Taking the message to the Philippines Department of Energy
Mareike, web editor aboard the Rainbow Warrior, give us an update on from the Philippines about how the 'Quit Coal' tour is progressing.
Burning coal accounts globally for over 70 per cent of CO2 pollution from power generation and is the greatest single threat to our climate.
That's why the Rainbow Warrior is on a global tour from New Zealand, via the Philippines and Thailand, to the UN climate panel meeting in Poland at the end of this year, promoting a massive uptake of renewable energy and energy efficiency and the phase out of coal.
Around the world people have realized that we cannot afford to build new coal fired power stations if we want to avoid catastrophic climate change. In the village in Germany where I grew up, a traditional coal mining area, the locals voted in a referendum against a new coal fired power station last year. Opposition is growing in many countries like in the UK and newspapers have started to compare the anti-coal movement with the anti-nuclear movement of the 80s.
But I have never experienced opposition against coal as passionate as in the last two weeks here in the Philippines, where I joined the Rainbow Warrior. As an archipelago, the Philippines is already suffering the impacts of climate change through changed weather patterns, droughts and more frequent super typhoons.
The region has a massive renewable energy potential. Geothermal energy already contributes about 30 per cent to the country's energy mix. All that is needed is the political will of the Philippine government to pass a Renewable Energy bill that will give investors the framework and security to develop these resources.
However what really surprised me is the fact that the Philippines actually already has too many power stations, and is only using half of the installed capacity. This is due to the fact that the grid is poorly connected and a lot of energy is lost in transmission. But instead of investing into the energy infrastructure the government proposes eight new coal fired power plants.
Quite a scandal, if you ask me.
So Greenpeace Southeast Asia has been campaigning for a strong Renewable Energy (RE) Bill and against new of coal fired power plants, so that the Philippines can be part of the solution to climate change, avoiding the mistakes that the industrialized countries have been making and not contributing to the problem that affects them so much.
During the Rainbow Warrior's tour over the last month we have been gathering political support from politicians of different provinces for a moratorium on coal expansion. The governor of one of the provinces most hit by climate change even declared his province a coal free zone. And just yesterday another governor announced that coal fired power plants are not welcome in her province and that instead she wants to make it a model for renewable energy development and utilization. A great example for our politicians in Europe!
Through various activities such as the blocking of a coal shipment and the establishment of a climate defenders camp powered by renewable energy on the site of a proposed coal fired power plant, we have stirred up the national debate about phasing out coal. We worked with the local community opposition at the grassroots level while lobbying key politicians.
During the camp the lower house of representatives passed the RE energy bill - a huge step for the 'Quit Coal' campaign. Now we are on our way to showcase the solutions further by launching an energy efficiency initiative on Boracay, one of them main tourist islands. This is similar to our work last year in Bali. I am excited: in two days the Rainbow Warrior will sail on to Thailand - taking on the next government in the struggle to reduce our dependence on coal.
Read more blogs from Mareike on www.makingwaves.com.
