APEC Working Groups Come up With Measures to Build Energy Resiliency

Lapu-Lapu City (PNA) — Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) working groups discussing energy resiliency have produced a draft that contains several measures for every member to adopt, a Philippine energy official said on Monday.

Energy Undersecretary Loreta Ayson said they included in the documents vulnerability assessment, geo-hazard mapping, and sharing of best practices as ways to build a more resilient energy sector in the Asia Pacific region.

She said they hope the final draft would be reviewed by the APEC ministers and would be approved and adopted on Tuesday.

Member economies of the APEC, she said, have agreed to undergo vulnerability assessments of energy infrastructures and come up with standards that would ensure that these infrastructures withstand extreme conditions brought about by disasters.

Experts from other economies could help the Philippines and other vulnerable APEC member economies in preparing for natural calamities, she said.

“We hope that all the APEC economies, through this agreement and cooperation, would be able to do all these vulnerability assessment, geo-hazard maps, and best practices sharing,” Ayson said.

“We and other economies stand to benefit from the APEC discussions.”

Member economies of the APEC have put energy resiliency at the forefront of the discussions here because of the frequency and increasingly destructive nature of calamities that have hit the region in recent years and have been impacting on its energy sector.

They also have an ambitious agenda of drastically cutting greenhouse gas emissions and shifting to renewable energy sources to fight climate change.

Delegates to the APEC are attending the 12th APEC Energy Ministerial Meeting and Related Meetings at the Shangri-La Mact/an Resort on Monday and Tuesday. (PNA) RMA/PND/EDS