The Philippines is a signatory to the Paris Climate Accord, a landmark agreement among nations to combat climate change and to accelerate and intensify the actions and investments needed for a sustainable low-carbon future.
Despite the growth of renewable energy projects in the country—RE accounts for more than a third (36.1 percent) of the Philippines’s energy mix, according to Department of Energy data—we still get more than half of our energy requirements from fossil fuels, mostly from coal-fired power plants, generally claimed as the biggest contributors to climate change.
Coal is the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel and accounts for 43 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions. A study by the US-based think tank Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis says another 10,423 megawatts (MW) of coal projects worth over P1.1 trillion are in the country’s energy pipeline.
The government, through the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law, implemented its first tax hike on coal in 30 years in March—a 400-percent tax increase on imported coal. Yet there seems to be no slowing down for coal projects, even if RE costs are falling.
A New York Times article—“The World Needs to Quit Coal. Why Is It So Hard?”—written by Somini Sengupta explains why coal thrives: “So, why is coal so hard to quit? Because coal is a powerful incumbent. It’s there by the millions of tons under the ground. Powerful companies, backed by powerful governments, often in the form of subsidies, are in a rush to grow their markets before it is too late. Banks still profit from it. Big national electricity grids were designed for it. Coal plants can be a surefire way for politicians to deliver cheap electricity—and retain their own power. In some countries, it has been a glistening source of graft.”
The article notes, in particular, the coal boom in Asia.
In the Philippines a Chinese company is putting up several coal power plants with a combined capacity of around 1,500 MW as part of a deal with China’s state-run National Energy Administration, which, the energy department assures, would be declared as energy projects of national significance.
Other coal plants have been announced, permitted, operated or are currently being built around the Philippines sparking community opposition: A pristine village in Limay, Bataan, sits near two coal plants; Two new coal plants will be built close to an intact rainforest in Luna, La Union; A 1,200-MW coal plant is being built in Atimonan, Quezon, in Barangay Villa Ibaba, a community facing Lopez Bay, which leads out to the Pacific Ocean; and Catholic bishops from Bacolod, Dumaguete, Kabankalan and San Carlos recently condemned proposals to build coal plants in their areas, despite a proposed ordinance disallowing the exploration, establishment and operation of coal projects in Negros Occidental.
The point that “coal is a powerful incumbent” is very much true. Indeed, to paraphrase what a Harvard professor in the article said: The main reason coal sticks around is, we built coal-fired power plants already—and we keep building them.
Image credits: Jimbo Albano