First PH Climate Finance Proposal Up for GCF Board Approval

The Climate Change Commission (CCC) today announced that the country’s very first funding proposal to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) will be up for consideration at the 24^th Meeting of the GCF Board, to be held in Songdo, South Korea on November 12 to 14, 2019.

The funding proposal seeks a grant of USD10 million on the establishment of multi-hazard impact-based forecasting and early warning systems and services (MH-IBF-EWS). The project aims to strengthen and ensure the delivery of actionable and timely early warning to communities at risk of impending natural hazards, down to the last mile.

The country’s national meteorological agency PAGASA shall serve as the project’s lead executing entity, together with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Office of Civil Defense (OCD), DENR-Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), World Food Programme (WFP), and the local governments of Tuguegarao City; Legazpi City; Palo, Leyte; and New Bataan, Davao de Oro, which shall also be the project’s target sites. The Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) serves as the accredited entity through which the GCF shall channel the funds if approved by the Board.

Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda, who serves as an alternate member in the GCF Board, is confirmed to attend the meeting. The PAGASA Modernization Act, which she principally authored in 2015 provided, the foundation for the co-financing component from the Philippine government to ensure sustainability of the MH-IBF-EWS project.

“We are making significant progress in our pursuit to access climate finance with our very first country proposal to the GCF. I hope that my fellow GCF Board Members will also see the potential of this project to transform our traditional early warning systems and services towards a more proactive and inclusive climate risk management tool for saving lives and resources,” Legarda said.

“Lessons from Typhoon Haiyan, which, six years ago, battered central Philippines and my very own province of Antique, remind us that actionable information and warnings are key to saving lives and protecting property,” Legarda added.

In June, the CCC, as the National Designated Authority (NDA) to the GCF, issued a no-objection letter for the MH-IBF-EWS project, after a review process which included consultations with the GCF-Technical Working Group (comprised mainly of the Department of Finance, National Economic and Development Authority, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Office of the Executive Secretary, Office of the Cabinet Secretary, Philippine Commission on Women, and civil society organizations, such as the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities).

“One crucial consideration that the GCF looks into when reviewing project proposals is the country ownership aspect. As the NDA, the CCC has put in place a whole-of-nation approach, so we can be sure that agencies and stakeholders are onboard on these projects,” said Commissioner Rachel Herrera, who is also the National Focal Point to the GCF.

“The MH-IBF-EWS project is just the start, and we are hopeful that we can quickly move several other projects in the pipeline for submission to the GCF. We will continue to work with other government agencies and project proponents to bring in climate finance that will build genuine resilience for our people and environment,” Herrera concluded.

###

About the GCF and the Board

The Green Climate Fund is the largest climate finance mechanism in the world, specifically catered to developing countries. It was created by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to support low emission (mitigation) and climate resilience (adaptation) projects and programs. The GCF serves the Paris Agreement in supporting the goal of limiting global warming below two degrees Celsius and pursuing efforts to limit it further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The GCF Board governs the Fund and is composed of 24 members with equal representation from developed and developing countries. The Board receives guidance from the Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC.

As of October 2019, the GCF has approved 111 projects amounting to USD5.2 billion (with co-financing, amounting to USD18.7 billion). An estimated 310 million people will benefit with increased resilience and 1.5 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent will be avoided through these projects.