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THE
government of
Austria
plans to increase trade and investments in the
Philippines by encouraging its private sectors to engage
in the multibillion- dollar business on clean
development mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol that
seeks to lower emission in developed countries by 2012.
Dr.
Walter Hoefle, Austrian economic counselor to the
Philippines, said his government and Austrian business
firms are very much interested to buy certificate
emission reductions (CERs) from the participating
private business firms in the Philippines that are
engaged in the CDM.
“The
thing is that,
Austria
needs to buy the certificates [CERs] for the clean
development mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol. And
Austrian companies want to work together with the
Philippines and that would be beneficial to both
countries because we can invest here in clean energy and
we get the benefit of receiving certificate and you get
the benefit of access to more clean power,” said Hoefle
in an interview at the Belgian Residence in South Forbes
Park during the celebration of the International Week of
Francophonie.
The
Philippines signed a bilateral agreement with Austria
last year on CDM investments in the Philippines.
Philippine Ambassador to Vienna Linlingay Lacanlale said
CDM provides a unique access to financing a range of
economic activities in clean power generation, energy
efficiency, conservation, waste management and
deforestation.
She said
the growth of global CDM investments has been
phenomenal. The volume of transfer payments to
developing countries expanded from less than $100
million in 2002 to $4.8 billion in 2006. Estimates of
carbon finance peg the total investment in CDM
investments worldwide in 2002-2006 at $21 billion, said
Lacanlale.
Under
the CDM, businesses and governments in developed regions
like Europe and Japan can invest in CDM projects and, in
turn, earn credits from developing countries to pursue
their sustainable agenda.
“Through
credits gained from CDM projects, these developed
countries augment efforts at home to reduce industrial
emissions. This system has given rise to carbon markets
where these credits are traded and assures the
sustainability of these market-based mechanisms,” said
Lacanlale.
Hoefle
also said Austrian private firms have expressed interest
in contracts to upgrade and refurbish age- old
hydropower stations in the Philippines so the latter can
maximize their capacities.
The
Austrian government has initially identified two
hydropower stations for refurbishment—one in
Luzon and one in
Mindanao.
Hoefle
said that these hydropower plants were built by
Austrians in 1950s and do not produce 100-percent output
anymore.
“These
hydropower stations have come down and now if you can
refurbish them, they can go up to 130 percent of the
original capacity so that would be a good project,” said
Hoefle.
Lacanlale said the government is pushing for CDM
investments from Vienna, citing the latter is one of the
most active investors in CDM projects worldwide among
member-countries of the EU. Other EU countries also
intensifying CDM investments are the United Kingdom, the
Netherlands, Denmark and Germany.
The EU
has adopted a new environment program in 2007 that
mandates 15 industrialized member-countries, including
Austria, to cut emissions by 14 percent to 20 percent by
2020 from 2005 levels. Austria has a total purchasing
volume of as much as 45 million tons CERs.
“With
this mandate, countries like Austria will be prompted to
use CERs, purchased or earned from CDM projects in
developing countries to be able to complement domestic
climate-mitigation measures and meet their individual
targets. Failure to meet these targets obliges EU
governments to pay stiff fines,” said Lacanlale. |
