PHL eyeing possible role of foreign governments in hastening the retirement of coal plants

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III is exploring a role that foreign governments can possibly play in contributing to the Philippines’ efforts to accelerate the decommissioning and repurposing of its coal-fired power plants, especially where overseas companies have a significant stake in the continued operations of these facilities.

Secretary Dominguez broached the possibility of foreign governments buying out the shareholdings of their respective citizens with substantial shareholdings in corporations running coal-fired power plants in the Philippines.

The proceeds from the would-be buyout can then be donated to help mobilize funds for the finance vehicle created for the Philippines under the Asian Development Bank (ADB)’s Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM) initiative, which aims to accelerate the transition from coal to clean energy of Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines, Secretary Dominguez said.

“If we can get the foreign governments to buy out those shareholders and donate the shares of that company to a government—to our government—or to a group, including ADB and other agencies, we can actually shut down that plant. And that foreign government would actually be making a contribution to reducing a coal-fired power plant,” said Secretary Dominguez during the recent Green Finance Session jointly hosted by TIME Magazine Singapore and the Philippine Department of Finance (DOF) in Glasgow, Scotland.

The TIME panel discussion was among the side events at the recently concluded 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) held in Glasgow and hosted by the United Kingdom in partnership with Italy.

TIME Brand editor Mark Barton, moderated the panel discussion, which also included Mr. Ahmed Saeed, the ADB Vice President for East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific; and Mr. Jonathan Pershing, the United States (US) Deputy Special Envoy for Climate.

Secretary Dominguez said employees operating coal-fired plants up for decommissioning will be retrained to work in other energy projects.

He cited, for instance, a coal plant in Mindanao that is among those up for decommissioning under the partnership forged by the Philippines and ADB through the new ETM facility.

“First of all, there are not a lot of people actually working in that particular coal-fired power plant, or in any coal-fired power plant. So it’s very easy to retrain them to do other projects,” Secretary Dominguez said.

The ETM is a public-private finance vehicle that aims to both reduce coal-fired power generation through accelerated plant retirement and boost the growth of renewable energy (RE) using an equitable, scalable and market-based approach.

Under this innovative financing strategy, the partners in the ETM will jointly conduct a thorough feasibility study focusing on the optimal business model for the pilot countries, which so far include the Philippines and Indonesia. The ETM will bring together concessional resources from donor governments and philanthropies, in close coordination with global climate change-focused funds, to leverage large amounts of commercial capital to trigger a decisive shift towards decarbonization.

Secretary Dominguez has said that the ETM-supported project in Mindanao “is one of the practical projects we are ready to implement to fully realize our ambitious goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 75 percent in 2030.”

The Philippines has a unique opportunity in Mindanao to pilot the ETM project as the government is in the process of rehabilitating the Agus-Pulangi hydropower plant to improve its generating capacity, Secretary Dominguez pointed out.

As the Agus-Pulangi power plant complex composed of seven hydropower plants increases its generating capacity, the government can proceed with its plan to gradually acquire coal-fired power plants in Mindanao and repurpose them through the ETM facility, he added.

During the TIME panel discussion, Secretary Dominguez also discussed how the Philippines as a developing economy and climate-vulnerable country has been spearheading initiatives to broaden the participation of the financial sector in mobilizing funds and investments to squarely address the ill effects of the climate crisis.

The Philippines is proceeding with its adaptation and mitigation programs on the ground without waiting for the annual US$100-billion climate financing pledge made by developed countries to materialize, given that time is fast running out on current global efforts to fight climate change, said Secretary Dominguez, who headed the Philippine delegation to COP26.

But he made it clear that the Philippines was maintaining its position that developed countries should get their act together to deliver on this US$100-billion-per-year financing commitment made 12 years ago to assist climate-vulnerable countries in mitigating the disastrous effects of global warming.

As the Chairman-designate of the Philippines’ Climate Change Commission (CCC), Secretary Dominguez earlier committed to making the country a model for other countries in mitigating the impact of this worsening crisis.

The Philippines has submitted as its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the Paris Agreement a projected greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction and avoidance of 75 percent from 2020 to 2030 for the agriculture, wastes, industry, transport and energy sectors. (DOF)