President Rodrigo Duterte slammed the European Union (EU) for trying to regulate the use of non-renewable energy sources in developing nations.
“While the EU is hell bent on imposing the lowering of the carbon emissions, they also forget that they were the first to maximize the use of fossil fuels and the first to pollute the planet,” Duterte said in the inauguration of the FDC Misamis Power Corp.
The president said that the EU was playing with “double standards” in controlling the carbon footprints when they themselves “created the problem in the first place.”
The President said that the EU wanted the third-world nations to lower its emissions in a way that these countries couldn’t develop due to energy protocols set by international environment-regulating bodies.
Duterte reiterated that coal as an energy source is the most viable option for the Philippines.
“If we want to industrialize our country, because we are left behind by so many generations, we have to keep up with developments. [Coal plant] is the main option right now because is cheap, it’s available, although it may have an impact on the planet,” Duterte said.
Duterte led the inauguration of the FDC Misamis coal-fired power plant on Thursday that would help stabilize the Mindanao grid and address the looming power concerns in the region.
