With the aim of hastening the retirement and repurposing of coal-fired power plants, multilateral banks have proposed a $2.67 billion financing program called Climate Investment Fund (CIF) Accelerating Coal Transition (ACT) Program Investment Plan Report (IP) in order to minimize its impact on the people and allow clean alternative financing.
In a report by the Manila Standard, a draft business plan to determine prospective areas for several banks, particularly the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the International Finance Corp. (IFC) and the World Bank (WB) to invest in was released.
The funding proposal, which is currently subject to consultations, includes a strategic $500 million in CIF-ACT, a $1.336 billion leverage in multilateral development bank co-financing, and an additional $830 million allocated in other co-financing implementing investments for expediting energy transition in accordance with a thorough coal phase-down approach.
The proposal is designed to resolve associated challenges in terms of energy transition, people and communities, land, and infrastructure.
Earlier, coal accounted for major increases in carbon emissions in the country, with 44 percent of the total installed generation capacity, 60 percent of the total generation, and 55.4 percent of the country’s total emissions by fuel type last year.
The report also mentioned the average life of coal-fired power plants ranging from 12 to 13 years, which could hinder efforts for the renewable energy transition goals of the country.
Meanwhile, the country committed to a 75-percent reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 2020-2030, under its enhanced Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) in the Paris Agreement.