‘Revised climate change commitment not enough to avoid negative impact’

MANILA, Philippines — The government’s draft new commitments to the Paris Agreement on climate change would still fall short of the goal to control the rise in global temperature which the international community has pledged, the Power for People Coalition (P4P) said.

“They are not enough to avoid catastrophic impacts of climate change,” the advocacy group said in a statement.

“Despite increasing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction from 30 percent in December 2020 to 75 percent, the draft NDC and the recent consultation provide no assurance that the Philippines is contributing its fair share of mitigation efforts to the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement—a goal we so painstakingly fought for in international negotiations as it translates to a greater chance of survival for climate-vulnerable countries like the Philippines,” the group said.

The Climate Change Commission (CCC) conducted last January another consultation with civil society organizations on the new or updated proposals of the Philippines to the Paris Agreement of 2015.

Under the agreement, UN member states are supposed to submit last December their revised Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

The overarching goal of the Paris Agreement is to limit the rise of global temperature to 1.5-degree Celsius (maximum of 2.0-degree Celsius) from the pre-industrial era in order to prevent global warming.

On Feb. 3, the CCC, headed by the office of the chair-designate Secretary of Finance, presented the latest draft NDC. It included commitments of the energy sector, which is among the biggest contributors to the country’s GHG emissions.

The P4P noted the current NDC target asserts only a negligible 2.71 percent, with hardly any mention of how it plans to secure climate financing.

They scored the government’s coal energy sourcing for being inconsistent with the Paris Agreement and self-defeating to the solution for decreasing emissions.

“Not only does the Department of Energy commit to share possibly the least contribution in the NDC goal, it also explicitly stated that it would add more coal to the Philippines’ already installed 9.8 gigawatts,” the P4P said.

According to the P4P, by including the entry of “highly efficient coal technologies” in its measures, the DOE makes way for at least 5.4 GW of additional coal capacity.

The P4P said the DOE should declare a mandatory retirement for currently operating coal power plants, some of which have reached the end of their lifespan and are now providing consumers with nothing but faulty supply, costly electricity and extreme pollution.

“An NDC that values the collective survival of the Filipino people from the climate crisis must boldly commit to the 1.5°C goal, and would find no space for coal—the dirtiest of all fossil fuels,” the P4P said.