Communicating Climate Action From the Ground Up
by Jeanne Pauline Alvarez Editor’s Note: Jeanne Pauline Alvarez is a Communications Officer of ICSC, focused on Media and Events. This piece reflects her insights as one of the facilitators for the Science Communication and Content Development Workshop held last April 28-29, 2026 in Guiuan, Eastern Samar. Climate action [...]
Indonesia’s export policy shift highlights PHL energy vulnerability
Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities PRESS RELEASE QUEZON CITY, 28 May 2026 — The Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC) stressed the need to strengthen the Philippines’ long-term energy security and affordability amid evolving coal policy developments in Indonesia and increasing volatility of fossil fuels in the [...]
Eastern Samar advances province-wide renewable energy roadmap, strengthens coordinated energy planning
Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities PRESS RELEASE QUEZON CITY, 21 May 2026 — The Provincial Government of Eastern Samar advances its commitment to a cleaner, more resilient, and community-centered energy future during the “Localizing Energy Transition: Empowering Local Government to Co-Create the Renewable Energy Roadmap,” held on May [...]
Southeast Asia civil society spurs regional cooperation on Climate and Disaster Risk Financing
Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities PRESS RELEASE BANGKOK, THAILAND, 22 May 2026 — As climate and disaster risks continue to intensify across Southeast Asia, regional stakeholders explore a more coordinated approach to Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance (CDRFI), following the conclusion of the Multi-Actor Partnership on [...]
ICSC: Recurring grid alerts highlight urgent need for decentralized energy in the country
Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities PRESS RELEASE QUEZON CITY, May 20, 2026 –– The red and yellow alerts raised over the Luzon and Visayas grids over the past week highlight how outages from several large centralized coal plants can quickly strain the Philippine power system and result in [...]
Stop transferring all risks to consumers [Inquirer]
by Pete Maniego, published through Inquirer.net [READ HERE] I have spent almost two decades in the Philippine energy sector—as an engineer, lawyer, executive, chair of the National Renewable Energy Board (NREB), and now senior policy adviser to Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC), which recently launched Presyo-PH, [...]
ICSC: Rotating blackouts underscore hidden risks of centralized energy infrastructure
Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities REACTIVE QUEZON CITY, May 14 2026 –– The latest rotating blackouts across Luzon and Visayas underscore the systemic risks created by concentrating generation and transmission infrastructure in a limited number of large facilities and critical corridors. From the forecasted available capacity in Luzon [...]
CDO LGU revisits local energy plan, reaffirms commitments on energy transition
Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities PRESS RELEASE CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, 11 May 2026 - The City Government of Cagayan de Oro, together with the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC), took a significant step toward crafting the city's Renewable Energy (RE) Plan and Roadmap and ensured [...]
Unpacking the power bills [BusinessWorld]
by Monalisa C. Dimalanta | Published via Business World Online The economic turmoil brought about by the ongoing crisis in the Middle East has led to heightened attention to the energy situation of the country. To be sure, our energy security had been precarious even before the events [...]
Readiness Before Resources? Why Enabling Conditions Matter for Local Climate Finance
by Jonas Brian Almendrala Editor’s Note: Jonas currently serves as the Manager for Urban Development at the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities, supporting partner cities in their climate-readiness projects under the Urban-Act Project. Our usual conversations and discussions on climate finance usually deal with questions on [...]
ICSC: The real risk is delay, not renewables
Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities REACTIVE EDITOR'S NOTE (07 May 2026): Amendments were made in the introduction and articles cited to reflect clarifications in this piece. QUEZON CITY, 06 May 2026 – In the midst of an energy crisis, marked by rising electricity prices and continued [...]
Northern Samar LGU pledges to build a more resilient, affordable, and sustainable energy system through renewables
Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities PRESS RELEASE QUEZON CITY, 05 May 2026 – The Provincial Government of Northern Samar declared their commitment and determination to advance a cleaner and more sustainable energy future for the province during the Renewable Energy (RE) Roadmap Scoping Workshop with the Institute for [...]
ICSC: Enable, not constrain, informed solar energy adoption
Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities OFFICIAL STATEMENT Rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) systems are a critical component of the Philippines’ energy transition, offering a decentralized and increasingly affordable solution to rising electricity demand. Yet a significant portion of these systems—particularly small- to medium-scale installations—remain unregistered and therefore invisible in [...]
ICSC launches PRESYO-PH, reaffirms call to diversify energy sources for more stable and affordable electricity rates
Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities PRESS RELEASE QUEZON CITY, 29 April 2026 – Power procurement strategies of distribution utilities (DUs) and electric cooperatives (ECs), particularly the energy source they rely on, are a key driver of varying and volatile electricity prices in the country, according to the Institute [...]
ICSC pilots renewable energy roadmap scoping workshop with Guiuan LGU to advance local energy transition
Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities PRESS RELEASE PALO, LEYTE, 20 April 2026 – Building on its earlier work in local energy planning, the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC) pilots a Renewable Energy (RE) Plan and Roadmap scoping workshop with the Municipality of Guiuan from April 14 [...]
ICSC: Luzon and Visayas grid alerts underscore the strong need for a more resilient, distributed power system
Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities REACTIVE QUEZON CITY, 17 April 2026 –– The yellow alerts raised over the Luzon and Visayas grids yesterday highlight a recurring vulnerability in the Philippines’ power system: the country’s energy sector remains baseload-centric and relies on large power plants, making the grid more [...]
ICSC delves into PHL energy emergency: Renewables are key to transforming country’s energy system from import dependence
Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities ANALYSIS QUEZON CITY, 30 March 2026 – The Philippines’ declaration of a national energy emergency under Executive Order No. 110 highlights a long-standing reality that can no longer be ignored: heavy reliance on imported fossil fuels exposes the country to global supply and [...]
ICSC on PHL energy emergency: Resilience must be a long-term anchor, empower LGUs to advance solutions
Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities REACTIVE QUEZON CITY, 25 March 2026 – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed Executive Order (EO) No. 110 yesterday, declaring a state of national energy emergency as impacts of the US-Israel war on Iran threaten the availability and stability of the country’s energy supply. [...]
Philippine power supply for Q2 2026 remains sufficient, but thin reserves leave grid at risk amid demand surge and plant outages
Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities PRESS RELEASE QUEZON CITY, 25 March 2026 — The Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao grids are projected to have sufficient power supply from April to June 2026 but reserve margins remain thin, according to the latest report of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable [...]
Qatar LNG disruption exposes risks of fossil fuel reliance to PHL energy security
Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities PRESS RELEASE QUEZON CITY, 20 March 2026 — Rising tensions in the Middle East have caused extensive damage and have disrupted operations of Qatar’s Ras Laffan LNG facility, the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) export hub. For the [...]