Manila  - Environmental activists blocked on Friday a large coal shipment to a power plant in the eastern Philippines in a protest action to push for the use of clean energy.

The Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior anchored near the port of Pagbilao town in Quezon province, 105 kilometres south-east of Manila, preventing a cargo ship from unloading coal for a power plant in the municipality.

"Being one of the countries most vulnerable to climate impacts, the Philippines should address climate change by immediately stopping the expansion and construction of new power plants," said Beau Baconguis, Greenpeace campaign manager for South-East Asia.

"We should invest in improving the power grid rather than expanding a coal plant that reduces our chances of preventing dangerous climate change," she added.

Baconguis said Greenpeace representatives were set to meet with officials of the Pagbilao power plant later in the day to push for their demand for the facility's non-expansion.

"We want to get assurance from officials of this plant that it will not be expanded," she said.

The Rainbow Warrior arrived in the Philippines earlier in the week as part of the Greenpeace "Quit Coal tour" in South-East Asia and the Pacific.

The tour aims to promote solutions to stop climate change - an energy revolution away from the use of climate-changing coal and a massive shift to renewable energy.

Greenpeace stressed that coal is the single biggest source of carbon dioxide emissions and a major cause of climate change. (dpa)