MINERALS produced by the Philippines will be in heavy demand during the transition to renewable energy (RE), pointing to the need for enhanced government monitoring to ensure that miners comply with environmental rules, an advocacy group said.
Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center Advocacy Coordinator Maya Quirino told BusinessWorld on the sidelines of a forum on Tuesday that the Philippines has substantial reserves of copper, nickel, and cobalt. It has negligible production of two of the other key RE minerals — graphite and lithium, all used in various RE technologies.
She said the shift to renewable energy will have consequences for communities where the raw materials for products like batteries will be mined.
She said that supporters of the renewable energy transition should also consider the environmental impact of extracting raw materials used in RE.
Ms. Quirino said the RE transition needs to be more “just” on the resource extraction side, and lobbied for the passage of the group advocates the passing of the Alternative Mineral Management Bill, which it touts as a necessary supplement to the Republic Act 7942 or the Mining Act of 1995.
However, Ms. Quirino acknowledged that the likelihood of the bill being passed to ensure such resource extraction is properly regulated is “very low.”
“The government (is) looking to mining (to aid in the) economic recovery after the pandemic,” she said. — Adrian H. Halili