Demonstrators in the Philippines are protesting against the development of two coal-fired power plants in the northern Philippines province. “If this coal plant pushes through, our sky will turn grey,” said Crisanto Palabay, head of a group of 200 demonstrators from The Coalition to Save the Beauty of La Union. On 13 July, Palabay led a march, barefoot, through the streets of provincial capital San Fernando to protest the two 670-megawatt (MW) coal plants to be built in Luna, a town 34 kilometres away. Construction is scheduled to start next month and the plants are expected to begin operations in the first quarter of 2022. The community-led coalition wants the $1.5 billion project scrapped, saying emissions and waste from the plants will not only harm Luna residents but also communities within a 50-kilometre radius and the province’s last intact rainforest, Mt. Kangisitan. The proposed coal plants in Luna will allegedly use technology which burns less coal per MW of electricity, leading to fewer emissions, but Beijing-based Greenpeace air pollution expert Lauri Myllyvirta said that “clean coal” is no more than a “marketing ploy”. “I would not call the lowest emissions coal plants clean, because they are still more polluting than any other power generation technology,” he said.

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