PCA Bestows Award To Pasig City For Carless Day

In this issue:

PCA bestows award to Pasig City for

carless day

German Green Tech Providers See

Great Potential in PH

2013 climate change forecast

prepared for Asia

MMDA launches EDSA bike lane

Bill on e-vehicles hurdles Senate

scrutiny

Councilor seeks to protect

pedestrians

PASIG CITY—For its efforts in

promoting alternative modes of

transportation, public health and

clean air, the Pasig City government

received a special recognition from

the Partnership for Clean Air (PCA)

last December 2012.

In a letter addressed to the PCA

Executive Director and Board

members, the city government

expressed its gratitude for the

recognition and the support from the

organization.

Pasig City pioneered the “Bike Day,

Health Day, Carless Day” last year,

launching the activity every Sunday

in Metro Manila. The initiative was

headed by the city government in

cooperation with the CENRO/Green

Police, and other public and private

organizations and institutions like

PCA.

Carless days will continue in 2013.

JANUARY – FEBRUARY 2013 Issue Volume 5, No. 1

Letter from TWG Chairperson Raquel Austria-Naciongayo

2 PARTNERSHIP FOR CLEAN AIR

PARTNERSHIP FOR CLEAN AIR Climate Change Forecast Grim , PH One Of Most Vulnerable

German Green Tech Providers See Great Potential in PH - ECCP

The Philippines remains a lucrative market for Germany-based technology providers looking for opportunities

in the local renewable energy industry, specifically in the biomass and biogas sectors.

The “Philippine-German Forum for Energy from Biomass and Biogas” gathered more than 200 participants

and was organized by the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) in cooperation with

the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and the German-Philippine

Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

“The firms were really very happy with the quality of the projects they were informed about and therefore they

are very optimistic,” ECCP Vice President Martial Beck said in a briefing on Wednesday.

Werner Siemers, GIZ consultant for energy from biomass and biogas, noted that the Philippines was

fortunate to have all the tools that would allow the shift to renewable energy, particularly biomass and biogas.

USA – Climate change bears ill news for all countries across the globe, but even so in the Philippines and other developing countries, a draft national climate assessment concluded last January 11.

The 1000-page report gives a dire picture of what Americans will suffer this year and beyond because of climate change. It says that by the end of the 21st century, climate change is expected to result in increased risk of asthma and other public health emergencies, widespread power blackouts, mass transit shutdowns, and maybe food shortages. Climate change, the report revealed, will make the USA a hotter, drier, and more disaster-prone place. “Proactively preparing for climate change can reduce impacts, while also facilitating a more rapid and efficient response to changes as they happen,” said Katharine Jacobs, the director of the National Climate Assessment.

The National Climate Assessment (NCA) is composed of representatives of about a dozen government agencies and cabinet departments, as well as private sector institutions. It released previous assessments in 2000 and 2009.

“As climate change and its impacts are becoming more prevalent, Americans face choices,” the report said. “Beyond the next few decades, the amount of climate change will still largely be determined by the choices society makes about emissions. Lower emissions mean less future warming and less severe impacts. Higher emissions would mean more warming and more severe impacts.”

Other regions will face different extreme weather events. The US northeast is at risk of coastal flooding because of sea-level rises and storm surges, as well as river flooding, because of an increase in heavydownpours. In the Philippines, organizations,

like World Wildlife Fund-Philippines have begun to ask, “Are we up to the challenge of climate change?” Says WWF: “The Philippines is considered as one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. With impacts ranging from extreme weather events and periodic inundation to droughts and food scarcity, climate change has been a constant reality that many Filipinos have had to face. Most affected are those living in coastal communities and the lower rung urban communities that lack awareness on proper disaster preparedness measures.”

“As it is, climate change impacts have not only intensified from an imbalanced natural eco-system, but every onslaught has become unpredictable,” it concluded. (Manila Bulletin)

PARTNERSHIP FOR CLEAN AIR 3

MMDA Launches EDSA Bike Lane, MM Urged To Share Bikes

CALL FOR ARTICLES!

PCA is accepting submissions to the

newsletter. For comments, opinions

and articles, e-mail

pcasecretariat2012@gmail.com

MANILA—Putting up "hanging gardens" is apparently not the farthest the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will go in a bid to "re-green" EDSA. The campaign to make the most famous thoroughfare more environment and pedestrian-friendly saw MMDA put up "hanging bicycles" for public use. "EDSA Bike Lane and Bike Sharing System is now open," MMDA said in its Twitter account Thursday. The sidewalk-turned-bike lane runs from the Magallanes area to Ayala, MMDA added. Each of the two loading bays holds about 10 bicycles that can be used within bike lane, MMDA told Yahoo! Southeast Asia via phone. When not in use, these bicycles will be placed on racks intalled on the walls of the Magallanes village. Pedestrians alighting going to Magallanes from Ayala or vice-versa can use the bicycles upon presenting a valid ID and filling out a record, MMDA said.

The shared bicycles can only be used along the MMDA bike lanes, however, and would have to be returned at the next bike station. Bike-sharing schemes have gained popularity in other countries, even developed economies, as a way to close gaps between public transport and riders' final destination. In the case of the EDSA bike lane, commuters bound for Ayala may alight at Magallanes and use bicycles from there, or go the other way around.

MMDA's new bike-sharing scheme

comes after the Asian Development

Bank in November unveiled a similar

but separate project to be piloted in

three Asian cities, including Davao.

"The project will help improve air

quality, as well as reduce the rate of

pedestrian accidents and fatalities

linked with too many private vehicles

on the road," ADB earlier said.

http://ph.news.yahoo.com/-share-a-bike-

-on-as-mmda-launches-bike-lane-

072859195.html

Bike lanes opened by MMDA to cyclists along EDSA

Just one of the bikes to borrow for interested Metro Manila pedestrians and cyclists

4 PARTNERSHIP FOR CLEAN AIR

PARTNERSHIP FOR CLEAN AIR Bill On E-Vehicles Hurdles Senate Scrutiny

Councilor Seeks To

Protect Pedestrians MANILA – The Senate has approved on the third and final reading a bill seeking to grant incentives to the manufacturers or importers of alternative fuel vehicles. Sen. Ralph Recto, who sponsored the bill, said the enactment of Senate Bill No. 2857, or the Alternative Fuel Vehicles Incentives Act into law, will usher an era of cheaper, cleaner cars that will reduce the country’s dependency on the use of fossil fuels. “Every hour, our motor vehicles consume millions of liters of gasoline. Every hour, 2,200 metric tons of carbon dioxide is pumped into the air, a carbon footprint which requires the planting of 56,000 trees to absorb all the poison. Every hour, we spend P53,000 to treat pollution-related diseases and to compensate for productivity losses and every hour, four Filipinos die from dirty air,” Recto said. The challenge for the country, he said, is to improve the motor vehicles so it will spew less poison and bleed less foreign exchange. Under the proposed legislation, fiscal and non-fiscal incentives shall be granted to the importation and manufacture of electric, hybrid and other vehicles using alternative sources of energy such as, but not limited to, solar, wind, hydrogen fuel cell, compressed natural gas or liquefied natural gas, methane and liquefied petroleum gas. He said the manufacturers or assemblers of completely knocked down units of alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs), including the conversion of vehicles into electric, hybrid and other AFVs, shall be

exempted from payment of excise taxes and duties for nine years. He said manufacturers and assemblers are exempt from the payment of the value added tax for the purchase and importation of raw materials, spare parts, components and capital equipment used in the manufacture or assembly of AFVs for also nine years. Importers of completely build units of AFV shall be exempt from payment of excise taxes and duties for nine years while owners of AFVs are exempt from the payment of the Motor Vehicle User’s Charge or the MVUC upon registration of their vehicles, according to Recto. He said non-fiscal incentives granted

under the proposed measure include

priority in the registration and

issuances of plate numbers and priority

in franchise applications for public utility

vehicles. http://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/01/29/bill-

on-e-vehicles-hurdles-senate-scrutiny/

MANILA, Philippines – Motorists within San Juan City will soon be obliged to stop as people pass at pedestrian lanes. Draft Ordinance No.1 Series of 2013 (An Ordinance Requiring All Vehicles To Stop Before Transversing A Pedestrian Lane with People Crossing Therein and Providing Penalties for Violations) was recently filed by 1st District City Councilor lawyer Angelo Agcaoili who said that the safety of people crossing at pedestrian lanes must be ensured at all times. The ordinance was unanimously passed by the City Council last January 28 and is scheduled for third and final reading on February 4. It states that all individuals driving motorized vehicles must stop before pedestrian lanes if at least one person is crossing it. However, if the pedestrian lane is located where there are traffic lights, individuals are not allowed to cross it when the green lights for vehicles is lit. They can only do so when a traffic enforcer manning the street allows it. “Pedestrian lanes in our country seem to be just decorative white stripes on the road and drivers do not even care to stop even if people are crossing or attempting to cross.” Agcaoili said. “Drivers of vehicles even blow their horns at people trying to cross in a pedestrian lane. This culture has to be changed. Our pedestrians must be encouraged to use our pedestrian lanes knowing that vehicles will stop whey they are crossing the lanes.” Agcaoli added that the San Juan City

Traffic Code penalizes jaywalking

which is why a stiffer penalty must be

imposed on drivers who fail to stop at

at pedestrian lane with at least one

person trying to cross it.

(http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/392195/cou

ncilor-seeks-to-protect-

pedestrians#.UQ_8nb81l64)

Under the proposed legislation, fiscal and

non-fiscal incentives shall be granted to the

importation and manufacture of electric,

hybrid and other vehicles using alternative

sources of energy