If completed, the project could prevent up to 19 million tonnes of carbon emissions
ACEN, GenZero and Keppel have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore the origination and utilisation of transition credits (TCs) to facilitate the earlier retirement of a coal-fired power plant in the Philippines.
Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment of Singapore, and Maria Antonia Yulo Loyzaga, Secretary for Department of Environment and Natural Resources of the Philippines, were guests-of-honour and witnessed the signing.
In a statement on Friday (Aug 16), the parties said that when completed, the initiative is expected to be one of the first converted coal-fired plants in the world to generate TCs.
Under the MOU, the parties will conduct a development study on using TCs to hasten the decommissioning of the South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation’s coal-fired power plant in Batangas, the Philippines, by 10 years ahead of its scheduled retirement.
It will also explore transitioning from coal to renewables, replacing the plant’s output with a solar plant and battery storage. According to the Rockefeller Foundation, this could prevent up to 19 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.
It will be carried out in collaboration with the Rockefeller Foundation’s Coal to Clean Credit Initiative and the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Transition Credits Coalition.
ACEN is the energy arm of Philippine Stock Exchange-listed Ayala Group, GenZero is the sustainability-focused investment company owned by Singapore state investor Temasek, and mainboard-listed Keppel is a Singapore-based asset manager.
They noted that coal plants are the single largest source of carbon emissions globally, that South-east Asia has the fourth-largest fleet of such plants and these are also among the youngest, with an average age of less than 15 years.
MAS defines TCs as high-integrity carbon credits arising from the emissions reduced through retiring a coal plant early and replacing it with cleaner energy sources.
They can be utilised as a complementary financing instrument to accelerate and scale the early retirement of coal plants.
Keppel said the collaboration is not expected to have any material impact on the earnings per share and net tangible assets per share of the company for its current financial year.
Shares of Keppel ended trading on Friday up 0.9 per cent or S$0.05 at S$5.96.
