Indonesia, Philippines seek to reduce coal dependency

Indonesia and the Philippines are leading the surge in coal dependency in Southeast Asia, with their reliance continuing to grow rapidly in 2023.

Data recently released by the energy consultancy Ember shows that last year, the Philippines outranked Poland, China, and Indonesia in the percentage of coal in its energy mix, becoming the most coal-dependent country in the region.

The percentage of electricity generated from coal in the Philippines surpassed that of Poland, China, and even Indonesia in 2023. The country saw a significant increase of 2.9% in its annual coal production rate, from 59.1% in 2022 to 61.9% in 2023.

Meanwhile, this percentage in Indonesia slightly increased to a new record high of 61.8%, surpassing Poland in 2023 after having already outpaced China in 2022.

According to Ember, these figures highlight the challenges that the two Southeast Asian nations face in achieving their green energy goals. The share of coal in electricity production in the Philippines increased for the 15th consecutive year in 2023, despite its goal to reduce reliance on this fuel to less than half of its total electricity production by 2030.

Ember reported that both Indonesia and the Philippines are lagging behind other ASEAN countries in developing wind and solar energy. They have struggled to improve their renewable capacity due to the associated costs.