Thank you, Prime Minister.

Your Excellencies, with the chairs’ indulgence, I would like to— before I start— to make a very brief manifestation.

We join Japan together with the rest of ASEAN in condemning the continued threat that the launching of ballistic missiles by the DPRK represents. As we speak of economic progress in our region, we found these aspirations on a peaceful and stable Indo-Pacific region. So, such dangerous and provocative actions by the DPRK threaten and destabilize the region and the world.

The Philippines joins its voice to all our partners in peace in condemning this looming existential threat.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Allow me to proceed with my intervention.
The Philippines joins our partners in recognizing the need to accelerate a clean, sustainable, just, affordable, and inclusive energy transition towards carbon neutrality, net-zero emissions in our region built on mutual trust, and in a manner that is compatible with economic growth and resilience especially through innovation.

We welcome this timely initiative to tackle climate change as a common global challenge and advance cooperation towards carbon neutrality, net-zero emissions while ensuring energy security.

This gathering is very timely given the recent COP28 in Dubai and I am confident that this initiative will contribute to the global acceleration of an inclusive energy transition.

As recognized during the Energy Day in various events at COP28, there is no
one unique path to energy transition and to achieving carbon neutrality and net-zero emissions as it greatly depends on each country’s situation and capacity, available resources, alternative technology options, as well as the myriad other means of implementation.

I personally believe in the importance of promoting clean energy for a sustainable future.

I am proud to be able to say that as early as 2003, during my term as Governor, the first wind farms in Southeast Asia were built in my province.

The windmills, while serving their purpose in energy generation, also serve as a symbol for clean energy initiatives in the Philippines, in addition to the surprising value that they present as a tourist destination.

For the Philippines, we have set in place targets to increase the renewable energy (RE) share in the power generation mix by 35% in 2030 and 50% in 2040.

This would amount to around 3.3 billion tons of avoided GHG emissions over the 2023-2050 planning horizon, almost doubling the country’s targeted emission reduction from the business-as-usual for the same period.

So, to achieve this, we have eased foreign ownership restrictions for renewable energy projects.

The development of renewable energy sources in the Philippines is now open to 100% foreign ownership.

We have also set in place a regulatory framework which sets the groundwork for building a robust Offshore Wind Industry, encompassing a long-term vision, for infrastructure development, for investments, and for sound policies.
Investors in the Philippines can also now avail of the simplified rules for building Renewable Energy facilities and may also avail of additional incentives such as income tax holidays and duty-free importation of capital equipment.

We thank Japan for its interest in partnering with the Philippines to formulate a roadmap for energy transition.

I hope that this collaboration will pave the way for the creation and realization of the AZEC Center, which I have been informed is currently being organized.

In addition, I would also like to speak of the added interest in partnerships with the Philippines and we need the partnerships that we have, and to add to them as well.

So, I would like to invite our AZEC Partners, including Japan, to invest not only in the Philippine renewable energy industry, but also in other emerging technologies and introduce energy efficiency and conservation measures.

Together, we can help achieve our nationally determined contribution targets as well as the overall goal of AZEC and the Paris Agreement.

Thank you.

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