Early Retirement of Coal Power Plants through Voluntary Carbon Credits? The case of ACEN in the Philippines

Christoff Scherrer
Additional contact information
Christoff Scherrer: Kassel Institute for Sustainability & Global Labour University

No 202509, UP School of Economics Discussion Papers from University of the Philippines School of Economics

Abstract: This paper explores the possibility of using voluntary carbon credits to retire coal-fired power plants early. It introduces carbon emission trading using the example of the substantial European emissions trading market. It presents recommendations for phasing out coal power plants and discusses the challenges of calculating plant proprietors' losses and carbon emission savings. It also outlines the specific challenges of voluntary carbon credits and the need to monitor carbon credit deals. These issues are illustrated with the world’s first Energy Transition Mechanism transaction for the early retirement of a coal plant owned by ACEN in the Philippines: the South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation (SLTEC). It analyzes the financial transactions carried out by the power plant owner and the envisaged use of voluntary carbon credits. The paper concludes that there are many obstacles to moving beyond a few pilot projects.

Keywords: energy transition; voluntary carbon credits; coal power plant; Philippines (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q54 Q58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 16 pages
Date: 2025-09
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Published as UPSE Discussion Paper No. 2025-05, September 2025

Downloads: (external link)
https://pre.econ.upd.edu.ph/upsedp/index.php/dp/article/view/1564 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:phs:dpaper:202505

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in UP School of Economics Discussion Papers from University of the Philippines School of Economics Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by RT Campos ().