Climate financing for Philippines hits $878 million in 2020

MANILA, Philippines — Climate financing in the Philippines committed by multilateral development banks (MDBs) reached $878 million in 2020, in line with global efforts to reduce carbon emissions and achieve targets under the Paris Agreement.

Based on the 2020 Joint Report on MDBs’ Climate Finance, total climate finance for the country amounted to $878 million last year, 48 percent lower than the $1.69 billion committed in 2019.

This as most financing was instead focused on COVID-19 response. Last year’s climate financing, however, was still significantly higher than the average of $492 million annually from 2015 to 2018.

The Philippines also secured the third largest financing in East Asia and the Pacific region after China’s $2.36 billion and Indonesia’s $1.7 billion.

This financing mostly came from the Asian Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the World Bank.

MDB climate financing refers to the financial resources committed by MDBs to development operations and components which enable activities that mitigate climate change and support adaptation to climate change.

“The 2020 financing helped play a key role in supporting countries to embed green and climate-focused solutions as part of their recoveries from the impact of COVID-19,” the report said.

Globally, MDBs committed a total of $66 billion in climate financing, of which $38 billion went to low-and middle-income economies.

Of this, nearly $50 billion was associated with climate change mitigation investments that aim to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions and slow down global warming.

The remaining $16 billion was allocated for climate change adaptation finance to help countries build resilience to the mounting impacts of climate change, including worsening droughts and more extreme weather events, from flooding to rising sea levels.

By region, the European Union got the bulk at $26.37 billion. By country, France received the largest at $4.9 billion, followed by India at $3.5 billion and Italy at $3.4 billion.

Spain and Germany completed the top five with $3.3 billion and $3.2 billion, respectively.

According to the report, accelerating the transition to low-carbon and climate-resilient economies through climate finance is a key element of the MDBs’ effort.

This is also to align their activities with the objectives of the 2015 Paris Agreement to keep global warming well below two degrees Celsius.

Since the Paris Agreement, MDBs have jointly committed a total of $257 billion in climate finance globally, of which $186 billion was directed at low and middle-income economies like the Philippines.

“The MDBs will continue to improve their tracking and reporting of climate finance in the context of their commitments to ensure consistent financial flows to the countries’ long-term, low-carbon and climate-resilient development pathways, as established in the Paris Agreement,” the report said.