Government sees RE as long-term solution
AS climate change makes a negative impact to the Philippines, the government is doing all it can to raise adaptive capacities and reduce vulnerabilities of its people by creating awareness to the benefits of renewable energies (REs), according to a dialogue held on Monday at the Intercontinental Manila Hotel, in Makati City.
In a key note speech, Sec. Mary Ann Lucille Sering, vice chairman and executive director of the Climate Change Commission (CCC), said that it is a fact that renewable energies would benefit the Philippines. However, the country’s vulnerabilities were not factored in when the Renewable Energy Law was passed.
However, Sering noted that the Philippines is not late in realizing the vulnerabilities of the sector, because recent developments showed that the country is moving forward in terms of RE.
“The Philippines is now considered ahead in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in policy institutions in renewable energies,” she added.
The CCC secretary also mentioned that scaling up REs will not matter if the cost of implementing it will not be reduced, and a one way to reduce its piece is to tap local technology.
“If we continue to rely in outside technology, then the cost of the renewable energies will still be the same,” she added.
Meanwhile, Hendrik Meller, chief advisor of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, shared experiences on RE from his country.
Meller said that even though Germany is considered as one of the successful countries in the world in using renewable energies, the European country has also undergone various debates and challenges in the RE issue.
With this, the GIZ official added that the outreach, awareness and consensus among the people is very essential in renewable energies.
“It is important to achieve information, education and communication to reach out in the public and the so- ciety. Everybody should take their part,” he reiterated.
Confronting Climate Change
On the other hand, in a presentation, CCC Commissioner Naderev Saño discussed why the government is embarking on the journey toward more renewable energies, and its rationale and benefits for the Philippines.
Saño said that the world have reached ecological limits and had lost six million hectares of productive lands, which in turn become desserts, as well as 11 million hectares of forest lost.
“We need to be able to confront root causes. What kind of actions we want to see in order to attain the transformation of the Philippines? How do we confront climate change?” he stated.
With this, the commissioner noted that climate change impacts are accelerating and the primary context is building resilience and how people will be able to cope up with the resilience.
“Grass roots resilience is an important context of the development of renewable energies,” he added.
However, the commissioner expressed that the development of RE in the country is not only a government’s effort, but also of the communities, organizations and other stakeholders.
“Collective action is needed in order to pursue all the root problems,” he added.
On the part of the Department of Energy, Director Mario Marasigan discussed the present standing of the country in renewable energies.
He said that the Department of Energy is continuously conducting studies to find ways to accelerate more private participation in RE.
Marasigan noted that as of present, the department had approved 331 renewable energy projects in power generation as well as on the production of biofuels. It is also working on 189 project proposals.
“The bigger impact for renewable energies development is the social economic aspect and this could be the area where RE can find its market,” he added.