Philippines creates roadmap to switch to 100% renewable energy generation within 10 years, citing scientific reports that global warming is accelerating; nation already leader in geothermal, hydropower, says Worldwatch Institute official

Allison Oesterle

MANILA, Philippines , June 27, 2013 (press release) – Worldwatch Institute plans Sustainable Energy Roadmap with country’s Climate Change Commission

The Worldwatch Institute’s Climate and Energy Director, Alexander Ochs, met with the Climate Change Commission (CCC) and high-level representatives of the federal and provincial governments of the Philippines yesterday to lay groundwork for a Sustainable Energy Roadmap for the archipelago nation, which aims to shift its current electricity system to 100 percent renewable energy within a decade.

Climate Change Commissioner and former Senator Heherson Alvarez invited Ochs to present Worldwatch’s suggested methodology for a Sustainable Energy Roadmap, which takes an integrated approach to examining the technical, socioeconomic, financial and policy changes necessary for transitioning to a an energy system entirely based on energy efficiency, intelligent grid solutions and renewable supply.

“The Philippines is already a leader in geothermal and hydropower,” said Ochs. “But it’s essential now to chart a future that is socially, economically and environmentally sustainable and addresses the key challenge of providing affordable and reliable energy access for all Filipinos. With our Sustainable Energy Roadmap approach, Worldwatch will help to expand access to energy, address social needs, and advance economic development while protecting local environments and a stable global climate.”

To develop a Sustainable Energy Roadmap, Worldwatch analyzes an area’s potential for energy efficiency gains and undertakes detailed GIS mapping of local renewable energy resources, including biomass, solar, and wind. The Institute also produces an infrastructure inventory that assesses solutions for grid renovation and energy storage. In addition to technical analysis, the Roadmaps explore the socioeconomic impacts of diverse energy pathways, including the potential for sustainable energy development to create jobs and reduce electricity and healthcare costs. Worldwatch’s Roadmaps can be applied anywhere—in industrialized and developing countries—and at multiple levels of political organization, from the municipal to the regional.

CCC Commissioner Alvarez said the government “is concerned with the latest scientific reports that global warming has accelerated, and believes the country must begin to program a path from low carbon to zero carbon along a broad partnership of the public interest and private sector.” Alvarez added that a sustainable energy system will require significant cooperation between international finance, government and private institutions.

“This country has an enormous opportunity to demonstrate how smart and integrated energy planning can be done in the 21st century,” said Ochs. “Any country in the world has great potential for at least one renewable resource, such as biomass, geothermal, hydro, ocean, solar or wind. The Philippines has them all, as well as the human resources, technological know-how, and political leadership necessary to make a low-emissions transition a reality within less than a generation.”
Worldwatch’s Climate and Energy program identifies key components of energy and transportation systems that de-carbonize our economies, boost energy efficiency, spur innovation and job creation, address resource scarcity, and reduce local environmental pollution. Learn more about the Institute’s Sustainable Energy Roadmaps: Guiding the Global Shift to Domestic Renewables and the recently released The Way Forward for Renewable Energy in Central America.

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Notes to Editors:

For more information and to obtain a complimentary copy of Sustainable Energy Roadmaps: Guiding the Global Shift to Domestic Renewables and The Way Forward for Renewable Energy in Central America, please contact Supriya Kumar at skumar@worldwatch.org.

About the Worldwatch Institute:

Worldwatch is an independent research organization based in Washington, D.C. that works on energy, resource, and environmental issues. The Institute’s State of the World report is published annually in more than a dozen languages. For more information, visit www.worldwatch.org.

About the Climate Change Commission:

The Climate Change Commission is an independent and autonomous body that has the same status as that of a national government agency in the Philippines. The CCC is under the Office of the President and is the “sole policy-making body of the government which shall be tasked to coordinate, monitor and evaluate the programs and action plans of the government relating to climate change.” For more information, visit www.climate.gov.ph/index.php

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