HUMANITY’S use of fossil fuels is severely damaging to the environment specifically when the fuels are burned.

These were the statements made by the think-tank Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED) on the occasion of World Environment Day.

Backed by their studies, the continued consumption of coal, oil, and gas in the Philippines is driving global warming to dangerous levels.

In the country, churches, fisherfolk, and environmental groups raised concern over the ecological impacts of the massive development of fossil gas power, especially in marine biodiversity hotspots Verde Island Passage (VIP).

The VIP is a strait that separates the islands of Luzon and Mindoro in the Philippines, connecting the South China Sea with the Tayabas Bay and the Sibuyan Sea beyond.

Meanwhile, a Greenpeace Philippines report even illustrated the need for a managed phase-out of fossil fuel production as part of any comprehensive climate policy effort.

Greenpeace is an independent organization campaigning to ensure a peaceful and sustainable world for the future.

CEED and Greenpeace both demanded a thorough rethink of plans to increase reliance on fossil gas nationally.

The call is also backed by findings of Caritas Philippines (CBCP-NASSA) on the quality and marine ecology of waters along with an existing 1,200 MW gas-fired power plant and two new gas projects in Barangay Ilijan in Batangas Bay - a liquefied natural gas (LNG terminal of Linseed Field Power Corporation and Atlantic Gulf & Pacific Co., and a new 1,750 MW power plant of a subsidiary of San Miguel Corporation (SMC) Global Power.

The groups, together with Bukluran ng Mangingisda ng Batangas (BMB), hail under the banner of the Protect Verde Island Passage (Protect VIP) Campaign network.

Fossil-fuel combustion by-products according to them are the world’s most significant threat even to children’s health and future and are major contributors to global inequality and environmental injustice.

They said the effects of burning fossil fuels are air pollution, water pollution, and climate change, as they said these effects are caused by the products released when fossil fuels are burned.

“Fossil fuels cause local pollution where they are produced and used, and their ongoing use is causing lasting harm to the climate of our entire planet,” they warned.