March 28, 2016 8:59 pm by KRISTYN NIKA M. LAZO, REPORTER
THE Federation of
Philippine Industries (FPI) supports the goal of reducing the country’s
greenhouse gases and mitigate climate change, but said the anti-coal power
sentiment of former US Vice President Al Gore was misplaced.
In a statement, FPI
said measures to mitigate climate change should be aligned with national
priorities, circumstances and capabilities, which should be based on co-benefit
measures such as programs for forestation.
These are the
measures that can be done by underdeveloped countries like the Philippines,
unlike more developed countries that have vowed to reduce the use of coal power
plants in power generation.
Jesus Lim Arranza,
FPI chairman, disagreed with the recent call of former US Vice President Al
Gore during his visit to the Philippines.
Gore had called for
“people power” action against various coal power plant projects in the country
to achieve the target of reducing the Philippines’ greenhouse gases.
“This is not only
misplaced but reflects a complete lack of understanding of local conditions,”
Arranza said.
He said the FPI has
been pro-climate change mitigation and has been urging various groups and firms
to adopt environment friendly methods, but not at the expense of other projects
which could stall the country’s growth.
He said that the
campaign to fight global warming should be done in the context of
“co-benefits”.
Examples of
co-beneficial measures at present are robust reforestation, traffic
decongestion to avoid massive carbon dioxide emissions during heavy traffic in
the metro, and a rational evaluation of the Philippine policy on renewable
energies (RE).
The Philippines, with
its 100 million-strong population, only accounts for 1.37 percent of the
world’s population and only contributes a mere 0.24 percent to global carbon
dioxide emissions yearly, which is significantly lower than the 1 percent of
other countries.
The country’s
greenhouse gas emission is only minimal compared to the rest of the world, and
it has more RE capacity than many other countries.
FPI noted that more
developed countries have higher greenhouse gas emissions such as the United
States (17 percent), Germany (8.9 percent), China (6.7 percent), and even
neighboring country Thailand (4.5 percent).
The Philippines is
one of the countries with the highest electricity rates in the world—being the
ninth highest in the world and second in Asia—and the introduction of the
feed-in-tariff (FiT) system that subsidizes renewable energy generation projects
would only jack up power rates even more.
Of the total power
generation projects in the country, only 32 percent are from RE sources, mostly
from geothermal and hydropower resources, which is higher than those of more
developed countries like the 24 percent penetration of RE in Germany and 12.2
percent in the US.
Arranza said the
Philippines has only 23 coal-fired power plants, which are the backbone of the
country’s power sector, and they comprise 35 percent of the 6,000 megawatts
total power generated in the country yearly.
“Coal power plants
are base-load power plants that provide stable and dependable power that
addresses the requirements of manufacturers and producers on a 24/7 basis,” he
said, describing Al Gore’s statements during his stay in the Philippines as
“irresponsible.”
He pointed out that
the Philippine government should in turn have stronger policies to reduce
greenhouse gases through focus on co-benefit measures, which need not result in
moving against coal-fired power generation.
“Gore should instead
focus his efforts in his own backyard as there are more than 1,500 coal power
plants in the United States,” Arranza said.
The Philippines is
sticking to its pledge in last year’s Paris Summit of reducing its greenhouse
gases by 70 percent by 2030.
FPI is an industry
group composed of 34 industry associations and 120 manufacturing firms as
members.
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