Lotilla: PH transition to clean energy likely to take longer

By Alena Mae S. Flores – October 5, 2023, 9:25 pm
from manilastandard.net

Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said Thursday he expects the Philippines’ energy transition to clean energy to entail costs and a longer period to implement.

Lotilla said ASEAN countries including the Philippines were working to address the climate transition from the energy sector.

“We are all committed to do that, but they remain common concerns. One of them, of course, is that any transition is going to entail costs. And this means therefore additional cost not only for the developed countries, but even for developing countries like the Philippines,” he said.

Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla

The energy chief said the additional costs were also a concern for other ASEAN countries. He urged the developed countries to help finance developing countries’ transition to low-carbon technologies.

He said most of the ASEAN countries were not the ones responsible for the climate emergency.

“If there are to be additional costs, there should be no transfer of burden, and I have emphasized this in the past. I am glad that this is a concern common to ASEAN,” he said.

He said Indonesia and Vietnam signed energy transition partnerships worth $20 billion and $15.5 billion, respectively.

“Unfortunately, even with these two countries who have been ahead of coming up with agreements, the progress has been slow, and there remain changes and that’s why the realization that the transition is going to be slower than expected,” Lotilla said.

He said Indonesia was only able to establish a secretariat after one year of negotiations.

Lotilla earlier said a green transition for a developing country like the Philippines should be a just transition.

“It must be a fair transition, and therefore we must avoid the burden of transferring climate transition to an already overburdened Philippine population,” Lotilla said.

“We have to take advantage of all sources of energy that are currently in place and to use that in a wise manner but at the same time be able to transition to a cleaner environment,” he said.

He said additional power generation capacities should come from renewable and cleaner sources of energy, but coal would still be needed.

“What does this mean for coal? Definitely, no way of denying we need them still but replace them in a trajectory that is clear, that over time they are going to be replaced,” Lotilla said.

“The growth in demand will be replaced by renewable energy and more efficient power plants and cleaner sources of energy,” he said.

He said once the more variable, renewable energy is introduced to the grid, “the more we need more balancing sources of power and storage systems.”

He also said the Philippines should be open to all energy technologies including nuclear.