Cebu, Philippines - The Philippines can pattern its sustainable growth strategy after the European Union (EU) in order to cope with the new wave of development and economic growth pattern.

"EUs experience in addressing green growth can be applicable in the Philippines," said Juan Vassallo, Deputy Head for political section of the Delegation of the European Union of the Philippines.

Vassallo was the keynote speaker during the recently concluded EKO Fest held in Cebu meant to heighten awareness of green platform among companies in Cebu and neighboring provinces.

Accelerating the growth of green economy in the Philippines is easier, as it is already embedded in the Philippine development plan.

Moreover, he said the EU is also providing its support through different organizations like the "Switch Asia" to support Philippines transition to green-driven economy.

In fact, Switch Asia alone has allocated P500 billion budget to help and support any initiative, or start off green related programs in the Philippines.

Switch Asia is also one of the supporters of the SMART-CEBU project implemented by the European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (ECCP) , the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), industry organizations, among others.

"The ambition to sustainable economy is reality," he said.

The EU executive emphasized the importance of energy efficiency as the key to starting off a successful sustainable growth in the Philippines.

He said the region's target is to reduce energy consumption at least by 20 percent by the year 2020.

This is why, it is also important for the Philippine government to set up motivating programs that would encourage companies especially the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) which comprises over 90 percent of the country's businesses, to save energy consumption by providing the, incentives.

"Resource efficiency can be a strong engine for growth," Vassallo said.

The EU has also implemented its eco-label and trademark strategy, which is awarded to products and services across the EU bloc.

At present there are at least 17 thousand eco label awarded to different products and services in Europe. while, over a thousand companies have applied "green choice" , and making it easy for consumers to identify products that are eco-label certified.- Ehda M. Dagooc/JOB

Likewise, he also mentioned that EUs concrete target to achieve sustainable growth by 2020 is focused more on employment, education, energy and innovation.

"Today EU is looking at available ways to sustain the SMART-CEBU project, and make it part of the Philippines transition towards green economy," Vassallo concluded. - JOB (FREEMAN)

Source: The Philippine Star; News; 21 June 2013