Presidential aspirant Vice President Leni Robredo said the Philippines should have a more precise roadmap in achieving its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 and suggested measures, so the country will no longer be dependent on fossil fuels as source of energy.
Robredo made this remark during the second presidential debate of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on April 3.
On the fifth round of the Pilipinas Debates, the nine candidates who attended the event were asked how they would promote renewable energy in the country. Robredo said the Philippines should have a clearer roadmap to becoming carbon-neutral by 2050.
The European Parliament defines carbon neutrality as balancing emitting carbon and absorbing carbon from the atmosphere in carbon sinks. Many countries, including the Philippines, have committed to being carbon-neutral by 2050 to address the issue of climate change.
"Hindi pa klaro yung roadmap natin papunta sa 2050. Hindi klaro yung mga milestones na dapat naa-achieve nation (Our roadmap to 2050 is not yet clear. It's not clear what milestones we should be achieving as a nation)," Robredo said.
The Vice President added that the Philippines should have a target for its energy mix after five or 10 years.
"Ano ba yung mga target na milestones natin every few years para yung target natin papunta doon, at talagang klaro sa atin na papunta na tayo sa pagiging carbon-neutral (What should be our target milestones every few years so that it's clear to us that we're inching closer to achieving carbon neutrality)," she said.
"Dapat pinaghahandaan na natin paano ba tayo magtra-transition sa isang talagang fossil fuel-dependent na source ng electricity hanggang sa pagiging carbon-neutral (We should be preparing for our transition from being dependent on fossil fuel as source of electricity to becoming carbon-neutral)," she added.
However, Vice President Robredo admitted that achieving carbon neutrality will not happen overnight. One way to address this is to work on the existing service contracts that aim to search for energy sources in Philippine waters.
"Yung pinaka-chance natin ngayon talagang yung liquefied natural gas. Pero pag tinignan natin, halimbawa yung Malampaya, paubos na yung supply pero yung mga service contracts hindi pa din na-a-award hanggang ngayon (Our best chance is liquefied natural gas but if you look at Malampaya, we're running out of supply but we still haven't awarded our service contracts)," she said.
"Alam natin na it takes a few years bago ito maayos, hindi siya basta-basta. So ang dapat unang gawin, aasikasuhin na yung service contracts, ayusin yung mga sources ng renewables (We know it takes a few years to happen-- it's not easy. We should work on our service contracts and our sources of renewable energy)," she added.
The Philippines, during the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), said it is "moving ahead with urgency" in cutting its greenhouse gas emissions.
Last year, the country also committed to cutting down its greenhouse gas emissions by 75 percent by 2030. This is a five-percent increase from the country's original commitment to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change set in 2017.