ACEN Corp. expressed hope the Philippines and Singapore would craft the implementation agreement on carbon credits as a follow-up to the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed in August.
The MOU is aligned with Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which allows countries to cooperate to achieve emissions targets set out in their Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).
Under the MOU, Singapore and the Philippines will work towards a legally binding implementation agreement that sets out a bilateral framework for the international transfer of correspondingly adjusted carbon credits.
The implementation agreement will include the criteria for transfer under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.
“For the quality of the credits to be high it will be subjected to article six with government-to-government agreement. Otherwise, if you don’t have that G2G agreement, you could actually double or triple count carbon credits and that will put a question on the value of these credits so it’s very critical,” ACEN president Eric Francia said
“So it’s very critical. And I say there’s a good momentum because an MOU was signed between the PH and SG last august but that’s not enough. The next step is to have that implementation agreement. The Philippine gov’t will need to set up its carbon framework and policies,” he said.
ACEN, GenZero and Keppel Ltd. (Keppel) also signed an MOU to explore the utilization of transition credits (TCs) to accelerate the retirement of the 246-megawatt South Luzon Thermal Energy Corp. (SLTEC) coal-fired power plant (CFPP) in Batangas and replace it with a clean energy dispatch facility.
The project is expected to be one of the first converted CFPPs in the world to generate TCs.
The project will be carried out in collaboration with the Rockefeller Foundation’s Coal to Clean Credit Initiative (CCCI) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Transition Credits Coalition (TRACTION).
“We need that G2G or article six agreement, so that our credits will qualify our marketable to the SG carbon taxpayers…That’s what we need so we could be suppliers of high-end energy carbon credits…The quality of the transition credits will need to be high so you get the proper value to pay for all these requirements,” Francia said.
“For example, we need to have the proper registry, carbon registry and accounting system, right? We don’t need some people get confused. We do not need a carbon tax to establish that system and that’s our concern. People might be equating setting up a carbon policy and a framework and a registry with carbon tax which can be quite controversial,” Francia said.
