Environmental advocates and energy experts are pressing the Philippine government to recalibrate its energy strategy, saying the country’s current approach is too slow to respond to escalating climate risks and extreme weather patterns.
At a forum at the University of the Philippines Diliman, Greenpeace Philippines campaigner Jefferson Chua highlighted how climate change is altering weather cycles, pointing to the increasing frequency of El Niño events as a warning sign.
“Before, a super El Niño occurs between 10 to 15 years, [but] now, scientists say that because of the climate crisis, the interval is just five to seven years,” Chua said in Filipino.
The discussion also centered on whether the Philippines is moving fast enough toward cleaner energy systems despite its renewable energy potential.
Brent Ivan Andres of the Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development said studies show it is technically possible for the country to phase out coal and gas by 2025 and shift to 100-percent renewable energy by 2040, but said policy direction remains misaligned with that pathway.
“That’s the most ambitious, most up-to-date climate projections that we are seeing. It’s entirely feasible in the Philippine context,” Andres said in Filipino. “That addresses the perennial energy problems that we face as a country.”
However, Andres said the government’s Philippine Energy Plan still relies heavily on fossil fuels, with coal, oil, and gas projected to remain significant components of the energy mix for decades.
“That’s still a very great portion of our energy supply that we get from fossil fuels,” he said.
Chua said structural and economic barriers continue to slow down renewable energy expansion, arguing that existing market conditions still favor fossil fuel systems and imported energy sources over local renewable options.
“The entry for renewable energy is low compared to the more specialized fuel sources that still need to be imported, compared to solar where you can just go outside and it’s there,” he said, adding that the deeper issue lies in the influence of corporate interests in the energy sector.
Andres also criticized the government’s “energy-neutral” approach, which develops multiple fuel sources instead of prioritizing a clear transition pathway toward renewables. He also cited transmission and grid limitations as additional barriers to wider renewable integration.
The forum highlighted a growing divide between climate scientists and policy direction, with experts calling for stronger political will to accelerate the country’s clean energy transition.
