EDITORIAL- Call to action on climate change

The French Revolution and its ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity inspired the Philippine revolution against colonial rule over a century ago. Now, for the first time ever, a leader of France is visiting the Philippines.

French President Francois Hollande arrived in Manila yesterday, in a visit whose principal agenda is to spread a global call to action against climate change. Today Hollande will visit some of the areas devastated by Super Typhoon Yolanda in the Visayas in late 2013. Experts estimate that rehabilitation of the disaster zones will take several years.

The powerful storm surges and freak floods that have killed thousands and devastated communities across the country in recent years have made climate change a central issue. There is general agreement that the world must bring down greenhouse gas emissions and shift to cleaner fuels, but achieving these objectives is proving to be complicated.

Paris is hosting an international gathering later this year to build a global consensus in confronting climate change. Similar meetings in the past have been contentious, with developing countries and advanced economies accusing each other of not doing enough for the environment. Rich countries are among the top consumers of petroleum products. Developing nations, for their part, need dirty but cheap fossil fuels to power economic growth and lift people from poverty, as the advanced economies did on their way to prosperity.

Controversies hound even efforts to promote biofuels. While these are cleaner than fossil fuels, concentrating on the production of certain crops for fuel is also raising food costs and, as scientists have learned, throwing ecosystems out of whack. The consequent destruction of natural habitats is driving certain species into extinction.

Certain measures to protect the environment can also have unintended consequences. As the Philippine experience is showing, for example, the ban on plastic bags without practical provisions for alternative containers has been bad for trees, as commercial establishments use double-layer paper bags in lieu of plastic.

From hybrid vehicles to solar panels, environment-friendly technology is still expensive. Bringing down the cost of being green is one of several factors that can be tackled at the forthcoming climate change gathering in Paris. Being green may be expensive, but the cost of not protecting the planet will be steeper in the long term.