The Department of Energy (DOE) announced on Monday that it has agreed to sign on to a program organized by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to attract investments for clean energy.
Under the Clean Energy Finance and Investment Mobilisation (CEFIM) program, the OECD will help the Philippines “address the green financing challenge, as well as jumpstart the energy transition goals of the Philippine Energy Plan (PEP),” the DOE said in a statement with Energy Sec. Alfonso Cusi expressing his support for the move.
Funded by the Danish government, the CEFIM program aims to help partner countries in Asia and Latin America draft policies to attract funding for clean energy projects.
“The [program] is helping scale up clean energy finance and investment by strengthening domestic enabling conditions in the areas of energy efficiency and renewable energy [(RE)],” the DOE said in a statement.
Under CEFIM, the Philippines is expected to come up with a Clean Energy Finance and Investment Roadmap that will advance the PEP by providing both the government and private sector a clear course of action for financing and investing in clean energy technologies.
The DOE, together with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), and the Securities and Exchange Commission, are also expected to develop a Clean Energy Finance and Investment database to track financing for energy-related assets, and a finance training program to improve banks’ confidence in financing such projects.
BDO Capital & Investment Corporation President Eduardo Francisco recently said that Philippine banks have yet to fully appreciate the energy transition mechanism (ETM), a scheme in which thermal power assets would be retired in favor of RE technologies. The Asian Development Bank launched an ETM partnership with the Philippine government at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) last month. The BSP also urged local banks to support the country’s energy transition.
CEFIM will also allow the Philippines to share knowledge with ASEAN neighbors like Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand, which are already part of the program.
The Philippines previously committed to reduce its carbon emissions by 75% come 2030.