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[av_heading heading=’URBAN FARMER | ‘Looming decline of coal seen’’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY JULIO P. YAP JR.
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Wednesday, May 17, 2017
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ENVIRONMENT advocate group Greenpeace Philippines, together with Climate Reality Project Philippines, underscored the benefits of renewable energy through knowledge sharing by individuals and organizations that have had experience in using renewable energy in their homes and businesses.
The continuing global wave of actions against dirty and harmful energy through the Break Free from Fossil Fuels campaign is an indication that citizen action is very much alive and kicking, an inexhaustible source of energy and inspiration for all, which is contrary to certain claims that coal will continue to dominate the power industry.
“The fight for the future of the planet and the climate is a fight that unites us all. Integral to this struggle is to break free from fossil fuels and to demand a swift and just transition to renewables,” said Reuben Muni, Climate and Energy Campaigner of Greenpeace Philippines.
On the other hand, even billionaire investor Warren Buffett has said that he doubted that coal could make a comeback, dismissing a push by US President Donald Trump to revive the declining American industry.
“If you are tied to coal, you’ve got problems,” Buffett told the annual shareholders meeting of his Berkshire Hathaway holding company in Omaha, Nebraska, which was posted by phys.org on its webpage.
“Coal is going to go down over time,” said the American called the “Oracle of Omaha” for his savvy – and lucrative – ability to read trends and markets. “I don’t think there’s any question about that coal is going to go down as a percentage of revenue significantly.”
Trump and coal workers believe they can turn the industry around if they take America out of global efforts to cut greenhouse gases, as enshrined in the 2015 Paris climate accord.
Earlier this year and even recently, disaster survivors, frontline communities, indigenous peoples, farmers, youth, women, and civil society groups in the different provinces of the country, have carried out various protest activities to join the second global wave of actions to Break Free from fossil fuels.
“We have seen that when people are given the choice between dirty and polluting energy sources such as coal, and clean energy sources like solar and wind, people will choose that which they think will benefit them the most – renewable energy,” Muni added.
Despite decades of public calls for urgent measures to tackle climate change and a global climate agreement, global temperatures, the strength and frequency of extreme weather events, and the number of people impacted all continue to increase.
Most of the companies responsible for the lion’s share of industrial greenhouse gas emissions have apparently chosen not to curb their emissions despite having the knowledge and capability to do so.
“We are calling on the Philippine government and financial institutions to act immediately and invest more in sustainable energy powered by wind, water, and the sun. We should phase out investments in coal, oil, and gas and enable a just transition by scaling up renewable energy,” said Raphael Dorilag, Energy Project Officer of World Wide Fund for Nature. (jaypeeyap@ymail.com/PN)
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