Introduction

Global temperature rise, warming oceans, shrinking ice sheets, glacial retreat,
decreased snow cover, sea level rise, declining arctic sea ice, extreme events and
ocean acidification. According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA), these are the list of compelling evidences of the global issue - climate change
- the human race is facing today. (https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/) According to the
Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC), the scientific evidence for
warming of the climate system is unequivocal. With all these manifestations, the
attribution of this global issue towards anthropogenic sources is already not a question
but a fact. Human activities are the active agents that are pumping significant amount
of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere year after year accelerating the effects of
climate change.
In the Philippines, the reality of climate change has never been clearer.
According to Climate Reality Project, the Philippines is in an alarming state
because five of the ten deadliest typhoons ever recorded have occurred starting 2006,
affecting and displacing thousands of Filipino citizens. Seven of these ten deadly
storms each resulted in more than one thousand casualties. But the deadliest storm
on record is Typhoon Haiyan, locally known as Typhoon Yolanda, which was
responsible for more than 6,300 lost lives, over four million displaced citizens, and two
billion dollars in damages in 2013. With these deadly typhoons wreaking havoc to the
archipelago, the country is already strengthening its posture against these natural
disturbances, as well as, participating in the global efforts in order to mitigate this
global concern. (https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/how-climate-change-
affecting-philippines)
On the other hand, as one of the main key cities in the country, Davao City has
become one of the significant contributors of the national greenhouse gas emissions.
The main indicators for this contribution are on its population growth, infrastructure
developments, electrical energy consumption, fuel combustion activities, and
generation of waste among others.
In the light of the foregoing discussion, as human beings are the active agents
for climate change, we also hold the key towards the solutions to this dilemma. This
study is conducted in order to quantify the greenhouse gas emissions of Davao City
and, consequently, analyze this contribution, identify and recommend opportunities for
improvement in order to lessen these emissions.
 METHODOLOGY
Davao City is a highly urbanized and the largest city in the Philippines. The city
serves as the main trade, commerce, and industry hub of Mindanao. The rapid growth
of city is associated with the increase in the production, processing and consumption
of goods. Consequently, led to the increase in the volume of materials generated by
the commercial, domestic, and industrial sectors that turns into waste. Aside from the
environmental and health risks, it also releases greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
that could interfere with our climate systems. The Greenhouse gas GHG inventory is
organized for Davao City in three sectors: Energy, Industry and Waste.
In the 2006 IPCC Guidelines, there are three Tiers presented for estimating
emissions from fossil fuel combustion. For each source category and greenhouse gas,
the inventory compiler has a choice of applying different methods, as described in the
Tiers for the source category and gas. The inventory compiler could use different tiers
for different source categories, depending on the importance of the source category
within the national total and the availability of resources in terms of time, work force,
sophisticated models, and budget.
For selecting Tiers, the researcher’s used the general decision tree. It allows
available emission measurements to be used (Tier 3) in combination with a Tier 2 or
Tier 1 estimate within the same activity. For CO2 in general, a Tier 1 method based
on fuel carbon and fuel amount used will often suffice. This means that the generalized
decision tree might result in different approaches for different gases for the same
source category. However, for road transport, using a Tier 2 or Tier 3 technology-
specific method for estimating N2O and CH4 emissions will usually bring large
benefits.

Figure 1: Generalized decision tree for estimating emission from fuel

combustion.
 DATA COLLECTION
Energy Sector
The country’s total installed capacity remained dominated by coal at 35% or 7,568 MW, followed by
renewable energy at 32% or 7,038 MW, oil-based at 17% or 3,584 MW, and natural gas at 16% or
3,431 MW.

In terms of power generation, coal remained the major source of electricity for Luzon, Visayas, and
Mindanao with a combined share at 49% or 21,707 MWh.

Newly operational plants from January-June 2017 are mainly coal and solar power plants which added
150 MW and 78 MW to the total installed capacity.

Capacities which will be coming in the pipeline are largely coal power projects with 4,465 MW
committed and 9,903 MW indicative capacities
 Electricity sales and consumption in Mindanao from January to June 2017
reached a total of 4,921,497 MWh. This is 1.54 % higher than the same period in 2016
at 4,846,988 MWh.
This is driven by the consumption of the residential and industrial sectors with at par
shares at 35% and 34%, respectively. Mindanao’s share to the country’s total
electricity sales and consumption is at 13%.
Electricity in Davao City is produced from various sources such as coal, oil,
biomass, hydroelectric, solar, wind, and geothermal sources. Davao Light is the third
largest privately-owned electric distribution utility in the country in terms of customers
and annual kilowatt-hour (kWh) sales.
Davao Light services a population of approximately 1,777,926 and a total area of 3,561
square kilometers. It has 367,782 customers as of December 2016, with 27 distribution
substations and 2 sub-transmission substations strategically located throughout its
franchise. On hot standby is its 63.4 MW Bunker C-fired standby plant with a rated
capacity of 58.7 MW, but can provide an average of 40 MW on a sustaining basis. The
standby plant can supply 8% of Davao Light's electricity requirement.
As of December 2016, Davao Light hit a cumulative 2,173,373 MWh in energy sales
posting a 10-year compounded annual growth rate of 5%. Meanwhile, peak demand
was recorded at 379.98 MW higher than last year's 344 MW.
Industry Sector

Waste Sector
Upon utilization of the IPCC software, the climate zones were found to be
classified into four namely “Boreal and Temperate Dry”, “Boreal and Temperate Wet”,
“Tropical wet” and “Tropical Dry”. Furthermore, the researchers found out that
whenever the climate zone is changed, the methane generation rate constant (MGRC)
also changes. As such, in order to create a better representation of the emissions
generated from waste, the climate zone must be judiciously selected.
In the formulation of the GHG inventory related to waste, the following are
considered by the researchers. According to Philippine, Atmospheric, Geophysical,
and Astronomical Services Administration (PAG-ASA), the Philippines has four
recognized climate types which are described as follows:

Figure 1. Climate Map of the Philippines

As shown, Davao City belongs to Type IV climate characterized by rainfall which is
more or less evenly distributed throughout the year. In addition, the average annual
rainy days for Davao City is 169 days or 46% of the total number of days in a year as
shown in the figure below.
 Figure 2. Number of Rainy Days per Month of 2016
The researchers found the climate of Davao City to be tropical wet which is
highlighted in red as shown in the following figure.

Source: https://sites.google.com/site/climatetypes/tropical-wet

Figure 3. Tropical Wet Climate Zones of the World

As such, the researchers used the MGRCs associated with the tropical wet
climate zone. In addition, default values for Degradable Organic Carbon (DOC), delay
time, fraction of methane in developed gas, and conversion factor of carbon to
methane are used.
Davao City’s sanitary landfill was established 4th Quarter of 2009. This year is
used as the starting year in consideration for this study.
According to the Senate Economic and Planning Office, solid waste
management remains a major challenge in the Philippines especially in urban areas.
Improper wastes disposal, inefficient wastes collection and lack of disposal facilities
are among the dominant concerns in the country’s solid waste management. Unless
these are addressed, the wastes generated from various sources will continually lead
to health hazards and serious environmental impacts such as ground and surface
water contamination, flooding, air pollution and spread of diseases.

Figure 1. Philippines’ Solid Waste Composition as of 2015

The country’s solid wastes typically contain more organic components than other
materials. According to NSWMC, disposed waste is dominated by biodegradable
waste with 52 percent, followed by recyclable waste which accounts for 28 percent
and residuals at 18 percent. Biodegradable wastes come mostly from food waste and
yard waste while recyclable wastes include plastic packaging wastes, metals, glass,
textile, leather and rubber. The significant shares of biodegradables and recyclables
indicate that composting and recycling have great potential in reducing solid wastes.
According to Solano (2011) in his study entitled, “Ecological Footprint of Waste
Generation in Digos City, Davao del Sur”, the total waste generated by Digos City
includes food, plastic, glass, paper and metal. About 60% of the solid wastes are
organic in nature consisting of 42% garden waste/food waste and 18% vegetable/fruit
peeling. About 19% are plastic-based wastes; consisting of 9% plastic/styro which
includes candy wrappers, plastic bottles, soft and hard plastics, and 10% cellophane.
About 6% are glass, paper/cardboard, and metal.
On the other hand, according to Sustainable Davao Movement (SDM), base
from City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) data, the composition
of waste generated by Davao is 60% organic, 20-30% recyclables and 10-20%
residuals.
In order to create a surrogate data for Davao City’s waste composition, the
national solid waste composition and the Digos City waste composition were made as
basis. Since Digos City is a neighboring city of Davao, the researchers assumed that
the culture of waste disposal of the residents, as well as, the waste composition by
percentage is the same. Base from the above data, Digos City and Davao City have
the same organic waste composition which is 60% organic. The following figure
depicts the waste composition of Davao City according to percentage.
 WASTE COMPOSITION OF DAVAO CITY
Others
Metal
3%
6%
Paper
6%

Glass
6% Food / Garden
Waste
42%
Cellophane
10%

Plastic/Styro
9%
Vegetable
Waste
18%

Figure 2. Waste Composition of Davao City by Percentage

Due to limited sources of data, surrogate data were generated from actual
available data collected from government agencies like Philippines Statistics Authority
(PSA) and City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO).
 1800000

1600000

1400000

1200000

1000000

800000

600000

400000

200000

0
2000 2010 2015

Figure 2. Population of Davao City 2000-2015 (PSA)

Based on the Philippine Statistics Authority, the annual population growth rate
for Davao City for the period 2010-2015 is 2.30% as seen in Figure 2. Using the 2015
Davao City PSA population of 1,633,000 as benchmark, a surrogate data for 2016,
was generated using the formula:
2016 𝑃𝑜𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 2015 𝑃𝑜𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑋 (1 + 2.3%) 𝐸𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 1.0
As such, the 2016 population is found to be 1,670,559. Based on the City
Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) report for 2016, the municipal
solid waste (MSW) generated by the city for the year amounts to 217,836.73 tons. As
such, the per capita MSW generation rate is given by Equation 2.0,
𝑀𝑆𝑊 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑎 = 𝑀𝑆𝑊2016 ÷ 𝑃𝑜𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝐸𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 2.0
which results to 0.130398 tons per capita per year or 2.5 kilograms per capita per
week. In the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventory in Waste
Generation, Composition and Management Data Annex 2A.1, the default values for
the fraction of MSW disposed to Solid Waste Disposal Sites (SWDS) for the
Philippines is 0.62, fraction of MSW incinerated is 0, fraction of MSW composted is
0.10 while the fraction of other unspecified MSW management is 0.28. The following
table is the summary of MSW generation and treatment of data.

MSW Generation and Treatment of Data

Fraction of Fraction of
MSW Generation Fraction of Fraction of
MSW other MSW
Rate MSW MSW
Disposed to management,
(tonnes/cap/yr) Incinerated composted
SWDS unspecified
0.130398 0.62 0 0.10 0.28
 Table 2. Davao City MSW Generation and Treatment of Data
The preceding table signifies that although there is a presence of a sanitary
landfill in Davao City, only 62% of the MSW generated by the city goes to the landfill
as its final destination. 10% of this waste is composted while the remaining 28%
undergoes other unspecified MSW management practices such as recycling. This is
being considered by the researchers because of the presence of scavengers who are
granted free access to the landfill during the day to hunt for materials which they can
sell at junk shops. Also, according to CENRO data, 2,110 sacks of biodegradable
refuse from Bankerohan Public Market are being converted to compost which are
utilized for the greening programs of the city.

1850000

1800000

1750000

1700000

1650000

1600000

1550000
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Figure 3. Projected Population in Davao City

Figure 3 is the projected population for Davao City using the data gathered
previously. It is assumed that the annual population growth rate will be the same with
that from 2010 – 2015 which is 2.30%. Growth in the population will cause the growth
in waste volume and methane emissions. Since we assumed a constant population
growth, we can say that the emission graph is linear dependent to population.
According to an Asian Development Bank consultant report (2014) pertaining to the
Philippines’s Solid Waste Management Sector Project, the Davao City Sanitary
Landfill is classified as Category 4. According to Department of Environment and
Natural Resources Administrative Order (DENR-DAO) 2006-10, category 4 disposal
facility is a final disposal facility app

Based on the Philippine Statistics Authority, the annual population growth rate for Davao
City for the period 2010-2015 is 2.30% as seen in Figure 2. Using the 2015 Davao City PSA population
of 1,633,000 as benchmark, a surrogate data for 2016, was generated using the formula:

2016 𝑃𝑜𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 2015 𝑃𝑜𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑋 (1 + 2.3%) 𝐸𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 1.0

Table 2 shows the surrogate population data for the base period 2016 as well the projected
population until 2020.
Based on the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) report for 2016, the municipal
solid waste (MSW) generated by the city for the year amounts to 217,836.73 tons. As such, the per
Capita MSW generation rate is given by Equation 2.0,

𝑀𝑆𝑊 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑎 = 𝑀𝑆𝑊2016 ÷ 𝑃𝑜𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝐸𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 2.0

which results to 0.130398 tons or per capita per year or 2.5 kilograms per capita per week. In the
2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventory in Waste Generation, Composition and
Management Data Annex 2A.1, the fraction of MSW disposed to Solid Waste Disposal Sites (SWDS)
for the Philippines is 0.62. Using these data as inputs to the Global Air Pollution Forum workbook,
the researchers were able to calculate a total Methane (CH4 ) emission of 2.43 kilotons. According to
the United States Environmental Protection Agency, landfill gas (LFG) is a natural byproduct of the
decomposition of organic material in landfills. LFG is composed of roughly 50 percent methane (the
primary component of natural gas), 50 percent carbon dioxide (CO2) and a small amount of non-
methane organic compounds.
 Figure 3 is the projected population for Davao City using the data gathered previously. It is
assumed that the annual population growth rate will be the same with that from 2010 – 2015 which
is 2.30%. Growth in the population will cause the growth in waste volume and methane emissions.
Since we assumed a constant population growth, we can say that the emission graph in Figure 4 is
linear dependent to population.

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