In recognition of her expertise in the Philippine energy practice, DivinaLaw Senior Partner Atty. Richie Avigale Ramos-Pilares was invited by the Australia’s Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to be part of the Philippine delegation for the 2024 ASEAN-Australia Special Summit Climate and Clean Energy Transition Forum held recently in Melbourne, Australia.
Atty. Ramos-Pilares’ participation in the forum signifies DivinaLaw’s commitment to address the following key challenges to climate and clean energy transition, as identified and discussed by Australia’s Special Envoy for Southeast Asia, Nicholas Moore AO:
- Maintaining energy affordability and reliability as the share of variable renewable energy rises. It is anticipated that the share of solar PV and wind in electricity generation could rise to 44% in Southeast Asia (“SEA”) by 2050;
- Managing transmission and distribution across electricity grids with more distributed energy sources. There is a significant need for investment in power transmission and distribution;
- Developing more diversified clean energy supply chains in order to achieve global net zero, battery manufacturing needs to increase 89-fold and solar manufacturing more than double by 2030;
- Attracting quality and sustainable investment to fuel the energy transition, including the policy and regulatory environment to enable investment- across SEA estimated $640bn in renewables, $580bn in energy efficiency for buildings, industry and transport, $70bn in forestry and land management; and
- Planning and developing the skills for the clean energy workforce to deliver the transition.
Since the forum was held during Women’s Month, one of the issues raised was how women can overcome biases and take active roles in the necessary clean energy workforce.
Atty. Ramos-Pilares is the deputy head of DivinaLaw’s Energy practice group where she is joined by 10 other competent female lawyers of the Firm – already a concrete step towards encouraging women to be at the forefront of the Philippines’ clean energy transition. Atty. Pilares is a former Assistant Secretary of the Department of Energy. She currently serves as a Director for the Philippine Energy Research and Policy Institute.
