Marcos: High cost of green technology could be addressed through liberalization

SAN FRANCISCO, USA - President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. on Friday (PH Time) said addressing the high cost of green technology could be done through liberalization of the sector. 

During his intervention at the APEC Leaders' Informal Dialogue and Working Lunch, Marcos said development cooperation and the facilitation of green trade and investment are also needed to solve the high cost of green technology. 

"For our part, the Philippines has liberalized to full ownership in the solar, wind,  and geothermal sectors, reduced tariff rates on environmental goods, and advanced the promotion and increased adoption of renewables in our energy mix and diversification of energy sources to include clean and indigenous sources and mainstream sustainable practices,” Marcos said.

"Digitalization and innovation are central to building a resilient and sustainable future by optimizing resource use, promoting clean technologies, and supporting smart cities and infrastructure," he added.

Marcos also mentioned the collaboration on new and emerging sustainable fuels and technologies, storage systems, electric mobility, and critical minerals for storage, batteries, and cables as some of the many possibilities.

He said the economic reform toward greening the economy also plays a key foundational role, noting that good regulatory practices and integrating innovation into regulatory policy development would ensure that economies have an enabling environment to encourage and adopt a green economy.  

"As regulators and decision-makers, ours is the responsibility to balance stimulating economic growth with protecting the public during this transition," Marcos said. 

"Capacity building in the development of new models, scenarios, and risk assessment tools, sharing of data, and building of new reporting standards compatible with the evolving context would prove critical in both magnifying the collective impact of our individual actions and appropriately monitoring and evaluating our progress in the implementation of our objectives," he added. 

Meanwhile, United States President Joe Biden underscored the climate crisis, saying it is the only existential threat to humanity. He called on APEC member economies to address the crisis as the countries largely contribute to global emissions. 

"We either get this right or there's not going to be," Biden said. 

"As a region, we're responsible for the largest share of the region we're talking about here, this circular. We're responsible for the largest share of global emissions. So, we must also bear responsibility for the solutions while we still have time to change course zero emissions," he added. —KBK, GMA Integrated News