PH’s clean energy transition to require $500B investments —Lotilla

The Philippines would need half-a-trillion dollars worth of investments to attain substantial clean energy transition, according to Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla.

The government is targeting to increase the renewable energy’s share in the country’s power mix to 35% by 2030 and raise it further to 50% by 2050.

At the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines (EJAP)-AboitizPower Renewable Energy Forum in Makati, Lotilla said that “for the entire plan, we are looking at hundreds of billions of dollars.”

“Our energy sector is not government owned… so it is not going to be cheap. It will require up to $500 billion of investments from both public and private,” the Energy chief said.

Lotilla said that with such whopping amount of capital, “we can retrofit or phaseout fossil fuel plants.”

As of end-2023, the total share of renewable energy in the grid —comprising of hydro, geothermal, wind, biomass, and solar— stood at 29.7%.

Coal, however, still dominates the power mix at 43.9% share.

The Philippines was recently selected by global fund Coalition for Emerging Market Infrastructure Investment (CEMII) as its initial focus market for infrastructure investment across the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) economies.

The CEMII, a coalition of global investors, manages a fund of $25 billion for energy investment in IPEF economies.

“Well, of course, if we can get the total of $25 billion, yes, we should aspire for that,” Lotilla said.

Ramping up the transition to clean energy is imperative to avert more carbon emissions from the power sector and limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

— LA, GMA Integrated News