Environmental advocates on Thursday gathered to condemn the use of coal as a source of energy and reaffirm their campaign for a shift to renewable energy sources.
Gerry Arances, convenor of the Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED), noted that many governments in other countries had begun to phase out coal operations not only due to public demand but because of “risks to their developing economies.”
“Since 2005, it is troubling that the installed capacity of coal-fired power plants [has] risen by 35% globally despite of coal accounting for 44% of global emissions from fossil fuels according to the International Energy Agency,” Arances said at the “Ending the Age of Coal” forum organized by the International Coal Network and local allies.
“In the past few years, however, many countries like Norway, Denmark, and even state governments from the United States have stopped funding coal projects, as a response to growing pressure from grassroots movements and environment lobbyists,” he added.
Arances warned that the Philippines will end up being bound to an “outmoded, costly, and destructive energy resource” if it would keep pursuing coal.
“We should not subject Filipino consumers to this costly and dirty energy source,” he said.
SANLAKAS secretary general Aaron Pedrosa also urged President Rodrigo Duterte to keep his pro-renewable energy stance in the campaign.
Pedrosa said threats to renewable energy “do not only come from business interests or local government patrons but also from the Duterte Cabinet.”
“Despite the strong pronouncements against coal shared by both the President and the DENR Secretary, the shift from coal to renewable energy is being challenged by Cabinet members like Alfonso Cusi of DOE (Department of Energy) and Sonny Dominguez of the Department of Finance, who are beholden to mining and dirty energy interests,” Pedrosa said. JE/rga
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