UK: PHL seen as key market for green infra projects

THE UK development finance institution, British International Investment (BII), said the Philippines has been designated an important market for climate-related and green infrastructure investment.

“The commitment of the government is to invest 500 million pounds in this particular strategy cycle of 2022-2026 in Southeast Asia. And the three main markets for us are the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam,” according to Srini Nagarajan, managing director and head of Asia at BII.

“The Philippines is an important market for us. The country, as a market, is also quite conducive in terms of the operating environment, policies, and others,” he added.

Between 2023 and 2025, BII committed 308 million pounds (nearly $396 million) in climate finance in Southeast Asia, while it has also mobilized over $139 million of private capital into its investments between 2022 and 2024.

In the Philippines, BII investment commitments have hit 46.5 million pounds to support greenhouse gas emission reduction targets by 75% by 2030.

“We specifically don’t have country limits and we invest across markets wherever there are opportunities … Our intention to invest here is also quite high,” he said.

He said that the Philippines has been successful in encouraging renewable energy projects.

“In terms of policy environment, in terms of the need for energy, and in terms of lower execution risks, the Philippines stands out,” he added.

However, he said that the Philippines could further leverage this strength through digitalization.

“Digitalization of records is very, very critical. If you try and digitalize the whole process of land acquisition, then the process gets a lot simpler, so digitalization of records across not just land but every other part of it is very important,” he said.

“I think electronic bidding is very important so that the process gets more transparent and the price discovery happens better rather than closed bidding,” he added.

He also cited the need to find a way to provide distributed generation using microgrids to the smaller islands.

“People are trying to do microgrids, but the government should come up with a good policy on that. How do we support the smaller islands? Because for them to be connected to the grid is going to take a long time,” he said.

“Decentralized energy generation and solutions using microgrids and the policy framework around that are very critical,” he added.

UK Export Finance Country Head for Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand Valentino Dass said that the export credit agency has a market risk appetite of 5 billion pounds for the Philippines.

“That is available for sovereign-type projects and non-sovereign, meaning private-sector projects. We are keen to see strategic sectors such as transportation infrastructure, renewable energy, and healthcare if there are any opportunities there,” he told reporters last week.

“All in all, we have the appetite to do longer tenor or shorter tenor type of transactions,” he added.

The Philippines and the UK held their inaugural Joint Economic and Trade Committee  meeting last year, at which the Philippines secured access to 5 billion pounds of financing from UK Export Finance for infrastructure, renewable energy, and digital projects.

Mr. Dass said that the UK and the Philippines are still working on a financing framework that will allow sovereign projects in the Philippines to tap the funding.

“In the meantime, we can also support private sector projects, as these do not need the framework in place,” he added. — Justine Irish D. Tabile