Philippines most coal-reliant country in SEA: Ember

It overtook Poland and China, which are historically major coal users.

A recent report by Ember showed that the Philippines is the most coal-dependent country in Southeast Asia in 2023 as it works on meeting electricity demand amidst limited supply. 

Ember said Manila also surpassed Indonesia, which was also another country heavily dependent on coal. 

“The Philippines’ coal share in generation overtook that of Poland, China and Indonesia in 2023. The country saw a sharp 2.9 percentage point annual coal share increase, from 59.1% in 2022 to 61.9% in 2023,” the report said.

The country’s coal generation rose by 6.5 terawatt-hours (TWh) (+9.7%), which was higher than the rise in electricity demand by 5.2 TWh (+4.6%). 

Gas and other fossil generation fell by 0.8 TWh (-9.2%) and 0.4 TWh (-18%), respectively, Ember said. Meanwhile, wind and solar generation increased by 0.9 TWh (+31%), meeting 17% of the total increase in demand, it added.

Ember urged the Philippines to increase its deployment of wind and solar power to reduce its dependence on coal.

Data from the think tank showed that the Philippines’ wind and solar capacity increased from less than 1 TWh in 2015 to 3.7 TWh in 2023. With limited growth in other renewables, this represented 61% of the total increase in renewables over the same period, it noted. 

“Wind and solar can be deployed faster than any other renewable electricity source and are also the cheapest source of electricity. Accelerating their deployment would allow Indonesia and the Philippines to meet their growing electricity demand with renewables and to reduce their reliance on coal,” Ember said.