December 2, 2015
The Philippine business community
signed last October the 2015 Manila Declaration in support of the government
program on climate change. Specifically, the Declaration backed the
government’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC), the
Philippines’ comprehensive climate change agenda which it has now submitted to
the ongoing United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Paris, France. The
Philippines set a national goal of reducing the nation’s carbon emissions by 70
percent by 2030.
In that Business Summit in October,
the country’s business leaders acknowledged climate change as a threat to
mankind, voiced their expectations of action from the government, and declared
their own commitment to combat climate change
Last week, in a meeting of some 50
leaders of Philippine business and industry, Commissioner Heherson Alvarez of
the Climate Change Commission (CCC) proposed a concrete goal for them. He urged
them to reduce their current energy usage by 2 percent per annum, replacing
this with some form of renewable energy such as wind or solar. He specifically
urged them to install 100 kilowatts of solar or any other altenative energy in
their establishments in the next three years.
In recent months, various forms of
renewable energy have become available in the Philippines. In Ilocos Norte,
windmills are now generating power for the region. Right in Metro Manila, the
big business conglomerate SM has installed solar panels on the roof of SM North
EDSA in Quezon City, one of the three biggest malls in the country, to provide
some of its energy needs.
Starting Friday, December 4,
Valenzuela Mayor Rexlon Gatchalian announced, the country’s biggest solar farm,
a former fishpond area in barangay Isla, will start supplying energy to
Meralco. The 11-hectare solar firm has 32,692 solar panels that generate 8.6
megawatts of electricity a day – enough for the needs of over 6,000 households.
These are concrete steps being taken
to reduce carbon emissions by reducing the need for the power normally produced
by coal-fired plants in the country. The business leaders addressed by Commissioner
Alvarez last week can make their own valuable contributions. Even households
can help; some have installed their own solar panels to reduce their reliance
on the usual power supply.
The ongoing Paris conference will
seek to forge an agreement among all the countries of the world to contribute
all they possibly can to the global effort against climate change. Ultimately,
it is the people within these countries who must carry out the national plans
and programs that will make up the global effort to save our planet Earth. The
Philippine business community signed last October the 2015 Manila Declaration
in support of the government program on climate change. Specifically, the
Declaration backed the government’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution
(INDC), the Philippines’ comprehensive climate change agenda which it has now
submitted to the ongoing United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Paris,
France. The Philippines set a national goal of reducing the nation’s carbon
emissions by 70 percent by 2030.
In that Business Summit in October,
the country’s business leaders acknowledged climate change as a threat to
mankind, voiced their expectations of action from the government, and declared
their own commitment to combat climate change
Last week, in a meeting of some 50
leaders of Philippine business and industry, Commissioner Heherson Alvarez of
the Climate Change Commission (CCC) proposed a concrete goal for them. He urged
them to reduce their current energy usage by 2 percent per annum, replacing
this with some form of renewable energy such as wind or solar. He specifically
urged them to install 100 kilowatts of solar or any other altenative energy in
their establishments in the next three years.
In recent months, various forms of
renewable energy have become available in the Philippines. In Ilocos Norte,
windmills are now generating power for the region. Right in Metro Manila, the
big business conglomerate SM has installed solar panels on the roof of SM North
EDSA in Quezon City, one of the three biggest malls in the country, to provide
some of its energy needs.
Starting Friday, December 4,
Valenzuela Mayor Rexlon Gatchalian announced, the country’s biggest solar farm,
a former fishpond area in barangay Isla, will start supplying energy to Meralco.
The 11-hectare solar firm has 32,692 solar panels that generate 8.6 megawatts
of electricity a day – enough for the needs of over 6,000 households.
These are concrete steps being taken
to reduce carbon emissions by reducing the need for the power normally produced
by coal-fired plants in the country. The business leaders addressed by
Commissioner Alvarez last week can make their own valuable contributions. Even
households can help; some have installed their own solar panels to reduce their
reliance on the usual power supply.
The ongoing Paris conference will
seek to forge an agreement among all the countries of the world to contribute
all they possibly can to the global effort against climate change. Ultimately,
it is the people within these countries who must carry out the national plans
and programs that will make up the global effort to save our planet Earth.
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