MANILA, Philippines - The energy sector is a significant contributor to climate change, which underscores why industry players – government, investors and consumers – should act collectively to switch to low carbon options.
This was the main point raised by Richard Tantoco, president and chief operating officer (COO) of geothermal leader Energy Development Corporation (EDC), at the 1st Philippine Environment Summit.
Tantoco highlighted the fact that notwithstanding the seeming lull offered by cheaper electricity prices, countries that have depended on coal plants as their main source of electricity have learned that such reliance can ultimately be very costly.
“On an ex-plant basis, coal may readily appear to be the cheaper option – especially with the recent crash in global coal prices – but what other countries may have saved in electricity prices by taking the fast and cheaper route, is quickly being eroded by the mounting social and environmental costs they did not foresee or simply chose to ignore. The truth is coal has costly externalities, way beyond the ex-plant price, and these have not been priced-in to the illusory ‘least cost’ equation,” Tantoco said.
Tantoco cited a study by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the environmental and health costs not included in the price of fossil fuels like coal which amounted to $5.3 trillion for 2015 alone, or about $10 million per minute. He also cited figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) on diseases and premature deaths that can be traced to outdoor air pollution caused largely by burning coal.
In terms of disasters, the Philippines and 19 other countries comprising the V20 or nations most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, face an average of around 50,000 climate change related deaths per year. The number is expected to rise by 2030 and the Philippines faces escalating annual losses of at least 2.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) per year.