Philippines slips in WEF Energy Transition Index

The Philippines dropped 11 spots in an index that measures countries’ energy transition efforts, reflecting the slowing global momentum amid increasing uncertainty.

The Philippines ranked 105th out of 120 countries in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Energy Transition Index (ETI), from 94th in 2023.

The Philippines’ latest ranking was its lowest since 2015 when it ranked 87th in the ETI, which analyzes a country’s current energy system performance and enabling environment for energy transition.

It scored 48.4% on a 0% to 100% scale, lower than 50.2% last year. This is below the global average score of 56.5% and emerging and developing Asia’s average score of 53.9%.

European countries topped this year’s index led by Sweden with a score of 78.4, followed by Denmark (75.2), Finland (74.5), and Switzerland (73.4).

Among the emerging and developing Asian countries, the Philippines had one of the lowest rankings, only ahead of Bangladesh (109th), Pakistan (113rd) and Mongolia (116th).

China had the highest ranking among Asian countries at 17th place, followed by South Korea (23rd), Japan (26th), Vietnam (32nd), Malaysia (40th) and Indonesia (54th).

“Ensuring equitable access to energy is a critical issue in this region, characterized by limited rural electricity access, affordability challenges, extensive energy subsidies and energy prices not returning to pre-pandemic levels,” the WEF said.

The WEF noted this year saw the highest global average scores in the history of the energy transition index, “with modest improvements in system performance of about 0.2% and strong progress in transition readiness, with a growth of 2%.”

“From 2015 to 2024, the global average scores for the ETI have consistently increased, driven by improvements in both system performance and transition readiness,” the report read.

However, WEF said the overall pace of energy transition has slowed worldwide, due to “economic volatility, heightened geopolitical tensions and technological shifts.”

“We must ensure that the energy transition is equitable, in and across emerging and developed economies,” Roberto Bocca, WEF’s head of the center for energy and materials, said in a news release.

“Transforming how we produce and consume energy is critical to success. We need to act on three key levers for the energy transition urgently: reforming the current energy system to reduce its emissions, deploying clean energy solutions at scale, and reducing energy intensity per unit of GDP (gross domestic product),” he added.

The latest annual edition of the report, published in collaboration with Accenture, used indicators such as energy access, energy affordability, economic development, supply, resilience, reliability, energy efficiency, decarbonized energy, clean energy, regulation and political commitment, finance and investment, education and human capital, innovation, and infrastructure.

Terry L. Ridon, a public investment analyst and convenor of think tank InfraWatch PH, said the Philippines still has limited innovation and research on low-carbon technology.

“Government should partner with other nations which have advanced low carbon research in order to develop our knowhow in this field,” he said in a Viber message.

Source: Business World

Philippines places 69th in WEF’s travel and tourism index

The Travel & Tourism Development Index (TTDI) 2024 is the second edition of an index that evolved from the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) series, a flagship index of the World Economic Forum that has been in production since 2007. The TTDI is part of the Forum’s broader work with industry and government stakeholders to build a more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient future for economies and local communities.

The Philippines inched up a spot to 69th out of 119 economies in the 2024 edition of Travel & Tourism Development Index (TTDI) by the World Economic Forum (WEF). The TTDI measures the set of factors and policies that enable the sustainable and resilient development of the travel and tourism (T&T) sector, which in turn contributes to the development of a country. With an overall TTDI score of 3.84 (7 is best), the Philippines was one of the laggards in the region.

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Source: Business World and WEF

PHL could become one of the drivers of global growth in the future

The Philippines could become one of the drivers of global growth in the future, if the government continues to ease foreign ownership restrictions and ramp up partnerships with the private sector, according to a World Economic Forum (WEF) executive.

“We feel that the most exciting chapter of the country is yet to come. So, we remain very hopeful that there would be ongoing collaboration with both the government and private sector going forward,” Joo-ok Lee, head of the Regional Agenda, Asia-Pacific at the WEF, said on the sidelines of the BusinessWorld Economic Forum last week.

Mr. Lee said there is “robust” interest from the private sector and investors towards the Philippines.

“In the medium and longer term, we feel very optimistic that there’s a lot of opportunities for the country… There are many things that Philippines has going for, the economy, the demographic dividend, but also the regulatory kind of reforms and changes that we’re seeing,” he said.

“As long as the current trend continues, investments in key sectors and infrastructure as well as emphasizing the need for public-private collaboration, I think the Philippines will emerge as one of the stronger players in driving global growth.”

The Philippines is expected to be one of the fastest-growing economies in the region this year with the government targeting 6-7% gross domestic product growth.

The Philippines can become a $2-trillion (around P116-trillion) economy in the next decade, WEF President Børge Brende said in March.

However, geopolitical tensions like the trade war between the United States and China, as well as territorial dispute in the South China Sea, may pose threats to the outlook.

“The geopolitical tensions between superpowers, especially in the setting of the Philippines, poses some threats because you don’t want to be in a situation where you’re forced to take sides,” Mr. Lee said.

The Philippines must ensure a “strategic balance and ongoing constructive relationship” with the US and China, he added.

“It further emphasizes the need to remain resilient, to have an open economy that can adapt towards the changing environment,” he added.

Hansley A. Juliano, a political science professor at the Ateneo de Manila University, said the Philippines must strengthen its trade partnerships with other countries like Japan and Australia amid heightened tensions between the US and China.

“It would be good to increase their share in our balance of trade or potentially crowd out Chinese economic activity in the Philippines,” he said in a Facebook Messenger chat.

Meanwhile, WEF’s Mr. Lee also cited the need to ease economic restrictions in the 1987 Constitution to allow foreign ownership in more sectors.

“We understand that some of the regulations are there for a reason,” he said. “But purely looking at it from an outsider’s perspective, the easing of those regulations would be perceived as being more inviting for foreign investors to claim a stake and also be a partner rather than just a player.”

In March, the House of Representatives passed a proposal to lift foreign ownership limits in the 1987 Philippine Constitution.

The Senate has yet to continue deliberations on the proposed Charter change.

“The Constitutional amendments are necessary but are not sufficient. We still need to transition the current extractive institutions into efficient and inclusive ones,” Leonardo A. Lanzona, an economics professor at the Ateneo de Manila University, said .

Source: Business World