NEDA to launch action plan for sustainability

MANILA, Philippines — The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) plans to launch an action plan to promote sustainable consumption and production in the country by next month.

“By next month, at least in the coming months, we will be launching the Philippine Action Plan for Sustainable Consumption and Production,” NEDA Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon said during the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) forum for the youth yesterday.

She said the plan has been finished in December 2019, but was placed in the backburner following the Taal Volcano eruption and the pandemic, which hit the country in 2020.

She said the action plan would address Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12 which covers responsible consumption and production.

Part of the action plan would be a way to measure the impact of all sectors’ consumption and production on the environment.

“So you get to compute what was your contribution to the environmental deterioration. We want people to be more responsible,” she said.

She said the action plan also includes a policy agenda to promote responsible consumption and production.

Among the measures aligned with the aim of the action plan is the Extended Producer’s Responsibility (EPR) Act of 2022, which lapsed into law last July.

Under the law, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources is mandated to come up with a national framework on EPR for all types of product waste.

EPR refers to the practice of having producers responsible throughout the life cycle of their product, especially in the post-consumer or end-of-life stage.

The law sets targets for large enterprises for the recovery of their plastic waste.

Apart from producers being responsible for the items they make, Edillon said consumers also have a role to play.

“We, as consumers, should be responsible. We should not choose to use materials that are not sustainable,” she said.

She said the tax on single-use plastics is also being pushed in line with the promotion of responsible consumption and production.

“It’s really everybody’s responsibility, sustainable consumption and production,” she said.

She said the PDP, which will serve as the overall guide for the country’s development planning for 2023 to 2028, will have a chapter on sustainable consumption and production.

For the crafting of the PDP, the NEDA is getting inputs from the youth and other stakeholders through the conduct of fora. The second and last leg would be held for the private sector and planners later this month.

Anchored on the eight-point socioeconomic agenda, which seeks to address both short and medium-term issues, the PDP’s overall goal is to transform the Philippine economy to become more prosperous, inclusive and resilient.

The NEDA was directed by the President to complete the crafting of the PDP within the year.