RP seen to host Euro investments in new & renewable energy tech

The implementation of the Kyoto Protocol should serve as a major incentive for both foreign energy companies and Philippine energy firms to undertake projects for new and renewable energy (NRE) sources.

Paschalis Papachristopoulos, head of Synergy Programme of the European Commission, said the Philippines should take advantage of the possible influx of NRE firms looking for joint ventures or partnerships.

"We call this the Kyoto approach," Papachristopoulos told The STAR.

The Kyoto approach is a mechanism in which an industrialized country earns points by investing in NRE or low carbon dioxide (CO2) technologies in a third world country. At the end of the protocol period in 2008, the points may be exchanged with a stock certificate converted to cash.

"And the system or approach will then have mutual benefits in terms of credits for the European country which transferred the technologies, and the host country where the NRE, technology will be invested as it will result in an environment with lower CO2 emissions," the European Commission official explained.

Importantly too, the Philippine government through the Board of Investments (BOI) offers incentives to energy-related new businesses especially in the NRE sector. The incentives include income tax holidays and duty free importation of capital equipments.

The United Nations Convention on Climate, ratified in 1992, led to the Kyoto Protocol of 1997, where industrialized nations like the US, Japan, and the European Union have committed to the target of reverting back to their 1990 levels of CO2 emission by the year 2008.

The Kyoto-Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which was adopted in December 1997 in Kyoto, contains quantified, legally binding commitments to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions by industrialized countries. It also gives consideration to the function of biological systems as sources and "sinks" of greenhouse gases.

The revelation was made during the matching sessions between more than 20 European companies from France, Great, Spain and Italy last Friday at the Hotel Dusit. Other countries interested in making NRE or low-emission energy projects are Austria and Belgium. A similar activity was undertaken last month with nearly three dozen UK companies.

Sponsored by the European Commission through the European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (ECCP), the matching sessions encourage investments for joint ventures or strategic partnerships in the areas of NRE technologies, energy saving technologies, rural electrification, hydropower stations, energy recycling, grid and transmission technologies, and other energy-related technologies.

Among the companies represented in the matching session were: Astrasolar and Union Fenosa, both of Spain; Adenne, ABB Alstom Power, Enerdis, Gaudiriot SA, Institut Francais de Petrole, Mecelec, Photowatt International, Raymond Leger Sarl, Sogreah, Spie Enertrans, Total Energie, Transenergie, all from France; E-connect of the UK; and ABB Sae Spa, CMC Di Ravenna, and Elc-Electroconsult, both of Italy.