Coalition of the ambitious

There can be a silver lining in the clouds that brought Super Typhoon Yolanda to the Visayas last year: a bully pulpit for the Philippines to take a leadership role in global efforts to confront climate change.

Or at least that’s what certain quarters are hoping the Philippines – and President Aquino – would do, as 192 countries try to hammer out a legally binding international convention on climate change by the end of 2015.

It’s been a two-decade effort as developing and advanced economies argue over which one should do more and act first to reduce carbon emissions.

Nations that have moved beyond the industrializing phase of development using dirty, high-carbon-emitting fossil fuels can afford to push for cleaner but more expensive alternative fuels. Developing countries, on the other hand, point out that they cannot give up cheap energy sources particularly coal for their industries at this point.

For many years developing countries argued – correctly – that advanced economies also happened to be the world’s largest gas guzzlers, with their preference for SUVs, spacious family vans and mini trucks.

But rich countries argue that they have acknowledged this fact and have done something about it. Today, they point out, developing countries particularly China account for the biggest percentage of global carbon emissions.

In 2011 at the 17th Conference of the Parties in South Africa, 192 states including the Philippines committed to pass the legally binding UN Framework Convention on Climate Change by the end of 2015.

Certain governments are hoping the Philippines and President Aquino, in the aftermath of Yolanda, would rally support for the convention during the 69th session of the UN General Assembly in New York in September.

When it comes to reducing carbon emissions, the Philippines is seen by several governments to be in league with the largest consumers and producers of oil, among them China, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

Several key players in the Philippine energy industry have told me that the country will have to continue relying on fossil fuels at this point in its development.

The players told me oil and coal are still cheaper than natural gas, geothermal energy and wind power are not enough for the country’s needs, while hydropower is unreliable during certain months. They also claimed that new technologies allowed cleaner utilization of coal for power plants.

Much needed power plants now in the pipeline, including those in blackout-plagued Mindanao, will continue using coal.

We could use solar power – if we can streamline the rules in this area. About one year ago a group of Chinese businessmen went to Manila to explore the possibility of selling solar panels here for all types of uses. 

Like most other products, China-made solar panels, increasingly popular in that country, are much cheaper than those made in Europe. The panels can work wonders in cutting energy consumption, like LED lights and inverter air conditioning.

But the Chinese, I was told, threw their hands up in despair and gave up, finding Philippine regulations on solar energy vague and confusing. Maybe the rules were designed to confuse.

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There are, of course, many other aspects in fighting global warming that the Philippines can undertake, if it can’t afford to reduce its dependence on imported fossil fuels.

These include reforestation, protection of coral reefs, and preservation and propagation of mangrove forests.

In 2005 after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, several reports pointed out that the impact of the storm surge could have been greatly reduced if wetlands of Louisiana had not been reclaimed for human habitation.  A system of levees and water pumps could not match the efficiency of the wetlands as natural storm buffers, the reports citing expert opinion noted.

In our country, mangrove forests can be developed around coastal communities such as those in Tacloban and those hugging Manila Bay, which have experienced powerful storm surges in recent years. That mangrove patch that has become a bird sanctuary off Coastal Road from Las Piñas to Cavite should be expanded rather than destroyed.

We don’t even need a lot of new laws to fight global warming. Simply enforcing the Clean Air Act effectively could significantly reduce the country’s carbon footprint.

This week several countries are holding the first “war games” on climate security in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, drawing up global warming scenarios and appropriate responses.

Among the participants is the UK; the Philippines has no representative. Britain’s delegate, Simon Sharpe, stopped by Manila the other day before flying to KL. Sharpe heads the global strategic impacts team on climate change and energy under the “Prosperity Directorate” of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Sharpe remembers an adviser of then UK prime minister Tony Blair saying that climate change must be considered “an existential problem.”

“The proportionate response to that is to give it everything you’ve got,” Sharpe told me. “This is fundamentally a question of prioritization.”

Those involved in drawing up battle plans for climate change fear that the problem is not getting the priority it deserves, making it likely that things would get worse in the next 20 years.

A North-South mindset is not enough, Sharpe said; the problem must be approached from a global perspective.

“It’s not an issue of developed or developing,” says Stephen Lysaght, political officer of the British embassy here. “It’s an issue of whether you’re ambitious or not… we need a coalition of the ambitious.”

Why is a foreign mission’s political officer commenting on climate change? Because for the British, says Lysaght, “climate is a political problem.”

So Britain is hoping P-Noy will speak at the UN gathering in September, drawing on the Philippines’ suffering from Yolanda to urge each country to approve measures for reducing carbon emissions.

“We don’t think the Philippines is in a bad place but it can take a more prominent role,” Lysaght said.

Several other foreign diplomats have expressed similar sentiments. P-Noy should give it favorable consideration; the advocacy is a chance for the country to shine on the world stage. But he must make sure that if he’s going to rally the world against global warming, the Philippines will lead not only in words but also in deed.