By:
Ronnel W. Domingo - 05:10 AM January 06, 2018
The Philippines leads
the world in terms of environmental sustainability in energy resources,
according to a World Energy Council (WEC) index that also assesses countries
based on energy security and energy equity.
These three criteria
make up what the United Nations-accredited WEC calls a “‘trilemma,’ [which is]
is the basis for prosperity and competitiveness of individual countries.”
The WEC recently came
out with its World Energy Trilemma Index 2017—which covers 125 countries—in
cooperation with the Marsh & McLennan group.
The Philippines was
ranked 70th overall, ranking 63rd in the subindex of energy security and 95th
in energy equity—the latter referring to whether energy was affordable and
accessible to consumers.
“While not in the top
10 overall… the Philippines is leading the way on environmental
sustainability,” the council wrote in the 145-page report.
Nine of the top 10
countries in the index are European, with the only exception being New Zealand
at ninth. Denmark was No. 1 followed by Sweden, Switzerland, Netherlands,
United Kingdom, Germany, Norway and France. Slovenia completed the list at No.
10.
The WEC said there were
complex trade-offs that were inherent in energy policy-making, as well as
geographic limitations to achieving a balance among the three criteria.
For example,
Luxembourg— also not in the overall top 10— was No. 1 in energy equity, but
ranked 120th in security and 99th in environmental sustainability.
This was due to
Luxembourg’s small territory that limited the availability and diversity of
energy resources and generation capacity.
“The top 10 in
environmental sustainability is dominated by states that are able to take
advantage of their renewable energy potential such as Iceland, the Philippines
and Costa Rica, which all have high geothermal or hydropower capacities,” the
WEC said.
The council added that
for these countries, a main challenge was to avoid over-reliance on one single
or weather dependent energy resources, which could potentially hamper the
resilience of the energy system and with that energy security.
“Taking advantage of
the transition trends, such as decentralization, may provide countries like the
Philippines with opportunities to improve energy access rates while at the same
time improving the country’s energy equity performance,” the WEC said.
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