Philippine cities urged to join One Planet City challenge

MANILA, Philippines — After the previous impressive finish of Philippine cities, nature conservation advocate World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) yesterday urged all Philippine cities to participate in the One Planet City Challenge (OPCC).

The OPCC is a friendly competition that encourages cities to develop climate action plans and targets that align with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C maximum global warming goal. In its 10-year run, the OPCC marked the participation of nearly 600 cities in over 50 countries.

During the OPCC’s 2019–2020 leg, 13 Philippine cities competed with 250 cities globally, with the cities of Muntinlupa, Santa Rosa and Batangas advancing to the final round under the We Love Cities (WLC) campaign.

Batangas City was selected as the OPCC 2020 national winner, as well as global winner for the WLC campaign, being declared as the “World’s Most Lovable City.”

“These challenging times have proved to us that planetary health and human health are directly connected,” WWF-Philippines executive director Trin Custodio.

Interested cities may submit their Expression of Interest until April 30. A required checklist must be filled out together with a cover letter signed by the city mayor.

To receive the checklist, applicants should email opcc@wwf.org.ph. Information provided in this checklist will be used for the initial screening before the announcement of qualified Philippine cities.