Greenpeace welcomes PHL commitment on bioenergy use

An environmental group on Friday welcomed the Philippines' commitment to fight climate change, but said it must consider using more naturally abundant sources of renewable energy instead of those from living organisms.

"The Philippines should look into using more naturally abundant RE (renewable energy) sources, such as solar and wind, in its energy mix, as biofuels can pose other environmental challenges such as those regarding use of land and food crops," said Khevin Yu, a climate and energy campaigner with Greenpeace Philippines, in a statement.

Some environmental groups have expressed concern over bioenergy production, saying it can lead to deforestation and may compete with food production, among other drawbacks.

Still, the campaigner said, "It's good that the PH government is committed to combating climate change and we look forward to increased efforts toward holding big polluters around the world accountable to climate injustices in this fight as well."

The group's statement was a response to a commitment made by the Philippines, along with 18 other countries, in climate talks in Bonn, Germany, to increase their use of "sustainable bioenergy" sources such as wood and plant matter to combat climate change.

The bioenergy commitment's signatories are Argentina, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Morocco, Mozambique, the Netherlands, Paraguay, the Philippines, Sweden and Uruguay.

These countries represent half of the world's population.

Parties of the United Nations were in Bonn, Germany from November 6 to 17 to discuss strengthening methods for the Paris climate accord.

The objective of the Paris Climate Change Agreement, which entered into force on 4 November 2016, is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

In light of potentially detrimental effects of bioenergy use, Yu recommended further study of its new technologies.

"New technologies of bioenergy must be thoroughly studied to understand possible problems and threat to the climate, environment, and to our people," Yu said. — BAP, GMA News