Legarda: Climate Finance Crucial To Achieve Paris Agreement Goals

Senator Loren Legarda today underscored the need to address concerns on climate finance in order to ensure that the goals of the Paris Agreement are met.

Legarda made the statement as she participated in the “In Session Workshop on Long-Term Climate Finance” organized by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as part of the 48th Session of the Subsidiary Bodies of the UNFCCC in Bonn, Germany where the Senator is Head of the Philippine Delegation.

“The session allowed Partiesto discuss climate financing issues in our respective countries and explored ways to close the gap between our goals and the means to achieve these under the Paris Agreement,” she said.

“Among the major challenges pointed out include the lack of information on available finance, complex application rules, delivery of financial commitments by the developed nations, time consuming accreditation, and lack of community engagement, among others,” she added.

Legarda echoed the call of UNFCCC Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa, who said that, “We need to dramatically raise our ambition in all aspects of our work and we must work together to achieve it…Addressing climate change with the level of financing that we have now is like going to face a hurricane with an umbrella. We need to transform that.”

Espinosa said urgency, ambition and opportunity must be at the core of our action.

Legarda stressed that the Philippines, in spite its insignificant contribution to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at 0.3%, remains fully committed to achieving a 1.5 degrees Celsius-compatible Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).

In a press conference organized by the World Resources Institute (WRI) prior to the Long-Term Climate Finance Workshop, Legarda said, “We continue pursuing this development path consistent with 1.5 degrees Celsius not only because we know it is the best way to protect our people and climate, but also because we know it will spur economic growth.”

“We need bold climate action, transformation in all sectors, multi-sectoral involvement, community level local climate action, and industrialized nations leading the low carbon pathway. All of these are necessary so that the 1.5-degree target is met and to bring about sustainable development,” the Senator stressed.

Legarda, who chairs the Senate Committees on Foreign Relations, Finance, and Climate Change, said that while the Philippines’ commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 70% is conditional, it has been pursuing initiatives to mitigate because it sees mitigation as a function of adaptation.

Aside from crafting laws such as the Climate Change Act and the People’s Survival Fund Law, which is the country’s first adaptation finance mechanism dedicated to supporting local climate adaptation efforts, Legarda ensures that the annual national budget of the Philippine Government is a climate-sensitive budget to proactively address the impacts of climate change and extreme weather events. Aside from funding, there are provisions in the national budget that mandates government agencies to integrate disaster and climate resilience in their programs.

“It is not an option whether or not countries should reduce their carbon emissions. All countries must do so. That is why we are advocating for a more ambitious climate goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius because any level beyond this would be extremely difficult for us to survive and thrive,” Legarda concluded.