CCC, PE2 explore ways to support DOE efforts to deploy energy efficiency

MANILA, 10 December 2025 – Officials of the Philippine Energy Efficiency Alliance (PE2) and the Climate Change Commission (CCC) met earlier today to explore ways to work together to support the Department of Energy (DOE) in enabling energy efficiency as a climate change mitigation strategy.

“The Climate Change Commission has already reaffirmed the Philippines’ dedication to climate action through green economic pathways,” said CCC Vice Chairman and Executive Director Robert E.A. Borje, who led the team representing CCC, the Philippines’ lead policy-making body on climate change.

Sec. Borje explained that a rapidly changing economic landscape and technological innovations exert increasing pressure toward the adoption of energy efficiency. “[Energy efficiency] needs to be embedded in consumer behavior, which is why the Commission is playing an important role in ensuring that it becomes a priority of the Government,” the CCC chief said.

“We’re underappreciating the contribution of energy efficiency. If we don’t work on it, then we would not be optimizing opportunities to reduce carbon impact of not just government and organizations but of the entire economy. We cannot merely rely on renewables to decarbonize the energy sector. We need to go through the process of strengthening energy efficiency as an equally important pillar of the country’s climate change mitigation strategy,” Sec. Borje told PE2.

The PE2 delegation was composed of PE2 president Alexander Ablaza, PE2 vice president for external affairs Theresa Acedillo-Lapuz, PE2 policy, advocacy and external affairs advisor Archie Diaz and PE2 secretariat manager Hazel Planco.

Ablaza recalled that, during COP28, over 200 countries supported a global consensus to double energy efficiency progress on the road to 2030. He explained that the International Energy Agency believes that by doubling the reduction of energy intensities to 4% in the next 5 years, the world would be on the pathway toward reducing today’s energy use by 8% and still energize a global economy twice as large and with 2 billion in population growth by 2050.

“In every clean energy roadmap, just energy transition, decarbonization and net zero conversation, we need to deploy energy efficiency and conservation at a much larger scale compared to renewables and bridge a wider investment gap through 2030-2050,” Ablaza said.

“All energy end-users in the Philippines should be part of a societal transformation toward a decarbonized and a less energy-intensive economy through 2050. We should support DOE in steadily improving the awareness and compliance of commercial, industrial, transport establishments, households, small businesses and even Government entities with the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act,” he added.

PE2 explained that if the economy succeeds in mobilizing PHP 12 trillion in energy efficiency investments through 2040, the country could expect to shave off 182 million tons of oil equivalent in energy consumption, save over PHP 36 trillion in energy purchases, avoid 1.7 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent in greenhouse gas emissions and defer over 45,900 megawatts in energy infrastructure upgrades. Additionally, the energy efficiency industry would be able to generate incremental gross domestic product and create some 9.1 million green jobs through the next decade and a half.

Both CCC and PE2 exchanged ideas on a possible collaboration for energy efficiency. Mainstreaming energy efficiency in the climate agenda by incorporating efficiency in climate change mitigation and decarbonization knowledge events, as well as supporting global energy efficiency consensus in international meetings was one idea shared by PE2. Both parties also discussed the possibility of mobilizing climate funds to build technical and financial capacities in the energy service company (ESCO) sector.

CCC and PE2 agreed to schedule a follow-up meeting to discuss a proposed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen the collaborative partnership on energy efficiency.