Philippines pushes for urgent, bolder climate action

MANILA, Philippines — Environment Secretary Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga is pushing for urgent and bolder climate action through financing and technical assistance from richer countries at the 27th Conference of Parties (COP27).

In a historical first, the Philippines contributed inputs on the institutional arrangements to operationalize the Santiago Network for Loss and Damage to provide technical assistance, knowledge and resources to developing countries.

The Philippine delegation, headed by Yulo-Loyzaga, pushed for the adoption of a precise definition of “loss and damage.”

This should include impacts from extreme climate events and slow onset change, to cover economic and non-economic losses, and to establish a mechanism that will fund and deliver technical support to help countries manage loss and damage.

The country threw its full support behind an initiative to formulate a system of predictable financial support, including an insurance scheme to provide financial resources to affected countries.

The Philippines also agreed to operationalize and fund the Santiago Network on Loss and Damage, which aims to provide developing countries with technical assistance.

Stressing that adaptation is an urgent priority for the Philippines, Loyzaga said the country’s delegation called for timely and ambitious delivery of Annex I countries on the means of implementation of finance, technology, and capacity building.

She also reiterated the urgency and indispensability to fast-track negotiations on adaptation, including National Adaptation Plans and Global Goal on Adaptation.

Yulo-Loyzaga also stressed the huge role of finance in a concrete climate action.

At COP27, the Philippines reported that earthquakes and typhoons cause an average $3.5 billion per year, which is over one percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), in direct losses to public and private assets.

In the next 50 years, this is estimated to exceed to $33 billion.

The Philippines insisted that climate finance should be complemented by viable and effective technology transfer and country-specific capacity building, which must be mobilized towards concrete projects, programs and initiatives.

The Philippines also asserted the need for developed parties to be transparent in reporting their approaches and strategies for scaling up climate finance.

Yulo-Loyzaga said the delegation proposed to advance positions in particular work streams of the global discussion that would significantly boost the country’s specific needs and priorities, as well as the need for external support in the form of technology, transfer, capacity-building and financial support.

The work streams were divided into four categories: loss and damage; adaptation; climate finance; and the inclusion of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions avoidance in Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

The country advocated for the inclusion of GHG emission avoidance in Article 6 of the Paris Agreement to operationalize claims of developing countries to the remaining safe carbon budget.

Yulo-Loyzaga said addressing these issues are crucial pillars of climate action and is a matter of upholding basic human rights to secure a safer future for everyone.