article

AGI-PH

A combination of a delicate natural environment and increasing poverty is encouraging the son of a billionaire business founder to improve their company’s sustainable and social efforts.

Property group Alliance Global is based in the Philippines, which — being an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands — is particularly susceptible to the effects of climate change, as CEO Kevin Tan described.

“We’re located in a very unique and rather precarious geographic location,” Tan said. “Every year, we experience several calamities, ranging from simple tropical depressions to typhoons to even prolonged droughts and dry spells … In recent years, we have actually seen these occurrences happen more frequently, and with a much higher ferocity,” he added.

Founded by Tan’s father Andrew Tan in 1993, Alliance Global operates in real estate, hospitality and food, with assets including casino and hotel complex Resorts World Manila, and the world’s largest brandy distiller, Emperador. It is also the main McDonald’s franchise holder in the Philippines, via its Golden Arches Development Corporation.

Alongside this, the country has a poverty problem: The World Bank estimates that there will have been 2 million more poor Filipinos in 2020 than there were in 2018 due to the coronavirus pandemic, per a June report — the country has a total population of 108 million.

And according to Tan, a shifting population is also putting pressure on resources. “(There is an) uneven sort of distribution of population growth towards the urban centers versus the rural centers of our country. And … it poses several challenges — among them is really this unequal distribution of economic opportunities,” he said.

The Philippines’ environmental and economic issues spurred Alliance Global to identify two goals: becoming carbon neutral by 2035 and creating 5 million jobs, either directly or indirectly, by the same date. “We decided we wanted to be … better corporate citizens,” Tan said. However, the pandemic meant that the firm extended its deadline for both from 2030. “Nothing could have prepared us for this. I have to admit, yes, of course we had to step back a bit, because we were on survivor mode for the most part of last year and even until today, we’ve had to recalibrate our entire business model. We’ve had to … reduce our costs,” Tan explained.

Alliance Global’s Emperador is the world’s largest brandy distiller.

Jay Directo | AFP | Getty Images

The firm’s net income reduced by 62% year-over-year to 10.3 billion pesos ($216 million) in 2020, although several of its businesses recovered during the fourth quarter. McDonald’s revenue went up 36% compared with the previous quarter, while liquor sales at Emperador rose 42% over the same period.

Making its alcohol operations more environmentally-friendly has been a focus for Alliance Global: At Emperador the firm uses biogas created from the distilling process to fuel its boilers. In turn, the boilers produce steam, which powers turbines and creates electricity. Around 30% of the company’s distillery operations are powered this way, while vineyards producing grapes for its Fundador brandy in Spain use a process called deficit irrigation, where only the areas that need water are given it.

When it comes to economic development, Tan said the company’s Megaworld “township” residential and office complexes are creating jobs. He singled out Iloilo, a development on the Philippines’ Panay Island, where there is a focus on business process outsourcing (BPO), a practice where firms contract some of their operations to external suppliers. Such BPO companies are growing — and they need office space, Tan said. “Traditionally, the BPO sector was dominated by health care, travel, and financial services. Because of the pandemic, new industries have been introduced to outsourcing, for example logistics, technology, and e-commerce,” he explained.

Alliance Global is also looking to reduce waste in its developments. “We collect all the plastics from all of our developments, from all of our communities, we put them together and … cement factories, they take this plastic and use it as fuel,” Tan said.

Tan claimed the firm now looks at a “triple” bottom line. “Profitability is obviously still very important … But when we look at things now, we look at … not just having a singular bottom line, but having a triple bottom line, and that now includes, of course, environmental sustainability, as well as our social impact.”

Environment

Oil giant Equinor backs crisis-stricken Orsted as Trump lashes out at offshore wind

Published

4 hours ago

September 1, 2025

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Oil giant Equinor backs crisis-stricken Orsted as Trump lashes out at offshore wind

Picture taken on September 4, 2023 shows windmills at the Nysted Offshore Wind Farm constructed by Danish windpower giant Orsted in 2002-2003 in the Baltic Sea near Gedser in Denmark.

Thomas Traasdahl | Afp | Getty Images

Norwegian oil giant Equinor on Monday pledged to support Denmark’s Orsted with almost $1 billion of fresh capital, backing the beleaguered company amid sustained attacks on offshore wind projects from the Trump administration.

In an apparent show of confidence in the world’s largest offshore wind developer, Equinor signaled its intention to participate in Orsted’s planned 60 billion Danish krone ($9.4 billion) rights issue and said it intended to hold on to its 10% ownership in the company.

Equinor said its strategic support of the rights issue reflects its confidence in Orsted’s underlying business and the competitiveness of offshore wind in the future energy mix. The state-backed Norwegian energy group is the second largest shareholder in Orsted, behind the Danish government.

As part of the move, Equinor said it would nominate a candidate to Orsted’s board of directors.

Shares of Orsted rose 3.6% on the news, before paring gains. The stock price, which is down nearly 90% from a 2021, peak notched a fresh record low last month after the Trump administration ordered the company to halt work on a near complete windfarm.

Equinor shares were last seen 0.2% higher on Monday morning.

Both companies have been navigating challenges around the offshore wind industry, with Equinor saying it is closely monitoring developments in the U.S., and that it intends to remain in dialogue with Orsted.

The wind industry has been a target for U.S. President Donald Trump since his first day in office. The latest blow came on Friday when the U.S. Department of Transportation canceled $679 million in federal funding for a dozen infrastructure projects that would support offshore wind power nationwide.

“Wasteful, wind projects are using resources that could otherwise go towards revitalizing America’s maritime industry,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement.

Analysts at RBC Capital Markets said Equinor’s move to support Orsted could be seen as a first step for the company considering the possibility of a potential merger between the two offshore wind portfolios.

“The challenge with participating fully is that the company will effectively increase its net exposure to two 100%-owned US offshore wind projects, neither of which look likely to be farmed down in the near term, and where political support remains uncertain,” analysts at RBC Capital Markets said in a research note.

“The incremental positive is that alongside its maintained shareholding, Equinor will now be having board representation, making the most of a challenging situation,” they added.

Spokespeople for Equinor and Orsted did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.

— CNBC’s Spencer Kimball & Ganesh Rao contributed to this report.

Environment

E-quipment highlight: Komatsu PC20E-6 electric mini excavator

Published

17 hours ago

August 31, 2025

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E-quipment highlight: Komatsu PC20E-6 electric mini excavator

Komatsu electric mini offers ‘realistic working day’ operation

Japanese equipment giant Komatsu has added a not-so-giant electric excavator to its growing lineup of battery-powered construction equipment. The new Komatsu PC20E-6 electric mini excavator promises a full day of work from a single charge.

Komatsu says the design of its latest mini excavator was informed by data sourced from more than 40,000 working days of comparably-sized diesel excavators. The company found that, in 90% of its global customers’ mini excavator deployments, these vehicles are in active use for less than 3.5 hours per day.

“This defined the target for the required, reliable working time with the excavator,” reads the Komatsu web copy. “This result makes it possible for Komatsu to offer an attractively priced machine with a performance that exactly matches the requirements.”

Keeping costs down are relatively conservative specs. Komatsu chose to power the PC20E-6 with a 23.2 kWh battery pack sending electrons to an 11 kW (~15 hp), high-torque electric motors. Not exactly super impressive on paper, but the machine has an operating weight of 2,190 kg and enough juice for up to four (4) hours of continuous operation.

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More than enough, in other words, to have completed 90% of of those 40,000 work days the company analyzed.

Getting it done

PC20E-6 electric mini excavator; via Komatsu.

If, for some reason, that four hours’ runtime isn’t enough, an on-board charging option for 230V and 3kW charging power compatible with various plug adapters is standard, with an external DC quick charger for 400V and 12 kW charging as optional. In either case, it won’t be long before the machine is back at work.

To help the later adopters sleep well about their battery-powered investments, the PC20E-6 ships with Komatsu’s E-Support maintenance program, which includes free scheduled maintenance by a Komatsu-trained technician, a 3 year/2,000 hour warranty on the machine, plus a 5 year/10,000 hour warranty on the electric driveline. The company says the battery should last 10 years.

“The Komatsu E-Support customer program is included free of charge with every market-ready electric mini excavator and offers exclusive machine support,” said Emanuele Viel, Group Manager Utility at Komatsu Europe. “The bottom line is that the risk for the end customer is significantly reduced, especially when it comes to exploring the electrification advances in the industry.”

Komatsu hasn’t released official pricing quite yet, but has revealed that the P20E-6 will begin series production this October.

SOURCE | IMAGES: Komatsu.

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Environment

Tesla unexpectedly ends contract at Giga Texas, letting go 82 people

Published

20 hours ago

August 31, 2025

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Tesla unexpectedly ends contract at Giga Texas, letting go 82 people

Tesla has unexpectedly terminated a contractor’s contract at Gigafactory Texas, resulting in the layoff of 82 workers who were supporting the automaker’s production at the giant factory in Austin.

MPW Industrial Services Inc., an Ohio-based industrial service provider specializing in cleaning and facility management, has issued a new WARN notice, confirming that it will lay off 82 workers in Texas due to Tesla unexpectedly ending its contract with the company.

Here are the details from the WARN notice:

State / agency: Texas Workforce Commission (TWC).
Notice date: August 27, 2025.
Employees affected: 82
Likely effective date: September 1, 2025
Context from the filing/letter: layoffs tied to an unexpected termination of a major customer contract (Tesla—Gigafactory Texas, 1 Tesla Road); positions include 61 technicians, 7 team leads, 7 supervisors, 7 managers; no bumping rights; workers not union-represented.

In April 2024, Tesla initiated waves of layoffs at the plant, resulting in the dismissal of more than 2,000 employees in Austin, Texas.

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Since then, Tesla’s sales have been in a steady decline. While the automaker is expected to have a strong quarter in the US in Q3 due to the end of the tax credit, sales are expected to decline further in Q4 and the first half of 2026.

Many industry watchers have expected Tesla to initiate further layoffs due to the situation.

Electrek’s Take

We may be seeing the beginnings of a new wave of layoffs at Tesla, as the automaker typically starts with contractors.

To be fair, Tesla could also potentially end the contract unexpectedly for other reasons, but the timing does align with the need to cut costs and staff ahead of an inevitable downturn in US EV sales.

I think it’s inevitable that we start seeing some layoffs. I think Tesla will have to slow down production in the US to avoid creating an oversupply, especially in Q4-Q1.

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