The Climate Change Commission asked the government to step away from the use of coal and tap more renewable resources to meet the country’s power supply requirements.
“Updating our roadmap to massively favor clean sources will allow the Philippines to be at the forefront of this aggressive and massive trend of investment and transition from fossil to renewable energy. This allows the Philippines to not only contribute to global efforts to combat climate change but reduce growing economic and financial risks associated with carbon intensive energy sources such as coal,” ECC vice chairman Emmanuel De Guzman said.
De Guzman cited the report of the International Energy Agency that more than 90 percent of new electricity generated last year came from renewable energy sources, with investments reaching a record $328.9 billion.
Coal, on the other hand, the most carbon intensive among fossil fuels, is starting to be seen as a risky long-term investment.
The agency said long-term institutional investors were increasingly treating carbon as a long-term risk and are divesting from fossil enterprises from their investment portfolio and moving to greener sources of energy.
“We must seize the opportunity now. A decisive transition to clean energy is good for the climate and makes financial and economic sense,” De Guzman said.
“It is now imperative for our country to adjust energy models with the global trend in renewable energy use in mind in order to come up with roadmaps with definitive actions for the power sector, and eventually for the transport industry and other key sectors,” he said.
The Philippines submitted to the United Nations a commitment to reduce by 2030 its carbon emissions by 70 percent compared to business-as-usual.