Country deep-dive

Philippines

Startups mapped

6.3%

Of ASEAN-6

1,148

STARTUPS ACROSS ASEAN-6

Current State

Energy Security and Distributed Power

Tariffs in Luzon (the country’s largest and most populous island) hit a multi-year high of PHP14.3496/kWh in April 2026. At the same time, ~600MW of rooftop solar was added over the year. The fourth Green Energy Auction awarded 10,195MW across 123 projects through 2029.

Executive Order 110's one-year energy emergency issued on 24 March 2026 in response to the Iran conflict leaned towards fossil fuels. Wholesale trading was suspended for five weeks, coal generation went up, and fuel excise was cut. In the meantime, GEA-5's 3,300MW offshore-wind round was suspended for review in July 2026, with the DOE though a tentative auction date of December 2026 has been set.

With 98% of crude imported, the Philippines had Southeast Asia's highest electricity prices by June 2026. The benefits and appeal of distributed energy will outlast the current emergency.

Disaster Risk and Anticipatory Action

Republic Act 12287 (September 2025) institutionalised imminent-disaster declarations and anticipatory funding. Exposure stayed acute in the year that followed: twin typhoons in November 2025, then a magnitude-7.8 earthquake off Sarangani in June 2026, against 2025 reports recording 28.15 million people affected by medium-scale hazards.

However, the Act's implementing rules remain unconfirmed: the Office of Civil Defense said in October 2025 it had finalised a draft, but no promulgated or published version has surfaced, and no declaration has been recorded under it. The older, separate People's Survival Fund had approved PHP1.421 billion across 24 projects but released none.

Separately, the World Food Programme worked with the Department of Social Welfare and Development to get anticipatory cash assistance to over 42,000 households ahead of a typhoon in November 2025.

Agricultural Finance and Smallholder Reach

Rice farmers can now earn carbon credits for a water-saving irrigation technique that cuts methane (approved in February 2025). A US$1 billion World Bank agricultural programme is now live alongside the first completed facility under the Department of Agriculture's Cold Storage Expansion Program, with a further ~US$500 million pledged separately for smallholder rice farmers. But the government's own 3.21 million-hectare adoption target for the water-saving technique remains a plan.

Farmer loan programmes structurally exclude older smallholders in the Philippines – the same population this capital is meant to reach. With better verification and farmer-organising services, these programmes can reach the smallholders they are meant to serve.

Ambition

MEDIUM Term (through 2030)

2024 NDC Implementation Plan

Target: cumulative 2020–2030 GHG reduction/avoidance of 75%, comprising 2.71% unconditional and 72.29% conditional action.

The First Biennial Transparency Report (31 March 2025) restates the target, but does not show any new proof that the international financing needed to actually deliver the conditional action has come through or been secured.

Medium-LONG Term (2031 and beyond)

2035 NDC

Submitted on 8 September 2026, raising its unconditional emissions-reduction commitment from 2.71% to ~7% (with the conditional share falling to ~68%) and adding a new goal of 40% renewables by 2030. It does not include a net-zero target

ADAPTATion

National Adaptation Plan (2023-2050)

8 priority sectors, according to the Climate Change Commission:
> Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food Security
> Water Resources
> Health
> Ecosystems and Biodiversity
> Cultural Heritage, Population Displacement, and Migration
> Land Use and Human Settlements
> Livelihoods and Industries
> Energy, Transport, and Communications

Select Green Economy Initiatives and Innovation Drivers

ERC Resolution No. 15, Series of 2025: Net-metering Amendments

Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC)

The resolution allows banking and rollover of unused net-metering export credits. A July 2026 ERC proposal would go further: removing the 1MW distributed-energy-resource cap and cutting interconnection review from 20 to 10 working days, though that remains a proposal, not yet adopted. Credit rollover changes the economics of a financed rooftop system, turning accurate export credit tracking into a requirement.

SEC Memorandum Circular No. 16, Series of 2025: PFRS Sustainability Disclosures

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

The circular replaced comply-or-explain reporting with phased mandatory PFRS S1 and S2 disclosure. Tier 1 companies (listed; with over PHP50bn market capitalisation) apply it from FY2026, with limited Scope 1/2 assurance required two years after each tier's initial adoption. Company boards and assurance providers now have a regulated timetable.

ITC-DTI EU Deforestation Regulation Readiness Report

International Trade Centre (ITC) / Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Export Marketing Bureau

The programme provides commodity guidance, GeoJSON mapping support, the FAO Ground app, and the ITC Deforestation-Free Trade Gateway ahead of the EU regulation's application to large and medium operators. Philippine suppliers in covered chains must still generate and hand over geolocation and due-diligence evidence to their EU buyers.

Japan–Philippines Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) Methodology PH_AM004

Japan–Philippines JCM Joint Committee

Approved 3 February 2025, this is the first agricultural JCM methodology outside biomass burning, letting rice paddy Alternate Wetting and Drying projects register and issue credits. Eligibility is not the same as issued credits: that requires farmer aggregation, water-level data and field verification across dispersed plots. A single ~1,000-hectare Leyte project has started but not scaled.

Green Energy Auction Program, Rounds Four and Five

Department of Energy (DOE) / ERC

GEA-4 awarded 10,195MW across 123 projects through 2029. GEA-5, launched March 2026 for 3,300MW of offshore wind, carried terms that strengthened financeability: award-stage revenue certainty, lender step-in rights, reduced performance bonds, and 100% foreign ownership allowed. The DOE paused GEA-5 pending review of port, transmission and readiness questions, and has set a tentative auction date of 1 December 2026.

Republic Act No. 12287: Declaration of a State of Imminent Disaster Act

National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) / Office of Civil Defense / LGUs

The Act allows national or local officials declare an imminent disaster state and authorises pre-emptive evacuation, cash assistance and pre-positioning, funded through existing Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund (LDRRMF), agency budgets and the NDRRMF. No implementing rules have been issued, and no declaration has been recorded under it.

Opportunities

Distributed Energy and Energy-as-a-service in High-tariff Luzon

Electricity in Luzon is expensive, and a rule change now lets unused solar credits roll over to future bills. This make rooftop solar and battery systems pay for themselves fast enough that a company can sell customers the power as a subscription.

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Demand signals

A February–April 2026 survey of 20 solar companies found weekly installations up 170% and inquiries up 582%.

Innovation opportunities

Contracted solar/storage/cooling services for C&I sites
Net-metering credit billing and portfolio-monitoring tools
Audits, sub-metering, and retrofit services
Commissioning, remote monitoring, and O&M services for the installed base

PFRS Sustainability Reporting Controls and Assurance Readiness

The SEC has set firm dates for companies to start disclosing climate and sustainability data, but these companies may not have the systems and data in place to do it well.

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Demand signals

Tier 1 companies report from FY2026, first reports due 2027. Limited Scope 1 & 2 assurance required two years after each tier's initial adoption.
BSP (Philippine central bank) has proposed a banking roadmap meant to align with the SEC's PFRS S1/S2 disclosure regime in May 2026, but that is still under consultation.

Innovation opportunities

System that tracks a company's emissions meter to ledger with audit trails
Connected sustainability/financial reporting workflows for CFOs and boards
Scope 3 supplier onboarding portals

EUDR Plot Traceability for Philippine Smallholder Export Chains

European buyers retain the legal EUDR obligation, but affected Philippine suppliers must still supply geolocation and due-diligence evidence. Coverage is limited to seven commodities: cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soy, and wood (with coconut explicitly out of scope).

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Demand signals

Application begins 30 December 2026 for large/medium EU operators and 30 June 2027 for micro/small operators.

Innovation opportunities

Offline plot-mapping field services exporting GeoJSON
Managed supplier onboarding: registration, plot validation, consent, and training
Deforestation screening that takes a farm's mapped boundaries, automatically checks them against deforestation data by satellite, with human review
Aggregator traceability connectors linking farm/plot IDs to shipment records

Rice-methane MRV and AWD Smallholder Aggregation

JCM PH_AM004 gives rice-paddy methane reduction a defined, creditable delivery route. But using it across dispersed plots requires aggregation infrastructure.

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Demand signals

A three-year National Irrigation Administration (NIA) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) real-time monitoring agreement (April 2025), plus the World Bank's US$1bn PSAT programme, which ties release of funds to 12 performance indicators.
The two funding channels now require solutions to measure, verify, and report farm-level data.

Innovation opportunities

Water-level monitoring kits for AWD cycles
Farmer and plot aggregation services for foreign developers
MRV data-management platforms combining field, water, and audit data
Irrigation decision tools flagging data gaps

Local Government Unit (LGU) Anticipatory Action and Early-warning Systems Integration

A law requires every LGU to have early-warning systems, and a newer law makes it easier for them to fund disaster preparation in advance. But only one city – Quezon City – has a confirmed contract for this kind of system.

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Demand signals

Quezon City's PHP11.1M annual contract is the clearest recurring commercial value in the segment (a 2026 renewal at the same value is reported but not independently confirmed).
Laoag is a reported second example, with a reported PHP3 million contract said to cover equipment, installation, training, and a year of service.

Innovation opportunities

A bundled, procurement-ready multi-hazard system with annual technical support for higher-capacity LGUs
Cloud multi-hazard monitoring as a subscription service
Interoperability/retrofit layers connecting existing sensors, CCTV, and responder tools

Public Fleet Electrification

The Philippines' four-wheel EV penetration (~4% of 2025 sales) is the lowest among ASEAN-6, making public fleet electrification a probable demand anchor for nascent local EV assembly investment.

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Demand signals

The RE/EV fiscal-incentive accelerator – reduced import tariffs, plus VAT zero-rating for registered EV-manufacturing activities – is already in force.
Executive Order No. 121, signed in July 2026, layers on further fiscal incentives (including VAT and import-duty treatment) via tax payment certificates, capped at PHP60 billion.

Innovation opportunities

Fleet management, charging, and telematics systems for public sector vehicle fleets
Financing/leasing models aggregating public fleet demand as an anchor for local EV assembly
Maintenance and battery diagnostics services for electrified fleets