10 Philippine cities qualify for WWF challenge

MANILA, Philippines -  Ten cities from Metro Manila, Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao have qualified to join the 2017-2018 edition of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)’s “One Planet City Challenge” (OPCC), which aims to promote a sustainable future.

Formerly known as the Earth Hour City Challenge, the OPCC is a biennial global challenge that recognizes cities for developing infrastructure, housing, transport and mobility solutions to power the global transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient future.

Any city in the world can join as long as it meets at least three of the following criteria: high level of ambition and ability to deliver on commitments and transformational change, ability to integrate actions into coherent and overarching climate action plans, determination to align with a transparent and science-based greenhouse gas emission reduction trajectory, and innovative approaches to addressing urban mobility.

WWF-Philippines president and chief executive officer Joel Palma said the past four runs of the City Challenge engaged over 320 cities across five continents.

“When the Philippines took part for the first time in the Challenge’s 2015-2016 edition, seven of its cities were among the 124 participants from around the world. The city of Santa Rosa went on to become one of the National Capitals while the city of Paris, France was declared the Global Capital,” Palma noted.

For this round of the 2017-2018 OPCC, four of the 2015-2016 Philippine participating cities – Makati City, Parañaque City, Naga City and San Carlos City – continue their commitment to the global challenge as among the country’s 10 qualifying cities.

Completing the list are Pasig City, Batangas City, Catbalogan City, Zamboanga City, Davao City and Tagum City.

Palma stressed the importance of cities in the transition to a low-carbon and sustainable future when the call for participation was made in April. He expressed his delight at the increase in the number of qualifying Philippine cities this year.

“This turnout just proves that a lot of cities in our country are becoming more committed to global climate efforts. Hopefully, this paves the way for more cities to enable their people and communities to thrive and prosper while respecting the ecological limits of our one and only planet,” he said.

The Philippine qualifiers will now be part of the official list of global entries that will be evaluated by an international jury of experts on areas ranging from urban planning and transport to consumer behavior and energy systems.

National winners will be determined and one of those will be hailed as the global winner.

All winning cities will be featured in a global digital campaign designed to strengthen public support for city-led climate action.

Finalists of the OPCC, which was designed by WWF to mobilize action and support from cities in global climate efforts, including the goals now set forth by the Paris Agreement, will be announced in the second quarter of 2018.