President Duterte explicitly stated in his first State of the Nation Address (Sona) that countering global warming will be a top priority of the Philippines. For sure, he cautioned that the global solution proposed be based “upon a fair and acceptable equation.” In his recent meeting with US State Secretary John F. Kerry, he said the Philippines would abide by the Paris accord. And he asked the Senate, as the treaty-ratifying body and the President’s partner in foreign relations, to give him advice regarding the Paris accord.
The President’s views jive with the concept of “climate justice,” calling for the world’s top carbon emitters to take the lead not just in reducing emissions, but also in lending finance and technology support to developing countries transitioning to a zero-carbon mode of economic development.
President Duterte is quite firm in believing that the country should work to mitigate global warming, but he is also convinced that the country’s development should not be stifled as a consequence. I would argue that by pursuing a carbon-neutral economy more single-mindedly, the Philippines would get developed smartly and do so sustainably.
By signing the Paris accord with nearly 200 other countries last December, the Philippines affirmed that the country’s “intended nationally determined contribution” (INDC) is to reduce expected carbon emissions by 70 percent by 2030, under a “business-as-usual” (BAU) scenario.
This is, yes, an ambitious target and a huge commitment—but one that is contingent on “the extent of financial resources, including technology development and transfer, and capacity building that will be made available to the Philippines.”
In other words, our treaty obligation to reduce emissions is conditioned on how much financial and technical assistance we receive from our partner-countries. Hence, abiding by the Paris accord is to safeguard a strategic opportunity for us to leverage the resources of our more prosperous friends to decarbonize our economy, without jeopardizing our efforts to grow and industrialize it.
Honoring the Paris accord is equally about keeping people safe and healthy. The Philippines is not even a net carbon emitter, but it is among the most vulnerable and most affected countries because of climate change. Last November a United Nations report determined that the Philippines was the fourth-most disaster-prone country in the world.
Data from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) showed that the average sea level rise in the Philippines since 1901 was 60 centimeters, three times faster than the global average of 19 centimeters. If such rate continues, some 171 coastal towns and municipalities are projected to go underwater, displacing up to 13.6 million Filipinos, according to a University of the Philippines study.
Doing an about-face on the Paris accord—that is, to allow governments around the world, including ours, to continue burning carbon in the name of economic development—is a step toward an increasingly unsafe and vulnerable future for the Philippines, where achieving prosperity would be next to impossible. This only makes it imperative that we honor the historic agreement.
E-mail: angara.ed@gmail.com.