Landbank continues extending climate financing

MANILA, Philippines — State-run Land Bank of the Philippines will continue to pour in resources for climate financing in a bid to ramp up adaptation and mitigation of the country amid the worsening impacts of climate change.

Landbank assured the public that the Philippines can continue to access climate financing under the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

The GCF is an operating entity of the financial mechanism of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Paris Agreement.

Landbank president and CEO Cecilia Borromeo said the bank continues to collaborate with various development partners, such as the GCF, toward building a more sustainable future.

“We are ready to extend necessary credit assistance to boost national and local resilience and adaptive capacity to climate change,” Borromeo said.

The GCF aims to help developing countries such as the Philippines to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change.

This is done by supporting programs and projects that promote a paradigm shift to low-emission and climate-resilient development.

As a direct access entity of the GCF, Landbank channels grants and loans provided by the GCF to finance local projects.

It also leads the project development, management, monitoring, and evaluation in partnership with public and private entities.

Landbank is proposing the approval of eight projects designed to promote climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience in the sectors of agriculture, health, transportation, renewable energy and energy efficiency, water resource management and ecosystem management.

In April, the government through the Landbank and state weather bureau PAGASA started the implementation of the very first GCF-approved project in the country.

The project aims to shift from a traditional hazard-based to an impact-based forecasting and early warning system to help the public take pre-emptive measures and improve disaster risk reduction in the long run.

The project will benefit communities in the disaster-prone areas of Leyte, Davao de Oro, Cagayan and Albay.