The Philippines rose six places to number four in the world’s most attractive developing economies for clean energy investments amid “strong” government targets for the sector and foreigners now having more freedom to kickstart projects, according to BloombergNEF’s Climatescope report, which provides an analysis of clean energy progress and attractiveness across 110 developing countries.
The country entered the top 5 for the first time in 12 years, just behind India, Mainland China, and Chile.
The report cited the Philippines’ net-metering schemes, offshore wind roadmap, and “strong targets” for renewable energy as among the reasons for the jump.
The Department of Energy bid out 11.6 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity in its second Green Energy Auction held in July. Of this, only 3.4GW received commitments from various developers that vowed to make 1.2GW available by 2025 and 2.2GW by 2026.
The report also cited the lifting of the foreign ownership restrictions on renewable energy projects as a significant development in the country’s clean energy sector. BNEF noted that in 2022, clean energy investment in the Philippines grew by 31 percent to $1.34 billion.
However, the BNEF did note that the Philippines was also among 57 markets across the globe that have yet to reach half of its renewable energy targets, so it will take a lot of determination and effort from both government and the private sector to turn that potential into a clean energy reality.
The ground may have been prepared and the environment ready, but the real work is far from done. Government and the private sector will have to work together if we are to achieve this potential, with more of the burden falling on the former to ensure that the enticements and incentives for clean energy investments allow investors to come in and projects to rise, instead of remaining as flowery words on a piece of paper.
The world needs more clean energy to replace that derived from fossil fuels that are among the biggest contributions of the human race to the problem of global warming that threatens to wreak havoc on the future of this planet and its inhabitants. The Philippines is apparently in a prime position to make its contribution. Hopefully we can maximize this potential and opportunity for Filipinos to help build a better future.*
