RP needs $1.6b to reduce carbon emissions by 40%—ADB study

The Philippines needs $1.6 billion to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 40 percent and contribute to global efforts in arresting climate change, the Asian Development Bank said in a study released yesterday.

The 253-page report, titled The Economics of Climate Change in Southeast Asia: A Regional Review, said the Philippines had the potential to cut up to 89 metric tons of carbon dioxide, or 40 percent of total emissions, by 2020. The study is the most comprehensive report about the impact of climate change on Southeast Asian economies so far.

“Achieving this would require the Philippines to invest up to $1.6 billion, amounting to about 0.6 percent of its gross domestic product in 2020,” the report said. An uncontrolled climate change could have a negative impact on the Philippine economy of at least 6.0 percent of gross domestic product annually towards the end of the century, the report said.

The study said Southeast Asia, where the Philippines is located, is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world to climate change and faces a poorer future unless global warming is controlled.

“If the world continues with business as usual, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam could experience combined damages equivalent to more than 6 percent of their countries’ gross domestic products every year by the end of this century, dwarfing the costs of the current financial crisis,” the study said. –Roderick T. dela Cruz, Manila Standard Today

It said the potential of the Philippines to reduce greenhouse gas emissions would be possible mainly through a combination of fuel switching from coal to gas-based power generation and energy efficiency improvement in power plants.

Mitigation of carbon emissions is also possible through wider use of high efficiency air-conditioning and television in the residential and commercial sector, and diffusion of bio-ethanol use, plus efficiency improvement in the transport sector, it said.