Philippines no longer attending climate change talks — DFA

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines will no longer send official representatives to climate change conferences requiring air travel, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. announced yesterday.

“Following (President) Duterte’s answer to UN’s plea for yet another stronger stand against climate change – which he branded as more hot air – I am rejecting all official participation in climate change conferences requiring air travel. We’ll just vote Yes to radical proposals. No more talk,” Locsin said on Twitter.

In his speech at the Nikkei International Conference on the Future of Asia in Tokyo on Friday, President Duterte slammed the UN climate conferences, claiming they have accomplished nothing to improve the situation. He said UN climate conferences are a “waste of time and money.”

Climate change has increased air and sea surface temperatures. More than 90 percent of the energy trapped by greenhouse gases settles in the ocean. Ocean heat has reached record levels, causing vast swath of glaciers to melt.

In 2017, the Philippine Senate ratified the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, joining 133 other parties to the global pact. Parties to the agreement represent more than 80 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

The Paris Climate Conference had its beginnings in the Philippines with the Manila Call to Action on Climate Change launched during French President François Hollande’s state visit in February 2015.