PE2 seeks CCC and business sector push for EE&C bill passage in support of 1.5 degree climate challenge
PASAY AND MANDALUYONG CITIES – 19-21 November 2018. The Philippine Energy Efficiency Alliance (PE2) sought endorsements from the Climate Change Commission (CCC) and the business sector as the Energy Efficiency and Conservation (EE&C) bill is led through the homestretch phases of the legislative process. PE2 president Alexander Ablaza expressed this appeal during various events of the Climate Change Commission (CCC), led by its vice-chairman and executive director, Secretary Emmanual M. de Guzman, through its celebration of CCC Week. Ablaza was a panel discussant during a plenary discussion on sustainable energy on 19 November at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City, and during a business summit on 21 November at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel in Mandaluyong City.
Ablaza exclaimed, “Amid the 1.5 degree climate challenge, it would be a mortal sin against humanity and the planet, if we allow the 17th Congress to adjourn without the successful passage of the EE&C bill.”
PE2 explained to climate change stakeholders and the business community that the EE&C law would be critical in enabling the much needed P 12 trillion development and private sector capital flows toward energy efficiency measures in the next 22 years, especially with enough fiscal incentive provisions that would make third-party capital investments commercially viable.
Beyond the scope of the EE&C bill, PE2 also highlighted the need to flex Government procurement laws and guidelines to enable energy service company (ESCO) performance contracting and public-private partnership (PPP) transactions for scaled-up energy efficiency in public facilities. The Alliance also recommended that the Government follow the lead of the UK government, which has succeeded in reclassifying energy efficiency implementation as infrastructure development.
With the theme “The 1.5 Celsius Climate Challenge: Survive and Thrive Together,” the CCC Week seeks to bring the conversation beyond “learning to know” and shifting the mindset of communities to applying science and learnings to decisively act on climate change. The CCC events achieved this by promoting and showcasing the right knowledge, tools and techniques to help close the knowledge-action-gap and create communities which are very aware of climate change and which can readily implement transformative actions.
Since 2013, CCC, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through the Low Emission Capacity Building Philippine (LECB PHL) Project, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), and the Philippine Business for the Environment (PBE), has been convening annual business summits on climate change. The private sector has actively engaged in initiatives on climate change adaptation and mitigation spearheaded by the CCC and other national government agencies, in line with the thematic thrusts of the National Climate Change Action Plan (NCCAP) on developing climate-smart industries and strengthening knowledge management systems.
