MAKATI CITY, 19 March 2026: The Responsible Energy Initiative Philippines (‘REI Philippines’) officially unveiled six prototype interventions that aim to address barriers in the Philippines’ renewable energy (RE) transition and empower businesses in the RE sector with new ways of doing business—ensuing the transition occurs in an ecologically safe, rights-respecting, and socially just manner. 

A total of 120 representatives from industry, finance, civil society, and national government agencies attended the high-level multi-stakeholder forum organized by REI Philippines today at the AIM Conference Centre (ACC) in Makati City.  

“A successful energy transition must recognize people’s importance while boosting productivity and reducing emissions. It is as much a social and economic challenge as an environmental one,” said Undersecretary Analiza Rebuelta-Teh of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), who served as one of the keynote speakers during the forum. “For the Philippines, a just transition is a transformative, people-centered shift to a low-carbon, climate-resilient, and energy-secure economy that prioritizes equity, inclusivity, and balance throughout the process without compromising environmental integrity.”  

While the Philippines has set ambitious targets to increase its share of renewable energy (RE) in its power mix to 35% by 2030 and 50% by 2040, efforts to scale are often hampered by less-visible barriers. Over 2024-25, REI Philippines, a multi-year program designed as a collaborative platform, convened over 50 leaders across the value chain—developers, rural banks, policymakers, civil society, and academia—to determine why projects stall and co-create solutions to get them moving responsibly. 

The key barriers identified by the cohort are land and sea competition for spatial usage and planning; lack of trust with communities; capital gaps; blind spots in data on biodiversity, ecosystem services, and social impacts; and a lack of importance accorded to circularity. Based on these barriers, the cohort further developed the six prototypes, each led by a member of the REI Philippines Steering Committee: 

1. The RE Compass: an interactive digital tool that overlays RE potential with ecological and social risk data; 
2. The RE Hub: a pre-competitive innovation platform to prototype multi-land use and marine spatial models that allow energy generation to coexist with agriculture, fisheries, and ecosystem restoration; 
3. Community co-ownership models (“Co-Own”): a testbed for legal and financial structures that go beyond simple corporate social responsibility (CSR) by enabling host communities to own a stake in RE projects; 
4. The Capital Orchestrator: unlocks and coordinates capital flows towards systemic innovations that advance ecologically safe and socially just deployment of renewable energy; 
5. Rural Bank Mentorship: a program that equips rural banks to integrate ESG risks into their lending portfolios; and 
6. Circular RE Futures: a participatory futures process that aims to support policymakers in designing governance mechanisms that manage the lifecycle of RE technologies. 

USec. Rebuelta-Teh also expressed her support for specific prototypes, particularly RE Compass, RE Hub, and Circular RE Futures, stating how each of these workstreams aligns with the DENR’s mandate. “Potential areas of cooperation are worthwhile to be pursued,” she added. 

A keynote panel joined by Director Michael Sinocruz of the Department of Energy (DOE), Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Board of Investments (BOI), and Assistant Secretary Romeo Montenegro of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) explored ways to operationalize all six workstreams in the Philippines. All panelists also expressed support, with specific mentions to the Co-Own and Circular RE Futures prototypes.  

“When creating foundational norms for how a complex system behaves, it is critical to have all the key actors involved,” said Sumi Dhanarajan, Managing Director of Forum for the Future Southeast Asia, a member organization of the REI Philippines Steering Committee. “The collaborative action platform established by REI Philippines has uniquely brought together renewable energy developers, financiers, procurers, manufacturers, policy-makers, and civil society actors to identify where we need to act and how we can act to create an environmentally and socially responsible renewable energy system for the Philippines.” 

“The oil supply crisis shows how vulnerable the Philippines remains to global shocks. We urgently need energy that is local, affordable, and sustainable,” said Maris Cardenas, Executive Director of The Center for Empowerment, Innovation and Training on Renewable Energy (CentRE), a member organization of the REI Philippines Steering Committee. “REI Philippines helps fill an important gap in moving that transition forward by forging partnerships and collaborative initiatives advancing responsible, resilient, equitable, and democratic renewable energy systems.” 

The Philippines is the second country to launch the Responsible Energy Initiative and the first of the program in Southeast Asia, with the multi-country program first being established in India last 2021. REI Philippines is now entering its third year, focusing on developing the prototypes through the fourth quarter of 2026, before assessing their potential for scaling. 

REI Philippines’ Steering Committee is composed of seven leading international and Philippine-based think tanks and civil society organizations: the Business and Human Rights Centre, the Center for Empowerment, Innovation and Training on Renewable Energy (CentRE), Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Philippines, Forum for the Future, Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC), Ocean Energy Pathway and Oxfam Pilipinas. REI Philippines officially launched on January 26, 2024 with its Case-for-Action report, and subsequently shared its Vision and Principles for a responsible RE system on January 26, 2026. 

Photos: Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC)

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NOTES TO EDITORS

For enquiries, please contact:

Sanafe Marcelo, Senior Communications Officer for Media and Events, Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities: media@icsc.ngo, +63 968 886 3466 

Jonathan Cathalla, Principal Strategist, Forum for the Future: j.cathalla@forumforthefuture.org, +63 917 302 4179 

Kristina Gweneth Simundo, Project Officer, Forum for the Future: k.simundo@forumforthefuture.org, +65 98371840 

About the Responsible Energy Initiative Philippines

The Responsible Energy Initiative (REI) is a multi-country program aimed at ensuring the ecologically safe and socially just production and deployment of renewable energy. It is designed to support actors in the renewable energy system to innovate and adopt business models, financing frameworks and value chain relationships that create the conditions towards this goal. REI Philippines is the second inquiry launched as part of the program in 2024, with REI India launched in 2021.

Supporting documents 

• REI Philippines: Call-to-Action report 
• REI Philippines: Vision and Principles 
• REI Philippines: Intervention Concept briefs 

Learn more about the Responsible Energy Initiative Philippines.

Partners in the Responsible Energy Initiative Philippines’ Steering Committee