The Philippines now finds itself in a position to once more shape the global direction of addressing loss and damage (L&D). 

More than a decade after the landfall of super-typhoon Haiyan changed how the world responded to the climate crisis, the country will host the board of the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage (FLD) for the next few years. This gives it a leadership role in determining how the Fund will run and function to provide much-needed support to those most affected by typhoons, sea level rise, and other impacts.     

This also puts pressure on the national government to not just set the tone for the administration of the Fund, but to prove it can match its global calls for climate justice with policies and solutions at the national level.  

Climate accountability 

The “Climate Accountability (CLIMA) Bill”, currently filed in the Philippines Congress, aims to accomplish two goals. The first is to hold big businesses accountable for their pollutive actions through stronger integration of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights into legal and policy frameworks.  

The legislation also seeks to further empower citizens to seek redress against these businesses for harmful practices that cause violations of their human rights, aligned with the “polluter pays” principle.  

The second objective is the establishment of a national fund for those seeking support after being hit by extreme climate change impacts. It can be seen as a domestic counterpart to the FLD, which makes how it is structured and operationalized just as important to the country’s strategies at the international scale. 

In Hurricane Beryl’s shadow, loss and damage fund makes progress on set-up

If enacted, the proposed legislation would be the first of its kind in the world, serving as a testing ground for some of the critical issues associated with responding to L&D that the rest of the world can follow. One such issue is determining which cases and claims would qualify as “loss and damage” – which is currently a subject of debate at the global level. 

Another issue is putting into practice attribution science, which looks at how climate change and the emissions that worsen it trigger and intensify specific extreme weather events. While still an evolving discipline, this will play an important role in determining just how liable polluters are for causing disastrous storms like Haiyan. 

Adapting current policies 

At the moment, there is no primary climate-related L&D policy in the Philippines. While mechanisms do exist for accounting for losses and damages, these largely cover the impacts and costs of extreme weather events, especially from typhoons and flooding. 
These mechanisms are also more oriented for assessing disasters that are not always climate-related and may not be suitable for assessing the impacts of slow onset events like sea level rise. Furthermore, they are not able to fully capture non-economic costs, such as loss of ecosystem services, impacts on mental health, and loss of cultural heritage. 

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Along with the CLIMA Bill, the time for a national L&D policy to respond to the climate crisis has never been better than in the next few months. The Philippine government has been actively updating its climate strategies, such as the National Adaptation Plan and an implementation plan for its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement.  

Any new law or policy responding to L&D must be in sync with strategies for adaptation and reducing emissions, along with the country’s positions at the Fund’s board and in other global decision-making processes. It must also effectively translate the global urgency of addressing L&D into potential interventions at the national level. 

Widening the responsibility net 

The L&D narrative has been largely anchored on developed countries and fossil fuel corporations needing to be held accountable for causing the climate crisis. Moving forward, this must continue to be upheld in global decision-making processes as the most vulnerable continue to seek and obtain justice. 

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Nonetheless, as L&D can be interpreted as climate risks and impacts that are beyond existing capacities for adaptation and mitigation, it means that accountability could also be applied to national and local governments, financiers of fossil fuel-related operations, entities spreading climate disinformation, and others that are enhancing these climate risks, impacts, and vulnerabilities. 

Through its statements at the global level and its new policies at the national level, the Philippines could pave the way for a new era in L&D governance. The process will not be easy. Big businesses, local or global, could insinuate that a new climate policy would hurt the economy. Finding enough funding or setting the criteria for who receives support will be difficult.  

Whatever it does, the world will be watching.

The post How can governments tackle loss and damage at the national level? appeared first on Climate Home News.

The category 5 cyclone, which made landfall in mid December, killed more than 400 people and caused at least half a billion dollars in economic losses and damages. It was the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines in 2021.

Oxfam reports that people are begging for scraps of food in the regions ravaged by Rai, known locally as Odette. Almost seven million people have lost their homes or main source of income. The typhoon caused widespread flooding which affected more than 420,000 hectares of land and damaged or destroyed 925,000 houses.

“We live here because our only livelihood comes from the sea. We pulled out all the boats for safety, but the waves still reached them and reached the roads. Typhoon Rai was bigger and stronger than the two previous ones,” Petronilo Bohol, a fisher from Malitbog village in Southern Leyte, told Oxfam. 

The country’s agriculture ministry estimates the damage to farming and fishing at $230 million, while the disaster risk reduction authority puts the toll on infrastructure – homes, roads, electricity and water lines – at $350m.

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Jermaine Baltazar Bayas, Oxfam’s humanitarian lead in Asia, told Climate Home News the aid agency had seen a “drastic increase” in the severity of typhoons in the past decade. “We are seeing a real manifestation of climate change.”

Bayas said recovery efforts in many regions could take up to six months and humanitarian aid would not be sufficient to help communities rebuild their lives and livelihoods. 

“Humanitarian aid covers the immediate need, what people need to survive, but [we also need support] for the mid and long-term recovery,” he said. “This has to be embedded in regions’ development programmes and there has to be [focus] on protecting assets and helping people restart their livelihoods.”

Emergency food distribution in Surigao del Norte (Photo: Care International Philippines)

Kerry Emmanuel, a climate scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told Climate Home News that the total loss and damages caused by tropical storms is expected to increase in upcoming decades.

This is partly due to demographics: the number of people living in coastal regions and floodplains has increased rapidly since the 1970s. Another reason is that the intensity of tropical storms is increasing globally, with more storms reaching the highest categories (3, 4 and 5) in recent decades, according to 2020 study. The increased intensity linked with heavier rainfall, which can lead to severe flooding, according to Kerry.

It is more difficult to attribute tropical storms directly to climate change than in the case of heatwaves and flooding because of a lack of historical data and inaccurate forecasts of their intensity, said Kerry. “We are doing a great job at detecting hurricanes from space, but a poor job at measuring their intensity.”

A race for lithium sparks fears of water shortages in northern Argentina

Sven Harmeling, policy lead on climate change and resilience at Care International, said that loss and damage finance should not be contingent on climate attribution. “If you first need to fully establish the level of climate change, it would be very impractical and [result in] help being delivered far too late,” he told Climate Home News. 

Instead clear mechanisms should be established, which enable quick payouts when a disaster hits, he said. This could take the form of an insurance pool, supported by international finance, that offers immediate payouts in the case of certain impacts, he said.

Anticipatory finance, provided before a hazard strikes, also helps minimise losses and damages, said Bayas. Oxfam partnered with local governments in Rai’s path to provide immediate cash grants, through a parametric insurance system, and technical assistance to strengthen people’s houses ahead of the storm hitting. “That was a really good investment,” said Bayas.

Globally, campaigners are calling on rich nations to mobilise support to vulnerable nations for loss and damage of $300 billion a year by 2030, on top of humanitarian aid and climate adaptation finance.

A study commissioned by Christian Aid projects that the GDP of the 65 most climate vulnerable countries will take a 20% hit by 2050 and 64% by 2100 if global temperatures rise by 2.9C, a scenario in line with current policies. Even if warming is held to 1.5C, poor communities that did little to cause climate change will be most exposed to its impacts.

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Energy secretary Alfonso Cusi announced the country will declare a moratorium on new greenfield coal-fired power plants in a speech during Singapore International Energy Week on Tuesday.

“As the Philippine Department of Energy re-evaluates the appropriateness of our current energy mix vis-a-vis our energy goals, I am optimistic that this would lead to more opportunities for renewable energy to figure prominently in our country’s energy future.

“We are also pushing for the transition from fossil fuel-based technology utilisation to cleaner energy sources to ensure more sustainable growth for the country,” he said.

Campaigners have hailed the decision as a “welcome step forward” for the Philippines, where coal accounted for nearly half of electricity production in 2019. A pipeline of 12GW of new coal projects under various stages of construction and planning would have more than doubled the country’s coal capacity.

Of that 12GW, the moratorium is likely to put a stop to 8GW of pre-permit coal projects, according to data from Global Energy Monitor analysed by think tank E3G. The government has yet to clarify which plans are expected to face the axe.

Place your bets: Who will build the world’s last coal plant?

“The announcement is important because it’s a an open declaration to the kind of foreign investments that the government wants to attract,” Red Constantino, executive director of the Philippines-based Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities told Climate Home News.

“It’s a direct signal to the investor community both in the country but also abroad that the Philippines want… flexible renewable energy. It’s a pretty exciting time,” he added.

Although not packaged as climate policy, Constantino said the decision would put the Philippines “on a pathway to decarbonisation”. “It’s not going to be enough but it’s a big step in the right direction,” he said.

Sara Jane Ahmed, a Manila-based energy finance analyst for the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (Ieefa), told Climate Home that southeast Asia and south Asia had long been “the last bastions of coal growth”.

“This is a clear indication the Philippines is now modernising its power system. This moratorium is a signal that politics will no longer prop up bad economics. Coal players looking to sell outdated coal technology to developing countries overseas will have to look elsewhere,” she said.

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In a statement, the energy department said the decision aimed to build a more flexible power supply mix that could be “resilient in the face of structural changes in demand… and accommodate the entry of new cleaner and indigenous technological innovations”.

The Philippines rely on a particularly inflexible energy grid which is heavily dependent on large coal plants to provide baseload power – making it difficult and expensive to take coal plants offline to adjust to changing demand.

This has led to regular power outages and increasing disruptions in the energy sector. The coronavirus pandemic exacerbated the issue as coal bore the brunt of a collapse in demand while renewables were better suited to meet fluctuating needs.

Climate predictions of more frequent and intense extreme weather events such as typhoons also point to the need for a more flexible energy system.

Constantino said observers had been expecting the government to announce the modernisation of the energy grid before the country went into lockdown.

“The pandemic delayed that decision but also affirmed it – what they wanted to do before Covid-19 became even more critical. The myth of coal of being more reliable ended.”

Vietnam braces for Typhoon Molave, in worst tropical storm season for decades

With falling prices and improving storage technology, the government hopes to grow renewables in the energy mix and help reduce the high cost of electricity. It is also expected to finalise discussions about whether to import natural gas this year.

At the same time, the government wants to encourage foreign investments in large scale geothermal projects by announcing a relaxation of rules on foreign ownership limits.

As the moratorium on new coal power plants is a temporary measure, campaigners are calling on Manila to adopt a more permanent policy to end coal development.

“We want the government to completely stop the expansion of the coal industry and eventually we would like to see a phase-out plan,” Lidy Nacpil, coordinator of the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD) told Climate Home, saying gas should not be used as a transition fuel.

Nacpil added that the significance of the announcement will be judged by what the moratorium covers, calling on all new coal plants in the pipeline to be scrapped.

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Many activists held virtual protests, but in some of the hardest hit countries, such as the Philippines and Kenya, they took to the streets to demand climate action and justice from their governments.

The theme of this year’s global climate strike is supporting communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis.

Climate Home News spoke to three activists from the global south about their personal fears and the change they are fighting for.

Mitzi Tan, the Philippines 

Mitzi Tan says a new anti-terror law could endanger environmental defenders in the Philippines (Photo: 350org)

Two years ago, Mitzi Tan’s world view “shattered” when she first spoke to an indigenous leader from the Lumad tribe about how his people faced constant harassment, attacks and arrests in their fight to protect their land, rivers and forests from environmental destruction. 

“In the Philippines, we are already experiencing the worst impacts of the climate crisis. We have no choice but to defend the planet,” 22-year-old Tan told Climate Home News. 

Bolsonaro shifts blame for unprecedented Brazilian wetland fires

The Philippines is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, including rising sea levels, more intense typhoons and flooding.

“We would spend days in the dark with candles just listening to the battery powered radio for any updates on storms, always afraid that a tree would fall or that the flood would enter our house,” Tan said. 

On Friday, youth activists gathered in groups of ten to protest, bearing banners which read “protect climate protectors” and “there is no planet b”.

“Activists are being silenced here in the Philippines. I worry that people are starting to get desensitised to the number of deaths. We have names, we have lives, we are people, we’re not just statistics,” she said. 

The Philippines is the world’s deadliest country for environmental defenders, according to Global Witness. Last year 43 environmental defenders were killed and campaigners fear that a new anti-terror law could be used to validate their arrests and murders.

“A lot of people see this law as very dangerous. It could endanger all of us and our right to defend the planet,” said Tan.

The pandemic has fostered an even greater sense of solidarity among young people around the world, said Tan. “In a way the pandemic has brought everyone closer together.”

Kevin Mtai, Kenya

The climate crisis is constantly on 24-year-old Kevin Mtai’s mind. He is witnessing the impacts of climate change first-hand. 

“I personally have been affected mentally and physically… with floods destroying our home and crops and causing water-borne diseases like typhoid and cholera [among] my family,” Mtai told Climate Home.

He gathered with other climate activists in Nairobi on Friday to protest a controversial deal which would expand the plastics industry in Kenya.

#AfricaIsNotADumpster @KevinKevinmtai giving a talk at Uhuru Park, Nairobi about how plastic waste is a problem in Kenya.

We say no to dumping of plastics in Africa by the US @USEmbassyKenya #FightClimateInjustice #FridaysForFuture @Fridays4future @GretaThunberg @disharavii pic.twitter.com/qkdnVdgpgJ

— Oneup Action Kenya (@KenyaOneup) September 25, 2020

The oil industry is lobbying the US government to use a trade deal with Kenya as an opportunity to export more plastic to the country, a move which campaigners warn would turn Kenya into a dumping site for plastic waste. Kenya has the world’s toughest ban on plastic bags. Anyone caught producing, selling or carrying plastic bags faces up to four years imprisonment or fines of $40,000.

“We don’t want the government to sign that deal. They want to force us to take that plastic but our country is not the one using [it], the USA is. Africa is not a dump site. This is an injustice for us as Kenyans and for us as climate activists,” Mtai said. 

It is a global injustice that countries in the global south emit the least carbon dioxide in the world, but are the worst affected by climate change, Mtai said. 

“People in the global south do not have anything to protect their lives… they are facing water [shortages] and diseases,” he said. 

Marina Guia, Brazil 

Marina Guia and other Brazilian climate activists take part in a virtual strike on 25 September 2020 (Photo: Marina Guia)

16-year-old Marina Guia has become accustomed to thick smoke from wildfires enveloping her city, Volta Redonda, in Brazil.  “The city is dark because of the smoke. It is something that I see day-to-day,” Guia told Climate Home. 

“The indigenous people in the forests are the ones really suffering because of the fires. The fires attack the environmental defenders directly,” she said, adding that the pandemic has made it more difficult to protect indigenous communities. “We are trying to take care to not contaminate them.”

Together with other Brazilian activists, Guia has launched the SOS Amazonia campaign to support indigenous communities protecting the Amazon rainforest. 

“We are giving a voice to indigenous people. They are on the frontlines [of climate change] and are really in danger. They are attacked by Covid-19, deforestation and murders,” said Guia. 

In a message to the UN on Tuesday, Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro denied responsibility for the worst fires on record in the Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland.

The fires have led to respiratory problems for people living in the region, exacerbating coronavirus outcomes. 

“The climate crisis will affect the poorest first and those that don’t have capacity to deal with it. Climate justice is something that the whole world will need to fight for. If we don’t have the environmental defenders, we don’t have the Amazon,” Guia said.

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The Philippines Human Rights Commission is set to confront carbon majors over their climate change impact with hearings in Manila, New York and London this year.

Responding to a petition that seeks to hold 47 companies accountable for Philippine communities suffering from extreme weather, the commission is taking its inquiries overseas.

It is in talks with climate law researchers at Columbia University’s Sabin Center and London’s Grantham Institute about hosting evidence sessions.

Commissioner Roberto Cadiz urged the targeted companies, which include Chevron, ExxonMobil and BP, to engage.

“The reason why we are holding two hearings outside Manila is to make this a very inclusive process,” he told Climate Home News by Skype.

“We do understand that most of the respondent companies are not prepared to travel all the way to Manila to participate…

“We continue to invite the respondents to participate in this process, because if they do not, we might come up with certain recommendations that will be adverse to their interests and they will only have themselves to blame.”

Report: Greenpeace appeals Norway Arctic oil drilling case

Since campaigners led by Greenpeace Southeast Asia lodged the petition in 2015, the response from its targets has been muted.

Half of the 47 companies, whose products generated around a fifth of historic greenhouse gas emissions, did not respond. Those that did questioned the commission’s jurisdiction, or argued it was for governments, not private companies, to tackle climate change.

Several international law experts have filed arguments in support of the petition, however. These back the commission’s mandate to investigate private companies over harm experienced by Filipinos and provide evidence to join the dots.

“Most of the companies being investigated have disputed the commission’s right to examine their contribution to climate impacts like hurricanes and heatwaves,” Sophie Marjanac of London-based firm Client Earth told Climate Home News.

“This is a missed opportunity to engage with the commission and prove to people affected by climate change around the world that they are committed to being part of the solution.”

Hearings outside the Philippines “should draw much-needed attention to this global issue”, she added.

While the commission cannot directly impose penalties on the respondents, it has other ways of exerting influence. Cadiz expects to recommend ways they could alleviate the human rights impacts of their operations in future – and shareholders to put pressure on companies to comply. “This is not just a legal proceeding,” he said.

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Holding private companies to account for their climate impacts should be pursued in tandem with government action, Cadiz argued.

“I don’t see any conflict or tension between the two efforts,” he said. “In the end, they all converge on one point, which is trying to determine how climate change – the impacts of climate change – can be avoided or at least mitigated.”

The complaint focuses on investor-owned companies, excluding state-owned companies like the Philippines PNOC Exploration Corp or the Chinese-run CNOOC Ltd, which are considering a joint venture to open new drilling fields in the South China Sea.

The latest wave of climate litigation based on human or constitutional rights is bringing in a broader audience, said Joana Setzer, a researcher at the Grantham Institute.

“It is opening more opportunities for people to engage,” she said of the prospective hearing in London. “Human rights have this transnational component… I think the arguments on this are more persuasive.”

So far, the commission has consulted communities hit by intense tropical storms and environmental changes, gathering stories of how these affected their rights to food, water, health, homes and – in some cases – life.

The next stage is to establish how much of that lived experience can be attributed to climate change, and the extent of the respondents’ responsibility.

Hearings are due to start in Manila in March, with the overseas sessions likely to follow in the second half of 2018.

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On Tuesday, the 22 upper house members passed a resolution agreeing to enter into the accord.

The Philippines’ populist president Rodrigo Duterte has vacillated on the agreement, last year saying his government would not honour it and describing curbs on the country’s greenhouse gas emissions as “nonsense”.

His cabinet – and former US secretary of state John Kerry – reportedly convinced him to back the pact, which calls on countries to make voluntary commitments to limit their emissions.

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Parts of the country are still rebuilding after Supertyphoon Haiyan, which in 2013 killed more than 6,000 people and made hundreds of thousands homeless. Climate scientists predict the Philippines’ exposure to tropical cyclones will be made worse by rising sea levels and warmer, more violent storm conditions.

Senator Loren Legarda, chair of the senate subcommittee on the Paris Agreement, said joining the accord would be remembered as one of the government’s “shining achievements”.

“The Paris Agreement is a testament of solidarity and a call for global climate action. It shows that developing nations and the developed countries could pursue climate action and uphold climate justice together,” she said.

“This accord is a manifesto for climate justice. It also allows our country access to international climate finance mechanisms and to acquire support from developed countries for adaptation, mitigation, technology development and transfer, and capacity building.”

According to the UN climate convention’s website, 135 out of 197 parties have now ratified the accord. It passed the threshold to enter into force last year.

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“It is a welcome development that all concerned agencies of government are now ready to ratify the Paris Agreement,” said Senator Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate climate committee.

“Once the Executive ratifies and transmits the instrument of ratification to the Senate, I would actively shepherd the Senate’s immediate concurrence.”

It is a welcome development that all concerned agencies of government are now ready to ratify the #ParisAgreement.

— Loren Legarda (@loren_legarda) February 1, 2017

President Rodrigo Duterte was originally hostile to the deal, which he claimed would restrict his country’s economic growth and allow wealthier countries to continue polluting.

Legarda said once ratification was complete, the Philippines would work with “fellow vulnerable countries” to compel major greenhouse gas emitters to commit to larger carbon cuts.

“The issue of climate justice, which is one of the concerns of the administration, is enshrined in the Agreement. If we ratify, we become part of the succeeding meetings about the Paris Agreement,” she said.

So far 126 countries have ratified the UN climate agreement, which came into force last November.

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Pressure from the outgoing US administration and France appears to have paid dividends. French senator Gerard Miquel met Manila’s top diplomat on Monday and extracted a promise to sign up the same day.

“We met with the secretary of Foreign Affairs, who very much assured us of the willingness of the Philippine government to ratify the agreement by July,” Miquel said.

Aquilino Pimentel, president of the Philippines senate, confirmed to reporters that they were now aiming to complete their work on ratification by the middle of 2017.

Report: Slums boom in Philippines typhoon danger zones

The news marks a significant shift for president Rodrigo Duterte, who had given the US ambassador a verbal hosing in mid-2016 for suggesting his country was a climate laggard.

“You are trying to stifle us,” Duterte said last July. “That’s stupid, I will not honour that. You signed… That was not my signature.”

Government officials subsequently said he was taken out of context and was pushing donor countries to clarify what financial support they would offer.

The country was one of 47 of the world’s poorest to make a joint clean energy pledge last November, but official data shows 29 coal power plants in various levels of planning and construction.

The Philippines is deeply vulnerable to climate impacts, with low-lying coastal regions at risk from storm surges and rising sea levels. In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan left 6,000 dead and many more homeless.

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Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Conoco Phillips are among the top targets of an inquiry by the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines into the links between fossil fuel production, climate change and people losing homes and livelihoods to weird weather.

Public hearings will start in April 2017, Commissioner Roberto Cadiz revealed in an English language press conference on Thursday.

“There is a worldwide interest in this case and because of that, we will be conducting the hearing, webcasting it live so that other jurisdictions can observe and also submit their comments,” he said.

Report: Carbon majors respond to climate and human rights inquiry

The Commission – an independent body created under the 1987 Philippines constitution – is expected to seek testimony from people who have suffered from climate-linked disasters like Typhoon Haiyan; climate scientists and the fossil fuel giants accused of profiting from a harmful industry.

While Rex Tillerson, the Exxon boss tipped for secretary of state under US president-elect Trump, is due to retire from the company in March, his successor faces some awkward questions.

The 47 investor-owned carbon majors under scrutiny cannot be compelled to appear, but may decide it is worth defending their positions. Around twenty responded to a call for written evidence, Cadiz said.

As Climate Home reported in October, the responses variously dismissed the Commission’s jurisdiction, played up corporate policies on climate change and defended the positive role of fossil fuels in supplying energy.

The inquiry responds to a petition brought by 18 individuals and 14 NGOs including Greenpeace Southeast Asia a year ago.

“As long as companies and governments fail to act on climate change, every day is human rights day. Today, we got much closer to our aspiration of holding those most responsible for the climate crisis accountable, in order to prevent further harm,” said Yeb Sano, executive director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia and one of the individual petitioners

“Our call has been heeded. The CHR has shown its resolve to pursue this inquiry, and it gives us great hope and inspiration.”

While the Commission has no power to impose penalties on the companies, it could put pressure on them to change their investment plans.

“As petitioners, we will continue to advocate for our demands, including an authoritative finding by the CHR that fossil fuel companies must respect human rights and outline steps that would shift their existing business practices away from further contributions to climate change and prevent human rights impacts,” said Rose Trajano, Secretary General of the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates, one of the petitioning organisations.

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Secretary Gina Lopez said at the high-level segment of the 22nd Conference of Parties (COP22) that failure to limit the global average temperature to 1.5C can lead to the destruction of the country’s “3,000 species of marine life,” one of which is snails.

“This is not just the wealth of the Philippines – it is the wealth of all of us together,” she stressed, specifying endemic species such as a snail, whose “venom has been found by a Nobel laureate to be better than morphine in addressing pain without the side effects.”

It’s an example that showcased the country’s marine biodiversity, but not all in the delegation are sure that it captured the gravity of the impacts of climate change on the Philippines, one of the countries most vulnerable to strong storms and drought.

ICYM – China minister confirms Beijing is not behind climate ‘hoax’ https://t.co/85sxpXY5Ro #COP22 pic.twitter.com/Y04ceubYBC

— Climate Home News (@ClimateHome) November 17, 2016

Sources, who asked not to be named, said there were recommendations to also highlight other areas of vulnerability, but the secretary was “insistent” that biodiversity be the focus.  “We are the center of biodiversity,” she told Climate Home, hence the emphasis on this issue.

Aside from snails, Lopez added that the country also has “sponges and shells” that “are effective in addressing cancer.”

Lopez also raised in the plenary that mangroves, which serve as sea walls and are also breeding and nursery grounds for marine animals, will be planted to help minimize damage to properties.

“This thrust will not only save our islands but will result in economic zones because of the resultant increase in fish, shrimps, and other sea life.”

Observations were raised in the delegation though that the fixation on planting mangroves sidelines the fact that climate change adaptation and mitigation requires collective action of all countries. Even if the Philippines plants mangroves all over the country, it will not be enough “to save the planet,” a delegate pointed out.

A negotiator also raised questions on the credibility of the statement made on bamboos sequestering emissions. Lopez said to help the country’s mitigation efforts, she said Filipinos will plant bamboos which are “superb in carbon sequestration.”

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One delegate pointed out that this has not been scientifically proven.

In an article on National Geographic in March this year,  EJ Zachariah, a researcher at the National Centre for Earth Science Studies in India said that bamboos actually appear to emit significant amounts of carbon due to incomplete photosynthesis.

Climate Home tried to get the secretary’s comment on these issues but did not receive any response from her before publication.

While the secretary’s statement left some delegates scratching their heads, it was commended though by civil society organizations.

“Our biodiversity, our livelihood and the survival of our families and future generations are indeed at stake,” said  Gerry Arances, convenor of the Center for Energy, Ecology and Development. “Which is why we need a deal which drastically changes the playing field in order to realize the 1.5 degree target,” he stated.

Sanlakas Secretary General Aaron Pedrosa also lauded Lopez’s call for other countries to raise their mitigation targets so that the global temperature can be capped to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

“The statement of Sec. Lopez against the ‘indecisive ambiguity’ of the Paris Agreement is welcomed as at present, the aggregated contributions of countries across the globe are set to increase global temperature to 3 to 6 degrees Celsius,” said Pedrosa.

Purple Romero’s travel and accommodation in Marrakech was paid by a grant by the Climate Change Media Partnership (CCMP)

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President Rodrigo Duterte had signalled his willingness to support the UN’s flagship climate deal, but government sources told Climate Home that Department of Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi has blocked the move.

Thirty-three government agencies under the Climate Change Commission Advisory Board (CCCAB) and the Cabinet Cluster on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation (CCCCAM), were required to submit their views on the 2015 UN pact to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

In a letter dated November 14, Climate Home understands Cusi told the DFA that “definitive” inter-agency plans and programs on implementing the Paris Agreement must first be developed, adding that it cannot support actions that could hinder its capacity to provide the country energy security.

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The energy department chief also said developing countries must not be forced to cut their emissions as their needs are “different,” one of which is to accelerate economic growth, a goal that will require the use of massive energy.

Cusi also said in the letter that support from developed nations must not be contingent on any climate deal.

Duterte, as early as the presidential campaign in March, said that the Philippines should not be stopped from building more coal-fired power plants and called the UN a “hypocrite” for saying that developing countries must also reduce their carbon footprint.

The country has 29 coal-fired power plants in the pipeline which are expected to be operational by 2020.

UN confirms 2016 will be hottest year on record https://t.co/WcIKQwSESM #climate #COP22 pic.twitter.com/c4XRmrNPIp

— Climate Home News (@ClimateHome) November 14, 2016

Under the Paris Agreement, developed nations are mandated to provide financial and technological support to developing nations so the latter can strengthen their mitigation and adaptation efforts.

The energy czar’s rejection of the deal came as Duterte switched from open hostility to the UN climate pact to suggesting he was open to ratifying it.

Duterte made the turnaround after the majority of the Cabinet voted on 7 November for its ratification. Duterte has yet to officially endorse its ratification the Senate, however.

The Philippine Constitution states that two thirds of the Senate must vote for the approval of international treaties such as the Paris Agreement for them to be ratified.

Purple Romero’s travel and accommodation in Marrakech was paid by a grant by the Climate Change Media Partnership (CCMP)

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In early November 2013, a six metre storm surge drove up the Leyte Gulf toward Tacloban. Thousands of lives were lost and 90% of the city was destroyed. Residents of the extensive “informal settlements” found little left of their makeshift homes of corrugated iron, scrap wood and plastic.

Perhaps for their safety, perhaps judging the timing opportune, the government fast-tracked existing plans to relocate these unauthorised neighbourhoods (knowns as barangays). A “no-build zone” was implemented (somewhat arbitrarily) at 40m inland from the high tide mark.

Families from roughly 40,000 households had not only lost their homes, but were now told that they would not be allowed to rebuild.

The government plan was to relocate the settlements to permanent, legal communities on higher ground. But the programme has been plagued by insufficiencies. Of a planned 200,000 new housing units, just 10% have been built. In September, vice president Leni Robredo interceded to try and rescue the situation, calling on government agencies to “eliminate red tape” that he said was causing delays.

Alice Thomas, climate displacement programme manager with Refugees International, visited Tacloban twice in the months and years after Typhoon Haiyan, known locally as Yolanda.

Map: Google

“The relocation plan was never backed with sufficient resources or a commitment from the government to do what it takes to do a relocation programme,” she says . “They were just trying to find plots of empty land here or there and just put people there, without sufficient water, without access to electricity and without access to livelihoods.”

As a result, she says, “people had nowhere to go, so they just went back where they lived before”.

Paulina Lawsin-Nayra, executive director of the Eastern Visayas Network based in Tacloban, says that despite the overarching threat from typhoons, which are likely to be made more severe by climate change, there was little will to move among the tens of thousands who remain by the shore.

“Yolanda taught a lot of lessons,” she says. “But then because of the lack of alternatives people are still staying there.

“People are conscious in terms of heeding the calls for immediate evacuation. But in terms of moving away from their permanent home, the acceptance is not that high. Especially among the fisherfolk communities. Because the alternatives sites that were given are up on the hills, so to them they will be displaced. Even if they opt to live there it will be very expensive for them to be travelling to the site where they have their fishing boats.”

Despite this there has been some movement. Hundreds of families have heeded the government’s call to move. But the trickle of households moving uphill has been outweighed by a flood of relatives coming into the no build zones to take advantage of good quality temporary shelters provided by aid organisations.

“There are several barangays whose population has actually doubled and even more than doubled after Yolanda because of the availability of assistance in Tacloban,” she says.

Lawsin-Nayra stresses that the data are anecdotal and concrete figures do not exist. But her consultations with local community groups report consistent rises in population in the typhoon danger zone in Tacloban.

“It is meant to be temporary [housing] because many of them have received shelter assistance from different agencies. But the houses that they built are actually better than the houses that they had before Yolanda [the Filipino name for Haiyan]. So those, the families invite relatives, who are coming from the towns outside Tacloban and they would settle there,” she says. “There may be movement [to the permanent government housing] but you won’t notice it because of the sheer number of additional migrants, new occupants.”

Communities quickly rebuilt amid the rubble of Tacloban. Photo: Henry Donati/DFID

The problem is not isolated to Tacloban. It is estimated that one million people were left either displaced or living in makeshift shelters in “unsafe areas” across the country by Haiyan.

The typhoon-prone Philippines already has one of the highest populations of informal settlers in South East Asia. Many of them crowded around the coast, where the economic opportunities are greater. Moving them into formal housing is shaping as a huge political problem for Rodrigo Duterte’s new government, says Lucille Sering, the Philippines former climate change secretary.

“That’s the biggest challenge for us, the relocation of this tremendous number of individuals who would still refuse to be relocated. I think that’s on the top of the list,” she says.

Duterte has approached the issue gently, promising that no communities would ever be demolished without proper relocation being available. This indicates just how much electoral power the informal settlers command.

Philippines warning as communities return to danger zones post Haiyan

“The political aspect would be hugely difficult,” says Sering. “Because we have elections every three years and its always an issue to be taking out people where most of your voters are from. So the political will has to be tremendous, not just from the president, but from the local [governments] which are the main entity which has to implement this.”

Thomas believes using the disorder and chaos of typhoons as a trigger for mass relocation is not the panacea for the Philippines’ vulnerable communities.

“Post disaster relocation is a really risky strategy. But that doesn’t mean that governments shouldn’t be proactive and be considering how to do planned relocation where it’s necessary and thinking about how to get people out of harms way or at least building good evacuation shelters,” she says.

“The priority has to be getting information about climate risk into the hands of the communities themselves so they can make choices about what they want to do. You need to empower them with knowledge so that they can decide where they want to go and how they want to go and make their own plans.”

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The Manila Sun Star news agency reports Duterte and Kerry spoke on 27 July during the US secretary of state’s visit to the capital, where they discussed climate change.

“The President said in one of his interviews before that he was not in favour of this because of our economic situation in the country,” said Duterte’s head of communications Martin Andanar.

“But after the President spoke with the Secretary of State John Kerry the President said that as long as it is fair to our economic situation, then everything should be okay.”

The website quoted another government official as saying Kerry had been “helpful in defining certain issues about the Paris pact.”

View from Manila: Duterte must deliver more ambitious climate plan

Duterte’s criticism of the 2015 Paris climate deal on 18 July received global coverage. The new president had claimed the pact would “stifle” economic growth across the country.

Filipino climate activists say the country’s carbon cutting pledge at the Paris summit is too weak and will lock it into long term use of fossil fuels.

Writing in Climate Home this week, former senator and climate commission head Heherson T Alvarez said government energy plans to approve 29 coal plants were “terrifying”.

“It smacks of hypocrisy to claim that we will cut emissions by 70% – but only if our palms are greased by largesse from the international community,” he said.

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It is now incumbent on our government to hold a national consultation to firm up its own plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, also known as a nationally determined contribution (NDC).

This will be the gateway for implementing a plan for industrialization and sustainable development, as outlined by new president Rodrigo Duterte. But it will be essential to resolve the clash between policy and reality.

We have pledged support to the world’s goal of reducing global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius.  As chair of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, the Philippines went further by striving for 1.5 degree C to raise global ambition.

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However, at the Senate hearings in July 2015, the Dept. of Energy (DOE) unfolded a terrifying trend to use coal as a major energy source over the next few decades.

Currently, coal comprises almost 40 percent of the country’s energy mix.  There are 17 existing coal plants in the country, with a capacity of 18,500 MW.

DOE has approved 29 more coal-fired plants. Twelve of these plants with a total capacity of 3,400MW are already under construction, scheduled for completion by 2018.

Planned new coal plants across the Philippines’ three main islands (Pic: Coal Swarm)

It is estimated that these plants will require at least 10 million tons of coal a year.

Thus, without any significant intervention, the Philippines can expect a dependence of around 70% on coal from 2030 to 2050, according to DOE Undersecretary Loreta Ayson during a Senate hearing last year.

This move has been justified as a cheap solution to the country’s precarious power supply.  “Cheap” in the sense that coal subsidies and coal impacts on the environment and human health are not taken into account.

If these subsidies and impacts are factored in, coal would be far more expensive than renewable energy sources.

Report: Philippines won’t honour UN climate deal, says president

Last year, Philippine imports of foreign coal soared to a record 15.2 million tons —   and so did concerns about our energy security. By relying on imported coal, the Philippines has firmly placed the country’s energy security in the hands of foreign countries.

These facts did not elude Senator Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate Climate Change Committee, and Naderev Saño, a former colleague at the Climate Change Commission, now heading Greenpeace Southeast Asia. Both questioned Philippine reliance on coal imports.

The trend, Legarda pronounced, was “detached from human reality.” She regretted that certain government agencies provided permits to new coal plants, despite scientific evidence that carbon dioxide from widespread coal-use is the main culprit for global warming.

The infirmities of the Paris Agreement is not an excuse for us to make the mistakes of rich countries in plundering the environment

— Yeb Saño #ClimateJustice (@YebSano) July 20, 2016

“What is simply ironic about this vigorous push for coal-fired power plants in our country is while the whole world is moving away from coal, we are embracing it as the cure for our development challenges,” Saño stressed.

In terms of public health, higher coal dependence is a distinct threat. A few months ago (Feb. 3, 2016), a new Greenpeace Southeast Asia report  revealed the  health impacts of existing coal-fired power plants, estimating some 960 premature deaths each year due to stroke, ischemic heart disease,  cardiovascular  and respiratory diseases.

If the planned power plants become operational, Greenpeace projects premature deaths may rise to 2,410 yearly — more than double the current number of people dying from coal-related pollution in the Philippines.

Report: Fear and uncertainty after Filipina anti-coal activist murder

Even more seriously, the growing reliance on coal contradicts the principles of the National Framework Strategy on Climate Change.  The strategy specifically calls for a national economic shift towards low-carbon, sustainable development that is “imperative for a country and a people aspiring to be resilient in a turbulently changing climate.”

In the long run, broader coal-use negates our quest for intergenerational equity and social justice. More, it runs counter to our anti-poverty rhetoric, including sustainable development for current and future generations.

In many parts of the globe, as documented by the World Future Council and Climate Action Network, leaders are beginning to discover that fighting poverty and protecting the climate go hand in hand.

Scaling up renewable energy can benefit development programs by boosting energy access for the poorest and most vulnerable sectors of the population.

It is therefore imperative for us to overcome these policy and program barriers. To resolve them, we must bring together the best minds in our scientific, technological, academic, legal and legislative communities.

At the same time, we must begin to earnestly work on key and related aspects that will define our ability to give flesh to our Paris commitment. Among these are initiatives to scale up low-carbon investments and bold solutions by:

-Providing a central platform for domestic industries and businesses to commit to meaningful climate actions that encourage low-carbon investments.

-Ensuring that our   economic planners   decouple our prosperity and development from coal and fossil fuel use.

-Planning and legislating carbon pricing, which is the key to unleashing potential investments needed for energy infrastructure development.

-Creating incentives to reduce emissions in all sectors, alongside a mechanism for trading emission units in   global markets.

-Adopting the global environmental disclosure system that enables companies, cities and regions to be transparent and accountable.

A final barrier, perhaps, is our inability to respect the principle of “Common but Differentiated Responsibility,” one of the cornerstones of sustainable development.

As an ethic of international environmental law, this principle pervades   the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The iffy and tenuous nature of our climate plan impairs this principle. Our proposals stress that our total mitigation contribution to the Paris Accord will “necessarily be conditional on the extent of financial resources, technology development and transfer, and capacity building that will be made available to the Philippines.”

Our stance as an independent nation should be to do all that we can do to fulfill our contractual obligations.

It smacks of hypocrisy to claim that we will cut emissions by 70% – but only if our palms are greased by largesse from the international community.

A two-term Senator, Heherson T. Alvarez chaired the Senate Committee on Environment for ten years.  In February 1995, he convened the First Asia-Pacific Conference on Climate Change in Manila.  

He currently chairs the Advisory Board of the Climate Institute, one of the oldest think-tank environmental groups based in Washington

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The Commission on Human Rights is calling fossil fuel and cement companies to account for the role of their products in causing global warming – and the harm that follows.

ExxonMobil, Chevron and BP are the top targets, based on the greenhouse gas emissions from burning their oil since pre-industrial times.

They have 45 days to respond to a petition brought by Greenpeace Southeast Asia and 13 other campaign groups.

It is not a court case and the carbon giants, collectively responsible for a fifth of historic emissions, are not on the hook for damages.

Rather, the companies are asked to explain how they plan to make up for their polluting legacies. After hearing the evidence, the Commission will report its findings.

“Ultimately, those who have profited most from pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere must bear the burden of preventing the havoc already being wreaked by climate change,” said Greenpeace chief Jennifer Morgan. “This is the first step in that process.”

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ExxonMobil and Chevron have consistently dismissed shareholder concerns about climate change. The once-mighty coal producer Peabody has gone bankrupt.

Others on the list, including BP and Shell, have made more efforts to present themselves as part of the solution. At time of writing, neither had responded to a request for comment.

It remains to be seen whether these companies, with headquarters all over the world, will recognise the Commission’s jurisdiction.

The petitioners believe the Commission has a mandate to investigate any business that has an impact on the Philippines, regardless of whether it operates there.

“Businesses must be mindful of the long-term and far-reaching impacts of their operations on the human rights of people anywhere in the world,”  said Greenpeace lawyer Kristin Casper.

Yeb Sano: Ex-diplomat puts fossil fuel majors on notice

As well as probing corporations, the Commission has a brief to monitor the ways human rights are threatened by climate change domestically.

The Philippines accounts for less than 1% of global emissions, yet is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to weather disruption.

A case in point is Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest storms ever recorded, which killed more than 6,000 people in 2013.

Global warming is expected to make tropical storms more intense, while rising sea levels put coastal communities at higher risk from storm surges.

“We’ve been affected for so long by storms, droughts… by extreme weather, now made worse by climate change,” said petitioner Veronica “Derek” Cabe in a statement.

“We want those most responsible to be held accountable. We want justice and to regain the ability to protect the little that we have left for our children.”

It is also a dangerous place to oppose fossil fuel development. Cabe is from the province of Bataan, where anti-coal activist Gloria Capitan was shot dead by unidentified attackers on 1 July.

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The comments came during the annual state of the nation address to a joint session of Congress, Duterte’s first since assuming office at the start of July.

“Addressing climate change shall be a top priority but upon a fair and equitable equation. It should not stymie our industrialization,” he said.

“In the area of environment, the military is directed to intensify its support role against illegal logging, illegal mining,” he said in another part of the address.

“I have to protect the country… The interests of the country must come first.”

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It represented a softening stance since a few days earlier, when Duterte said climate laws would “stifle” economic growth and promised to review policies proposed by the last government. Local green groups welcomed the shift.

“President Duterte’s prioritization of climate change strengthens our standing in the international community,” said Red Constantino, head of the Manila-based Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities.

“The implications of the worsening climate to the lives of Filipinos and to the Philippine economy is undeniable.

“Economic progress is unattainable if the country has to deal annually with mounting losses in productivity, damage to infrastructure, damage to food crops and deaths due to the impacts of climate change.”

Report: Philippines’ Duterte asked to reconsider climate deal threat

Philippine greenhouse gas emissions are comparatively small, accounting for less than 1% of the global total.

Still, with a population of nearly 100 million demanding better access to energy, the government is under pressure to radically ramp up electricity supplies.

According to the Global Coal Plant Tracker, more than 50 coal power plants are in various stages of planning and construction across the country. They could run for decades.

Under the Paris deal, governments proposed their own climate targets, with developing countries promised financial support to green their energy systems and prepare for future extreme weather events.

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But repercussions of the Philippines being outside the climate pact will be enormous, not just for the country but for the entire planet.

The Philippines’ voice at the UN climate negotiations is very important being currently the leader of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, a grouping of 50 countries that suffer the most from the impacts of climate change.

It is critical to continue to engage in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change process so that the Philippines can influence the level of ambition, the targets and rules of climate action that benefit vulnerable countries most.

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It is important to clarify that when the Philippines signed the Paris Agreement, it was primarily driven by the interests of vulnerable countries to create a resilient future for our people.

In order for countries like the Philippines to survive the devastating impacts of climate change, and stay below dangerous levels of climate change (stay below 1.5 C), global emissions need to be reduced.

The carbon reduction commitments remain differentiated respecting national conditions, and taking into account the development needs of developing countries.

The Philippine targets contained in our national plan (NDC) are mostly contingent on financial support from the international community.

President Duterte: Philippines won’t honour UN climate deal

It is understandable that President Duterte put the spotlight on the hypocrisy of industrialized nations, which should carry much of the climate burden.

The Philippines should keep demanding that industrialized nations aggressively cut their GHG emissions and provide financial and technical support with a sense of urgency, so developing countries can adapt to the impacts of climate change and build resilient economies.

As we have seen over the years, it is developing and poor countries that suffer most from the devastating impacts of climate change – impacts on our people’s lives and livelihoods.

Clean energy should not just be a preserve of rich countries. It must be available to all. Sadly, the Philippines has lagged behind many Asian countries in profiting from the renewable energy investment boom.

Clean energy investment surged in 2015 driving the world total to its highest ever figure of $328.9 billion, up 4% from 2014’s $315.9 billion total investments, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Report: Philippines climate body urges new president to ditch coal

The Duterte administration can provide much needed leadership in thinking differently about the way we produce and consume energy.

It is possible to meet poverty reduction and development objectives through cleaner safer and more sustainable technologies and initiatives. These investments create jobs, improve local environmental quality, and help curb GHG emissions.

It is time for the Philippines to leap frog to a low carbon future starting with a comprehensive review of the country’s energy policies to signal to investors that it is ready for climate-friendly investments.

Report: Fear and uncertainty after Filipina anti-coal activist murder

The Philippines is ranked 22nd in the 2016 edition of Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index by Ernst and Young, beating South Korea and a host of European countries in the ranking based on a number of macro, energy market and technology-specific indicators. It is high time for the country to welcome capital resources knocking on its doors.

Civil society groups, like our organization, are looking forward to engaging the Duterte administration as it formulates strategies that will serve the interests of Filipinos impacted by the adverse impacts of climate change.

The new administration should use its immense political support to carry through reforms that bring lasting change using the right climate and energy investments.

Francis Dela Cruz is associate for energy policy at the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities, a Philippine policy group promoting low-carbon development initiatives in vulnerable countries

The post Philippines’ Duterte asked to reconsider UN climate deal threat appeared first on Climate Home News.

“You are trying to stifle us,” Duterte said in widely reported comments. “That’s stupid, I will not honour that. You signed… That was not my signature.”

Agreed by 195 countries including the Philippines last December, the UN pact aims to limit warming to well below 2C from pre-industrial levels.

It comes into force when 55 countries covering 55% of global emissions formally join. The Philippines accounts for less than 1% of the world’s emissions, and has not ratified the deal.

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President Duterte said he felt like attacking an ambassador to the Philippines at a recent meeting, after he was asked about plans to cut the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.

“I’m mad at this ambassador. I want to kick him,” he said. Limits on carbon emissions for the Philippines were “nonsense,” he added.

“You who have reached your peak and along with it spewed a lot of contaminants, emissions… Good for you. We are here, we have not reached the age of industrialisation. We are on our way to it.”

PH climate submission is conditional on support. Meaning, no support no carbon reduction. Pres Duterte probably taken out of context

— Lucille Sering (@lucille_sering) July 18, 2016

Lucille Sering, a former climate negotiator, said the country’s action plan had always been contingent on financial and technology support.

The president’s remarks were “probably taken out of context,” she tweeted.

Report: Climate vulnerable Philippines plans huge bet on coal
Report: Fear and uncertainty after Filipina anti-coal activist murder

It is not the first time Duterte has criticised the international climate agreement, however. He previously accused the UN of being “hypocrites” for fixing a pact which requires all countries – not just the rich – to make greenhouse gas cuts.

The UN deal also encourages countries to develop better climate resilience strategies, vital for a nation as vulnerable to extreme weather as the Philippines.

Storms are likely to become more severe say scientists, raising the prospect of future catastrophes like Typhoon Haiyan, which left over 6000 dead in 2013.

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The government has approved 29 coal-fired power plants and counting. It puts the polluting fuel on course to generate 56% of electricity by 2020, according to consultancy firm IHS.

That conflicts with efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions, the CCC warned, calling for a lower carbon mix.

Prior to the 9 May poll, Duterte – who campaigned on a crime-cutting platform – said the country should remain open to having new coal-fired power plants.

Duterte (AKP Images/Keith Bacongco)

He described the UN and developed nations as “hypocritical” for asking all countries, including developing ones such as the Philippines, to cut their emissions.

The CCC has reached out to the energy department and other government agencies to discuss a national policy review, according to its chief Emmanuel de Guzman.

The six-month review aims to “accelerate and prioritize renewable energy development, enhance energy efficiency and conservation and ensure clean, affordable and reliable energy for the whole country.”

Asked if it aims to put a cap on the approval of coal-fired power plants, De Guzman said: “In essence, yes…

“The pursuit is low carbon development. The policy review will define the energy mix.”

Yeb Sano: Ex-diplomat puts fossil fuel majors on notice

The energy department said it needed a policy study before taking any specific action, however. It previously set the timeline for moving to cleaner sources of energy as 2025, estimating a shift to natural gas can reduce 3.2 million tons of CO2 equivalent by 2030.

Jesus Tamang, head of policy and planning, said: “We want low carbon development but we need to identify an alternative first for coal for baseload. We need a level of safety to ensure energy security.”

Environmental and church-based groups have said that the government must forgo coal-fired power plants now, however.

An estimated 10,000 people participated in the Piglas Batangas! Piglas Pilipinas! campaign against fossil fuels on 4 May.

They called on candidates for local and national government positions to nix coal-fired power plant projects.

“There will be a new set of government officials. We will restart the engagement with them and the conversation to fight coal,” said Naderev “Yeb” Sano, executive director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia.

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Mayon Volcano on the island of Luzon in the Philippines (Pic: Pixabay)

By Purple Romero in Manila

The Philippines government says it can meet rising energy demand and new climate targets with a mixture of gas and renewables steadily replacing coal in the country’s energy mix.

Gas is the “fuel of the future” said Jesus Tamang, head of policy and planning at the energy department, outlining how Manila will meet a goal of cutting emissions 70% on business as usual levels by 2030.

The expansion of the use of natural gas is seen to reduce 3.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2030.

This move has to overcome significant hurdles, however. The Malampaya gas field, a major source of natural gas in the country, is expected to dry up by 2024.

Under the same policy thrust, the DOE is eyeing to triple the installed capacity of renewables of up to 9,900 megawatts, with biomass, solar and marine power topping priorities.

Coal addiction?
As of May 2015, the Philippines has 17 operating coal plants (30 boiler units), with 29 more (59 boiler units) approved by the Department of Energy (DOE) to begin commercial operations by 2020. Coal accounts for nearly 40% of the energy mix (Source: Greenpeace)

Highly vulnerable to rising sea levels and tropical storms, the Philippines has long called for more aggressive global action to curb global greenhouse gas emissions and limit rising temperatures.

But domestically a coal-heavy energy plan has drawn criticism. Little over a month after the Paris climate pact was agreed, president Benigno Aquino III opened a new coal power plant.

Over 50 coal plants with average lifespans of 35 years are planned for the country, according to recent analysis by the Global Coal Plant Tracker NGO.

Between 2012 and 2014 coal consumption rose 27%, Philippines senator Loren Lagarda told the Reuters news agency. Nearly two-thirds of the required 13,000 MW of capacity by 2030 will be coal, she added.

Speaking in Manila this week, former US vice president and high profile climate campaigner Al Gore said the government should take advantage of the falling costs of renewables to ditch its coal plans.

“What nation in the world experiences the most weather-related disasters? All the way up the list is the Philippines. Number 1,” he said.

“We have the solutions at hand to address climate change. Shift to renewable energy… the age of renewable energy is beginning.”

Last month a new Greenpeace-backed study compiled by Harvard University said planned new coal plants in the Philippines would worsen health problems across the country.

“The data shows an estimated 960 premature deaths each year due to stroke, heart disease, other cardiovascular diseases and respiratory diseases,” it said.

“If the new power plants are to be developed, premature deaths may rise up to 2,410 or more than double the current number of people dying from coal-related pollution in the Philippines.”

The post Philippines touts gas, renewables as answer to energy demand appeared first on Climate Home News.

Houses destroyed by Typhoon Haiyan in 2013 (Flickr/ Asian Development Bank)

By Alex Pashley

Typhoons barrelling into the vulnerable Philippines have become more intense over the last 45 years and wrought rising damages, according to a study.

While the total number of cyclones making landfall has decreased, the strongest classification of storm has become more frequent, analysts found.

The average rate of storms with wind speeds of 150km/hr or more rose from 5.5 to 6 a year between 1971 and 2013, researchers at the Royal Meteorological Society wrote in the International Journal of Climatology.

Over the same period, the average cost of damages rose from US$2-3 million to $100m a year.

Report: Philippines emissions target hinges on climate compensation
Report: Climate vulnerable Philippines plans huge bet on coal

In 2013 Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest storms ever recorded, killed more than 6,300 people and caused $350m of devastation after it pounded the coastline at an estimated 195kph.

The study did not prove global warming was the cause, researchers said, but prior research has linked rising sea temperatures to more frequent storms since the 1970s.

Co-author Monica Ortiz at the University of Sheffield said: “Growing up in the Philippines myself, I understand the catastrophic loss of life and damage to property that extreme weather can cause.

“By analysing this data from the past up to the present, we can better adapt to further climate change and prepare for future disasters.”

Cyclones, ranging in strength from tropical depressions to super typhoons, averaged 19 a year from 1951-2013, with nine making landfall.

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Naderev “Yeb” Saño at Greenpeace’s Jakarta office (Pic: Greenpeace/Afriadi Hikmal)

By Megan Darby

It’s a long walk from Manila to Paris. Ask Naderev “Yeb” Sano, who trekked thousands of kilometres across continents to last December’s UN climate summit.

Now the diplomat-turned-activist has planted his feet back on home turf, taking the leadership of Greenpeace Southeast Asia.

Top of his agenda is indicting fossil fuel majors, he tells Climate Home, as the Philippines launches an unprecedented inquiry into climate change and human rights.

“The Paris agreement in my view and in the view of Greenpeace has not really responded to the call for an ambitious phase-out of fossil fuels,” says Sano. “In fact it seems to give a bit of leeway for the fossil fuel industry and their fingerprint on the deal is quite obvious.”

Under the Paris deal, 195 countries agreed to hold global warming “well below 2C”. To do this, it set out a worldwide greenhouse gas emissions target for the first time. These should peak “as soon as possible” and reach net zero “in the second half of the century”.

Coal, oil and gas companies – the ones that acknowledge the agreement – argue that means their products can still be burned for decades. In time, tree planting or carbon capture technologies can offset remaining emissions.

That is not good enough for Sano, who wants to see a faster switch to clean energy sources.

Comment: Philippines is excluding vulnerable voices from climate consultation

He has seen first-hand the damage wreaked by intense typhoons to people’s lives. Many communities are still rebuilding from 2013’s Typhoon Haiyan, the deadliest on record, killing more than 6,000 Filipinos.

It is why he put his name to a petition for the Philippines Commission on Human Rights to investigate the world’s 50 biggest corporate polluters.

“When we were assembling this petition, it was intended to highlight the plight of the most vulnerable communities in the Philippines,” says Sano.

Attributing individual extreme weather events like Haiyan to human-caused global warming is still difficult. But scientists expect tropical storms to get more intense with climate change. For slow-onset changes like sea level rise, which threatens coastal homes and livelihoods, the link is clearer.

Filipino fishing community mends nets in Samar (Pic: Renee Karunungan)

Sano was among 20 high-profile individuals, 14 organisations and 1,288 Filipinos to file the complaint last September. Since then, more than 100,000 people have registered their support online.

Their targets: Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, ConocoPhillips, Peabody Energy, Total, Consol Energy, BHP Billiton, Anglo American and 40 more big historical emitters.

Their asks: official recognition that carbon majors have violated human rights, action plans to remedy the damage, plus government monitoring and relief for victims.

“This is in fact a move to indict the 50 biggest polluters,” says Sano. “We have not gone as far as demanding compensation. We have gone only as far as the companies being able to present to us plans for preventing further emissions from their activities and more of a policy outcome.”

UN agrees: Climate change is a matter of human rights

The Commission has accepted the assignment and is expected to report its findings within a year. It is a departure from the usual order of business: dealing with military abuses, torture and arbitrary detention in the Philippines. Never before has it taken on foreign entities or environmental issues.

Investigators are consulting climate experts, according to Sano, and expected to hold a public inquiry. Ultimately, the carbon majors will be invited to give their account.

There is no guarantee the Commission will agree with the petitioners’ assessment, of course. And if it does lay the blame for typhoon-flattened villages at Chevron’s door, that doesn’t mean it can enforce action. These companies are based in rich countries, with little stake in the Philippines.

But the petition has international backers who would be only too happy to use the findings to put pressure on their own governments.

Report: Exxon Mobil faces legal inquiry on climate misinformation

The evidence-gathering exercise in Manila ties with US efforts to show oil majors have long been aware of the harmful effect of their activities. Lawyers are investigating claims Exxon deliberately misled the public about climate science, responding to the #Exxonknew campaign.

“That is certainly very helpful to this case,” says Sano. “That has also been the basis of our petition, that these companies knowingly and wilfully continued these harmful activities.”

For Sano, it is a moral issue. He spent the year leading up to Paris mobilising people of all faiths in support of climate action, through his People’s Pilgrimage.

Before the final leg – from Rome to Paris – of a globe-spanning walk, he met Pope Francis, credited as a personal inspiration.

The trip opened doors around the world, says Sano, with activists encouraging him to take more of a movement-building role.

Interview: Yeb Sano heads for Paris, praying for a climate miracle

It suited him better than his previous job, representing the Philippines at UN climate talks. Sano became known for his unconventional tactics, with hunger strike, prayer and emotive speeches taking precedence over negotiation on the details. For the 2014 Lima summit, he was quietly dropped from the delegation, as the Philippines took a more pragmatic turn.

Sano realised “government isn’t cut out for me,” he says, although it was a valuable opportunity to take part in the global process.

So how did he end up back in South East Asia with Greenpeace, a secular organisation? Well, for one thing, Sano wanted to be home with his 12-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter.

Greenpeace is founded on Quaker principles and has “a lot of the spiritual values that I so deeply care about,” says Sano.

“With Pope Francis weighing in on a lot of the ecological issues, it has become a lot clearer that whether you join an environmental organisation that seems secular or faith advocacy it is pretty much the same crowd.

“It doesn’t matter whether you are Christian or Muslim or Hindu or Buddhist, there is a convergence happening.”

And the environmental group has just appointed two “amazing” women at the top with a background in climate change – Jennifer Morgan and Bunny McDiarmid – he adds. “This is a signal that Greenpeace is also gearing up on the tremendous work that needs to be done on climate change.”

He may be rooted in the Philippines for now, but Sano’s journey has built him a global following that spans green and faith movements. It gives him a clout internationally that, if backed by an independent human rights ruling, could be hard to ignore. Oil majors, look out.

The post Yeb Sano: Ex-diplomat puts fossil fuel majors on notice appeared first on Climate Home News.

For Germany, carbon pricing is a way to promote investment in renewables (Windwärts Energie GmbH / Photographer: Mark Mühlhaus/attenzione)

By Megan Darby

Six heads of state are calling for carbon pricing, in the highest level intervention to date.

Germany, Chile, France, Ethiopia, Philippines and Mexico leaders on Monday voiced support for moves to make climate polluters pay.

That will help governments and businesses deliver on the climate plans they have submitted towards a UN pact, they argued.

“Low carbon technologies are an element in the fight against worldwide climate change,” said German chancellor Angela Merkel.

“With a price for carbon and a global carbon market, we promote investment in these climate friendly technologies.”

Coordinated by the World Bank and IMF, the statement came out as negotiators entered a fiery week of talks, ahead of December’s critical Paris summit.

Report: Developing countries demand additions to slimmed-down climate text

Diplomats in Bonn were due to start line-by-line discussion of a draft text that had been radically slimmed down by two co-chairs.

But developing countries said the editor’s knife had gone too far and demanded to be allowed to reinsert some elements first.

Rachel Kyte, climate envoy at the World Bank, was unconcerned to see all mention of carbon pricing dropped, however.

She told Climate Home: “We don’t, as the World Bank Group, believe that we have to legislate carbon pricing in the negotiated text.”

Instead, the multilateral organisation is concerned with what happens “on the Monday morning after Paris,” when governments start to put their plans into practice.

Paris tracker: Who has pledged what for 2015 UN climate pact?

Out of more than 150 “intended nationally determined contributions” (INDCs) to a climate deal, around 80 refer to carbon pricing.

“We regard those plans as a first generation investment prospectus for a more competitive, cleaner future,” Kyte said. “We are pleased that so many of the INDCs do mention getting prices right.”

At the last count, 40 countries and 23 regional authorities covering 12% of global greenhouse gas emissions had a carbon tax or trading system.

The biggest of these, in the EU, has faced fierce opposition from energy intensive industries like steel and chemicals. These sectors argue the increased costs put them at an unfair disadvantage to competitors overseas.

Meanwhile green groups warn the market price is too low, at $8 a tonne, to spur significant climate action.

“As new schemes expand, importantly in China, designers must ensure the carbon price is both high and reliable enough to drive low-carbon investment at scale,” said Damien Morris of UK think tank Sandbag.

Analysis: Why are big EU polluters moaning about carbon leakage?

France president Francois Hollande acknowledged competitiveness concerns, but said: “We must therefore act with resolve.”

A price on carbon “is the most tangible signal that can be sent to all economic actors,” he added.

Chile is taxing its transport and power sectors and using the revenue to fund education reform, president Michelle Bachelet said. “We believe in the polluter pays principle.”

And Ethiopia, one of the first developing countries to put forward a climate plan, hopes to finance some initiatives through international carbon markets.

“Like many nations, Ethiopia has much to gain from early action on climate change – and much to lose if we collectively fail to act,” said prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn.

“A carbon price can be a win-win, not just for nations like Ethiopia, but for the entire planet, provided that it is coordinated and its incidence does not unduly fall on the poor.”

California governor Jerry Brown and Eduardo Paes, mayor of Rio de Janeiro, also endorsed the statement.

The post Germany, Ethiopia, Mexico leaders back carbon pricing appeared first on Climate Home News.

Typhoon Koppu made landfall near the town of Casiguran on the island of Luzon on Sunday morning, bringing winds of close to 200km/h (124mph) (Flickr/ Share GK)

By Alex Pashley

A powerful typhoon battering the Philippines is “further evidence” of the urgency to craft a robust global warming pact, the chair of a group of threatened islands has said.

The last round of interim talks before a Paris summit has got off to a rocky start following discontent over the latest draft of a negotiating text.

Thoriq Ibrahim, the Maldives’ environment minister and chief of the alliance of small island states (AOSIS), raised the super-storm before a heated opening session on Monday.

“As if further evidence was needed to illustrate the urgency of the climate crisis, we begin talks as yet another devastating storm churns over the Philippines,” he said in a statement.

Report: Developing countries demand additions to slimmed-down climate text

The shortened text, revealed earlier this month, rewrites a core provision of the UN’s climate change convention that recognises islands’ vulnerability to rising sea levels and storm surges, said Ibrahim. Developed countries demanded additions as the event resumed on Monday.

Typhoon Koppu has so far killed three people and caused 23,000 to flee their homes on the island group of Luzon, according to disaster agency officials, ABC News Australia reported. Officials predict the situation will worse as flood waters rise.

With all the rain, flooding is inevitable – this is Rizal in eastern Luzon #LandoPH #Koppu – the waters are rising pic.twitter.com/YBGQshuErC

— David Shukman (@davidshukmanbbc) October 18, 2015

Hurricane Joaquin, which destroyed homes and crops on the Caribbean islands of the Bahamas last week, and the third global incidence of coral bleaching on record, displayed the need to act said Ibrahim.

Countries must commit to lowering a threshold to avoid dangerous warming from 2C to 1.5C, agree compensation for those affected and stump up finance to address climate impacts, he urged.

“We are staring at a once-in-a-generation opportunity to tackle climate change in Paris.

“But a final agreement is by no means assured and recent history makes it clear that success will require compromise, yes, but one that reflects the views of all parties—especially the most vulnerable.”

Analysis: What role should climate compensation have in a Paris deal?

For its part, the Phillipines made a coded call for climate compensation in its national submission to the deal last month.

The post Small islands urge progress in Bonn, cite Philippines Typhoon Koppu appeared first on Climate Home News.

Manila (Pic: travel oriented/flickr)

By Thet Htoo Aung

Fossil fuel use in South East Asia could spike 80% by 2040 despite nascent plans to roll out wind, solar and hydro projects in the region, the International Energy Agency has warned.

Without more policies to encourage energy efficiency and renewables, coal use could triple between 2011 and 2035, accounting for around 30% of global growth.

Nearly a quarter of the region’s 600 million citizens still lack regular access to electricity, leading the IEA to predict “considerable further growth in demand” for power.

The share of renewables in the energy mix could also fall as people move to cities and start using grid electricity instead of biomass for cooking and heating.

Energy related CO2 emissions from the region, which includes Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Indonesia, could double, hitting 2.3 gigatonnes by 2035.

The headline figures – which paint a bleak picture for those working to slow greenhouse gas emissions and avoid dangerous levels of climate change – are based on existing policies.

An estimated 75% of economic potential of energy efficiency is likely to be untapped by 2035, says the study, while 50% of the regional coal power plant fleet is on course to be more polluting sub-critical types.

Lower demand and more efficient plants could reduce coal use 25%, while tougher industrial and car regulations would reduce coal and oil gas 10%.

“If the region’s coal-fired power plants were as efficient as those in Japan today, their fuel use would be one-fifth lower, alongside substantially reduced carbon emissions and local air pollution,” said the study.

Fossil fuel subsidies, which are likely to top US$50 billion in 2015, also need to be scaled back said the IEA, as they are “depriving energy companies of the revenues needed for new investment”.

Regional anger over cross-border fuel smuggling in small fishing vessels could encourage governments to boost these cuts, it added.

The Philippines government estimates it loses $1 billion in tax revenues a year due to illegal sales of foreign fuel inside its borders.

The post South East Asia coal use to triple – IEA appeared first on Climate Home News.

School children in the Philippines contemplate the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan (Pic: Pio Arce/Genesis Photos)

By Alex Pashley

The Philippines will cut greenhouse gas emissions 70% from forecast levels in 2030, it pledged on Thursday.

That target depends on international support, Manila wrote in its “intended nationally determined contribution” (INDC) towards a UN deal.

In particular, wealthy countries must pay for loss and damage resulting from climate-related events like cyclones and sea-level rise, it hinted.

“The Philippine INDC assumes that Loss-and-Damages from climate change and extreme events will not require diversion of substantial resources for rehabilitation and reconstruction,” the submission said.

“…thereby adversely affecting the country’s capacity to meet national development targets as well as mitigation commitments under this INDC.”

In other words, using public money to rebuild after increasingly severe storms would detract from its ability to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

It is a coded demand for climate compensation, a bone of contention between vulnerable countries and historic polluters.

Rich nations are wary of accepting liability for the impact of their historic emissions, but have made some moves to address such concerns.

Report: What role should climate compensation have in a Paris deal? 

Paris tracker: Who has pledged what for 2015 UN climate pact?

INDCs form the basis of a new climate agreement. At the time of writing, 141 countries covering more than 80% of world emissions had submitted their plans.

Among them the Philippines, whose 100 million population live across 7,000 islands, is notably exposed.

It was ranked the most affected country by global warming in the 2015 Global Climate Risk Index, which measures weather-related loss from 1994-2013.

In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan killed 6,000 people and inflicted economics losses of $13 billion, according to Germanwatch, the NGO which compiled the report. Some 4 million were left homeless.

The country chairs the Climate Vulnerable Forum, an informal alliance that campaigns for a tightening of the agreed 2C global warming limit.

Yet it is planning a huge expansion of its coal power plant network, with 52 in the process of construction and with estimated lifetimes of 35 years, according to Global Coal Plant Tracker.

Report: Climate vulnerable Philippines plans huge bet on coal

Climate commissioner Heherson Alvarez wrote for Climate Home in August how he worried the country was locking in carbon-intensive development.

“One tell-tale sign is that Philippine emissions per capita, according to the [Department of Energy] is projected to rise by over 31% over a 20-year period, from 1.6 tons in 2010 to 2.1 tons in 2030,” he wrote.

The government still faces the challenge of more demand for energy than supply, while an estimated 30% of the population lacks grid access.

In 2014, President Benigno Aquino used emergency powers from Congress to channel more capacity to the Luzon – the country’s largest island – which was suffering from regular blackouts.

Mindanao and Visayas, the two other major islands, are blessed with high levels of hydro and geothermal energy, but still rely on coal for 17% and 42% of their supplies respectively.

The post Philippines emissions target hinges on loss and damage appeared first on Climate Home News.

Fisherfolk mend their nets in Samar (Pic: Renee Karunungan)

By Renee Juliene Karunungan

“Are you really walking all the way to Tacloban?” a woman in her 60s asked me as I was waiting inside the St. Peter and Paul cathedral.

I was in Casiguran, Sorsogon, on my first day of Climate Walk, the 1,000km walk led by then climate change commissioner and climate negotiator Naderev “Yeb” Saño. We were commemorating the victims of typhoon Haiyan, which devastated the Eastern Visayas region of the Philippines.

She introduced herself as Teresita Flores, 62 years old, who lived in Samar, near the San Juanico bridge. She was there when the storm surge happened as Haiyan made its landfall. She and her husband survived, but not their livelihood.

“We have lost all our coconut trees. There is no money in Tacloban and Samar right now so I decided to leave and look for a job in Bulacan, with my former employer,” she said. She was unsure if her former employer would accept her but she was willing to take the risk.

Teresita relied on the kindness of people who lent her money on the way and one bus driver who allowed her to board the bus without a ticket. She has reached this far, a ferry and a bus ride from Samar.

But on the day we met she was running out of luck so she decided to ask help from the church. “The priest is a good person. He will help me get to Bulacan,” she said. Bulacan is still some 300 kilometers away from Sorsogon.

Lilia Majestrado, 49, a teacher from Victoria National High School, was one of the teachers that greeted us as we walked towards the town of Victoria, Samar.

To get to school, students of Victoria who live inland go through a bridge that overflows when there is continuous rain or typhoon. Teachers like Lilia serve as the students’ safe-keeper, especially during typhoons, ensuring everyone gets to school and goes back home safely.

“We will be the ones who will get wet and drown in flood when the typhoons come and we are still required to go to class,” said Lilia. “They told us they will build a high school building up in the mountain so that the students would not have to walk to the city.”

Students at Victoria National High School turned out to greet climate marchers

Franz, 58, a fisherman whose family has always lived on the coast, also joined us in the walk in Samar. “We have less fish to catch now, and every time it rains, we are also always worried the waves will wipe us out,” he said.

“Ma’am, he’s homeless now,” said a market vendor in Motiong, Samar, pointing to a man who they say has lived in a makeshift waiting shed made out of bamboo and tarpaulins, with a bench he has made into a bed.

His name is Lando and his house was swept away by typhoon Glenda (Rammasun). The only thing left of his house was a wall of what used to be his bathroom. It is here where he has built his waiting shed and where he eats, sleeps, and takes a bath.

The local government has asked Lando to move away from the shore to a new housing facility for a price of 800 pesos ($17). But he does not have enough money to feed himself everyday, let alone pay for a house.

Teresita, Lilia, Franz, and Lando are four out of the millions of Filipinos affected by climate change and its impacts.

They do not know the science nor the data of climate change. They do not know about the UN’s Conference of Parties (COP) and that the course of global warming is being decided by a few leaders. But here is what they know: their lives are no longer the same.

With COP21 just around the corner, we are seeing more countries submit their intended nationally determined contribution (INDC) to the United Nations. The INDC is a set of commitments by each country which serves as their contribution to creating a climate-resilient future.

Comment: Philippines plan for UN climate deal lacks credibility

The Philippines, one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change, has yet to publish its INDC. On 24 July, the Climate Change Commission opened its consultation to civil society. However, the process of the consultation remains to be questionable.

Gene Ferrer, National Coordinator of Aksyon Klima, a network of 40 civil society organizations in the Philippines working for climate action, says the process was not at all transparent.

“There was no real consultation that happened that included Civil Society Organizations (CSO). When they called us, they said they have already consulted with government agencies and the business sector and that there is no need for us to submit recommendations. We feel that the civil society voice is not welcome to the table,” Ferrer said.

To exclude civil society is to exclude farmers who have lost their crops to El Nino and La Nina.

To exclude civil society is to exclude fisherfolks who no longer have enough fish catch due to warmer waters.

To exclude civil society is to exclude every Filipino who has lost a loved one, a home, a livelihood for every strong typhoon that has come our way.

To exclude civil society in the process of the INDC is to exclude the voice of the people, those who are most affected by climate change impacts.

Report: Climate vulnerable Philippines plans huge bet on coal

At this point, the Philippines’ INDC is clearly unambitious, insincere, not transparent, and non-inclusive. The commitments we have made are commitments straight out of our noses, something seemingly done just because we are required to commit something.

What we need are commitments that think of long-term solutions to climate change, commitments that will listen to the people’s voices, and commitments that will put people and planet over profit.

Until then, we are only betraying our countrymen who have already suffered and are currently suffering from climate change impacts.

Our government may have failed us in the INDC process but the civil society sector will continue our fight for climate justice. We are open for a dialogue but we are also not afraid to hold our government accountable. We can work with the business sector but we will remain staunch in the fight against coal and fossil fuel.

The government must not forget that we are here and we will seek justice for every Teresita, every Lilia, every Franz, and every Lando who have been victims and survivors of climate change impacts.

The Climate Change Commission and Secretary Lucille Sering were contacted for comment but had not replied at time of publication.

Renee Juliene Karunungan, 25, is the Advocacy Director of Dakila. Dakila has been campaigning for climate justice since 2009. She is also a climate tracker for Adopt A Negotiator.

The post Philippines is excluding vulnerable voices from climate consultation appeared first on Climate Home News.

Philippines president Benigno Aquino (Pic: Presidential Museum and Library)

By Ed King

The Philippines is planning a huge expansion of its coal power plant network, despite calls for the climate vulnerable nation to help lead efforts to slash greenhouse gas emissions.

According to the Global Coal Plant Tracker, 52 new coal power units are in the process of being constructed across the country, each with an estimated lifetime of 35 years.

Local activist Gerry Arances, from the Philippines movement for climate justice, says the number could be as high as 59, a figure based on permit applications lodged with the energy department.

“It’s ironic given we are at ground zero of climate change the government has approved over 50 coal power plants,” he told RTCC.

In an article for RTCC, Philippines climate commissioner Heherson Alvarez said he feared the energy department was already planning for a high carbon energy future.

“One tell-tale sign is that Philippine emissions per capita, according to the DOE, is projected to rise by over 31% over a 20-year period, from 1.6 tons in 2010 to 2.1 tons in 2030,” he wrote.

“At the moment, a major difficulty is that many of our policymakers appear to be swayed by conventional macroeconomic goals dependent on coal and fossil fuels.”

Planned new coal plants across the Philippines’ three main islands (Pic: Coal Swarm)

The Philippines is among the most vulnerable countries in the world to extreme weather events. In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan killed over 6000 and left an estimated 4 million homeless.

Severe tropical storms have long hit the country’s sprawling network of islands.

Scientists do not think climate change is making these events more frequent, but there is research suggesting warming oceans could make hurricanes and typhoons more intense.

Accordingly, Manila has led calls for the international climate target to be tightened, from the agreed 2C warming limit to 1.5C. The stricter goal is seen as technically possible but politically implausible.

Report: Rethink 2C climate goal, urge world’s most vulnerable

And the country’s impending UN submission outlining how it will contribute to this year’s planned global climate deal is likely to focus heavily on plans to adapt to these extremes.

Emissions data from 2010 – when it contributed 0.31% of the world total – suggests that will not be a deal breaker.

But for Alvarez, the fact the country is so vulnerable to storms, rising sea levels and flooding means it should be an “exemplar” in leading on poverty and emissions reduction.

“The official attitude seems to be that, since the Philippines is not a significant emitter, the crucial pledges should be made by the industrial nations,” he said.

Yeb Sano, until 2014 the country’s top climate negotiator and now a campaigner for global climate justice, takes the same view as Alvarez.

“[The Philippines] must galvanize global public opinion towards the right side of this issue,” he told the InterAksyon website.

“It must also be a leader for strong domestic climate action that protects its communities, builds resilience, and fosters inclusive and sustainable development.”

Access to energy

Still, the government faces a considerable dilemma, with an estimated 30 million citizens, around 30% of the population, lacking grid access to electricity.

Even those with good connections face erratic supplies, some relying on diesel generators to fill the gaps, while others are paid by the government to reduce peak demand.

In 2014, President Benigno Aquino used emergency powers from Congress to channel more capacity to the Luzon – the country’s largest island – which was suffering from regular blackouts.

Mindanao and Visayas, the two other major islands, are blessed with high levels of hydro and geothermal energy, but still rely on coal for 17% and 42% of their supplies respectively.

Recently Aquino said he wanted a “reliable, preferably clean and reasonably-priced” power supply, but a July strategy document from the energy department seen by RTCC suggests coal will dominate.

It says coal and gas will be weighted “more heavily in the mix” in future plans, which stress the need for “ultra-supercritical” (efficient) coal technology to be used.

And what may swing the department’s thinking is the relative ease of accessing funding from the likes of the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Japan’s JBIC and the China Development Bank.

The Philippines is the fifth largest recipient of export credit agency finance for coal power plants, receiving just under $35 billion from 2007-2014.

Only Vietnam, India and South Africa receive more, according to a report from the US-based NDRC.

Mixed messages

The government does have a policy to triple renewables deployment by 2030 on 2010 levels, along with a share of 40% of electricity production from clean energy.

If implemented these could help the country slash emissions 11% on a business as usual scenario by 2020, and 25% by 2030, according to the Climate Action Tracker.

Arances says recent discussions leave him unconvinced officials see clean energy sources as an answer to the country’s requirements.

“The government have not even factored in policy changes to encourage more renewable projects… these are critical issues in terms of our [UN climate agreement] commitments,” he says.

Officials RTCC contacted did not respond, but the government’s top UN climate negotiator Mary Ann Lucille Sering mounted a stiff defence of its planning in a July 29 article.

President Aquino’s omission of climate change during his annual two-hour state of the nation speech on July 27 did not mean “nothing has been done” she argued.

She made no mention of future energy plans, but stressed planning related to flood controls, adaptation and greening programmes were advanced.

“As his Climate Change Secretary, I should feel disappointed, but being in the know of the plans and programs of government, there is no reason to be,” she said.

“Climate change is considered the biggest development challenge of our times due its cross-sectoral impacts.”

The post Climate vulnerable Philippines plans huge bet on coal appeared first on Climate Home News.

Despite its image as a perfect holiday destination, the Philippines coastline is acutely vulnerable to climate impacts (Pic: Pixabay)

By Heherson T. Alvarez

By the end of November this year, world leaders will assemble in Paris for a historic summit that promises to gradually cut or phase out the use of climate-altering carbon emissions and inaugurate greater global reliance on clean energy sources.

The promise will begin to take concrete form as soon as  all 196 UN members submit their “intended nationally determined commitments” (INDCs).

These will determine whether the world can stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere and limit global temperature rise to 2C in order to prevent the worst impacts of climate change.

Capping 23 years of intense research, debate and negotiation, the Paris summit of the UN Framework on Climate Change Convention asserts that a good INDC should be “ambitious, leading to transformation in carbon-intensive sectors and industry.

It should also be transparent, so that stakeholders can track progress and ensure countries meet their stated goals; and equitable, so that each country does its fair share to address climate change.”

The example of Mexico — one of some 50 countries that have so far communicated their INDCs to the UNFCCC — is worth emulating.

Mexico’s elaboration of its commitments involved broad public participation, multiple sectoral meetings, and a web-based public survey.

To back up its pledges, Mexico included in its formal submission the following instruments:  a national strategy on climate change,  carbon tax, national emissions and emissions reductions registry,  energy reform laws and regulations, and on-going process for new set of standards and regulations.

Paris tracker: Who has pledged what for 2015 deal?

Our own INDCs are still being formulated, and it is unfortunate that this is being done with little transparency and without public debate.

The official attitude seems to be that, since the Philippines is not a significant emitter, the crucial pledges should be made by the industrial nations.

This attitude is so wrong. First, the Philippines has bound itself to submit contributions that are fair and ambitious in the light of our national circumstances.

Since private industry will bear the brunt of cutting emissions, there is a need for total transparency in order to build responsibility, trust, and accountability with all stakeholders.

Second, the Philippines has also agreed that the collective INDCs shall be the basis for global action toward a low-carbon, climate-resilient future.

And as the nation most vulnerable to climate impacts, the Philippines should be an exemplar in demonstrating that emissions reduction is compatible with sustainable development and poverty reduction.

Equally important, by seriously defining our INDCs, the Philippines will also be in a position for priority assistance with regard to finance, technology, and capacity-building from international funding agencies.

Thus, to submit commitments that are run-of-the-mill will subvert our larger interests and likely embarrass the next administration.

Lack of transparency

A major initiative of President Benigno Aquino has been the promotion of a green building code.

This has allowed me to work closely with the International Finance Corporation, the Philippine Green Building Initiatives (PGBI) and its allies in the fields of engineering, design, and architecture.

This group has been keen on the entire INDC process since buildings and land-use change are major sources of greenhouse gases.

And I am often asked by well-meaning group members, what is the Philippines’ planning process?

So far, I must confess that there is none in the way of a transparent, comprehensive, and credible process where key stakeholders are actively engaged.

Benigo Aquino has been president of the Philippines since 2010 (Pic: UN photos)

Ideally, the lead agencies in this process – which is largely a scientific, technical and long-term economic planning task – should be the National Economic and Development Authority and the Department of Science and Technology.

NEDA because it is mandated to oversee economic development and planning. And DOST because it provides central direction and leadership in the nation’s scientific and technological pursuits.

While the on-going planning process is being orchestrated by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the mission is under the direction of the Climate Change Commission, which has no scientific or long-term economic planning capacity and which depends on a private contractor to fulfill this awesome mission.

Swayed by coal?

This raises a plethora of implications and questions.

Since these commitments are manifestly sovereign obligations, shouldn’t the government develop a core expertise to manage our INDCs?

Without an enabling legislation and appropriate incentives, will private industry agree to cut their emissions and profitability? Who or what government agency will execute and manage these obligations and monitor our compliance on a long-term basis?

At the moment, a major difficulty is that many of our policymakers appear to be swayed by conventional macroeconomic goals dependent on coal and fossil fuels.

One tell-tale sign is that Philippine emissions per capita, according to the DOE,  is projected to rise  by over 31% over a 20-year period, from 1.6 tons in 2010 to 2.1 tons in 2030.

Such projections tend to betray insincerity in complying with post-2020 climate action regime.

Since carbon reductions will impact dramatically on power generation, transport, and agriculture, these sectors should not only be adequately consulted — they must be persuaded, enticed, or offered advantages to accommodate the proposed INDCs.

Congress, too, which will legislate and allocate funds for carbon-cutting and alternative energy programs, must clearly understand how precisely such pledges will grow the economy.

The challenge is for the Philippines to define realistic yet ambitious sovereign pledges that President Aquino may proudly hand carry to Paris.

Heherson T. Alvarez is a Commissioner of the Climate Change Commission.  A two-term Senator, he chaired the Senate Committee on Environment for ten years.  In February 1995, he convened the First Asia-Pacific Conference on Climate Change in Manila.  

He currently Chairs the Advisory Board of the Climate Institute, one of the oldest think-tank environmental group based in Washington

The post Philippines plan for UN climate deal lacks credibility, says official appeared first on Climate Home News.

The scales of justice are weighing the evidence for climate action (Flickr/James Cridland)

By Megan Darby

When a Dutch district court ordered the Netherlands government to up its climate game, campaigners were overjoyed.

For the first time ever, last month judges accepted human rights arguments for demanding a country make deeper greenhouse gas emissions cuts.

“The State must do more to avert the imminent danger caused by climate change,” read the verdict.

The case, brought by pressure group Urgenda, does not set a binding precedent for any other jurisdiction. But it has emboldened environmental lawyers around the world in drawing up their own lawsuits.

“The legal arguments that we used in the case… are not unique to the Netherlands,” lawyer Dennis van Berkel told RTCC.

Top legal experts from around the world in March inked the Oslo Principles on climate change, setting out clear obligations on states and businesses.

“Avoiding severe global catastrophe is a moral and legal imperative,” they declared.

Here are five legal battles to watch.

1) Klimaatzaak, Belgium

Launched by 11 leading lights in December 2014, the Klimaatzaak (literally “climate case”) campaign has signed up 9,000 citizens as co-plaintiffs. That’s ten times the number behind Urgenda’s bid.

They are calling for a 40% cut in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2020. That is the deeper end of the range Urgenda demanded. The Dutch court only went as far as 25%.

With its champions including well-known figures from the worlds of TV, art and business, the launch got plenty of coverage domestically – not all supportive.

Sarah van Riel, the campaign’s only paid employee on two days a week, told RTCC the Dutch ruling made a “huge difference”.

“We feel that people who were critical about it now believe that it is not stupid,” she said.

The court hearing is expected towards the end of 2016.

Saul Luciano Lliuya fears for his home in Peru (Pic: Germanwatch)

2) Peruvian farmer v RWE

Urgenda merely asked the Dutch government to take more action in future. Saul Luciano Lliuya is arguing that German energy firm RWE should pay compensation for its historic activities.

The Peruvian farmer lives in the floodpath of a glacial lake that is on the verge of bursting its banks as greenhouse gases heat up the climate.

He is asking RWE – one of the EU’s top historical emitters – to pay €20,000 towards work to protect the valley. That is 0.47% of the estimated project cost, based on RWE’s 0.47% share of global emissions between 1751 and 2010.

While the sum is modest, a victory would open the floodgates for thousands if not millions of claims.

In May, RWE rejected the claim, denying responsibility for the risks faced by Luciano Lliuya.

Roda Verheyen, his German lawyer, said her client was “very disappointed” and “taking steps to assess the prospects of success of filing a lawsuit against RWE”. Watch this space.

3) Washington teens

From the geographically vulnerable to the younger generation, those who will feel the effects of climate change most are getting active.

In Washington, US, eight teenagers last month won a case to force the state to consider science-based emissions regulations.

It was the first victory for campaign group Our Children’s Trust, which is bringing similar actions across the country.

The children, aged 11 to 15, wrote in the petition of their concern for the northwestern state’s rugged wilderness.

Aji Piper worried about wildfires and Gabriel Mandell about disappearing beaches, while for Zoe Foster a longer mosquito season and allergies kept her from going camping.

Being too young to vote, they called on the courts to make policymakers protect them from the worsening effects of climate change. The Seattle government must decide by 8 July how to respond.

4) Philippines petition

In a similar vein to Peru v RWE, Greenpeace is looking at ways to sue fossil fuel majors for harm to the world’s most vulnerable to climate change.

Along with local campaign groups, it is drumming up a petition to get the Philippines Commission on Human Rights to investigate.

The Philippines is hit hard by increasingly intense tropical storms such as Typhoon Haiyan, for example, and has limited resources to protect its people.

Greenpeace will argue the likes of Gazprom, Glencore Xstrata and Exxon Mobil are violating the human rights of Filipinos by profiting from climate-polluting energy.

While the Commission cannot directly order those companies to pay compensation to those at the sharp end of global warming, a strong ruling could give leverage for further action.

Pacific island leaders last month declared their intention to challenge these carbon giants in the courts.

Kristin Caspar, legal counsel for Greenpeace, told RTCC: “The courts, as we have seen, are a powerful platform to hear the concerns about climate harm.

“We really feel that this is the time to use the power of the law to hold these companies to account. This is just the start.”

5) Australia action?

Directly inspired by the Urgenda victory, Environmental Justice Australia is canvassing support for a similar lawsuit.

“Although most Australians think the government should take action on climate change, there’s a vast chasm between citizens expectations and reality,” the NGO wrote.

Australia has yet to reveal its contribution to a UN climate deal. Analysts warn the government is considering an emissions target linked to “disastrous” levels of warming.

Prime minister Tony Abbott, who notoriously scrapped the country’s carbon tax, shows little appetite for the climate agenda.

Opportunities to challenge this legally in Australia are different and “probably more limited” than in the Netherlands, Environmental Justice said.

But the campaigners promised to explore all options “as the issue is too urgent to sit idle”.

The post Around the world in 5 climate change lawsuits appeared first on Climate Home News.

IOM Director General William Lacy Swing surveys the devastation caused by Typhoon Haiyan in the city of Tacloban, Leyte in the Philippines. © IOM 2013 (Photo by Leonard Doyle)

By Ed King

The world’s most climate vulnerable countries will push for a review of the UN’s global warming goal at a Paris summit later this year.

Philippines climate envoy Mary Ann Lucille Sering told RTCC the aim is to see if limiting temperature rises to 1.5C above pre industrial levels was still “realistic” or “feasible”.

The meeting in the French capital is expected to see rich and poor countries back a UN pact on limiting greenhouse gas emissions finalised.

“We know the multilateral process will be in jeopardy if we show nothing by December,” Sering added in the wide ranging interview.

In 2009, nearly 200 governments agreed to limit warming to 2C above pre-industrial levels, beyond which the risk of droughts, flooding and sea level rise increases.

So far, average temperatures have risen by nearly 1C. Last week scientists said climate change linked to human activities caused 75% of heat extremes and 18% of heavy rains.

Many experts believe holding temperature rises to 1.5C is almost impossible, requiring radical emissions cuts from China, the EU and US, and huge carbon sequestration schemes.

The World Bank’s 2014 Turn Down The Heat study reported heating of 1.5C was already “locked into Earth’s atmospheric system”

“If it was 1.5C there would need to be a drastic reduction… and that would mean developing countries would have to make cuts as well,” Sering admitted.

It would require the world’s top 30-50 emitters to place carbon cuts “on the table” she said, including her own nation.

Paris target

Some governments have already started playing down expectations for the Paris meet, the second time all the UN’s member states have tried to agree on a global climate pact.

The last effort in 2009 concluded in chaotic scenes in Copenhagen, with a loose and non-binding deal negotiated by the US, China and other major economies.

A recent meeting of the Major Economies Forum in Washington DC delivered a communique suggesting Paris should not be assessed on the level of carbon cuts it manages to secure.

Instead it should be judged on the longer term regime it builds, said the participants of the meeting, which included US, Chinese, EU and India.

For Sering, who fears devastating storms like Typhoon Haiyan in 2013 could become more common as the planet warms, this will evidently not be enough to represent success.

“That kind of statement comes from what happened in Copenhagen – when expectations were far too high,” she said, but added that “numbers” were needed to demonstrate progress.

“We have been advocating for 1.5C before Copenhagen,” she said. “And even before 1.5C we are seeing a lot of catastrophe.”

Renewable potential

Where Sering did see progress was in the provision of greener energy solutions and finance packages for developing countries.

Rich and poor have been asked to submit climate strategies – known as INDCs – to the UN well before Paris, so it can assess what further assistance and carbon cuts will be required.

The Philippines sees this as an opportunity to pull together a “long term investment plan” said Sering, which will be delivered well before the October deadline.

Perhaps surprisingly, she said money and technology were no longer the major problems facing poor countries.

As a recent report by the International Energy Agency points out, developing countries are struggling to get past intellectual property rights and access the huge variety of green energy solutions on the market.

Where they needed help said Sering was in developing the capacity to implement wide-ranging green policies.

“It’s all there. It’s a matter of how developing countries develop their capacity,” she said. “A decade ago we would have not predicted the deep cuts in solar costs.

“There is a move and intention to adopt low emission strategies if the technologies are made available.

“We have to have this support so it won’t be a burden for us to transition.”

The post Philippines climate envoy urges Paris review of warming goal appeared first on Climate Home News.

Yeb Sano protesting at slow progress during the 2013 UN climate summit in Warsaw (Pic: 350.org/Flickr)

By Yeb Sano

To fellow pilgrims, movers, missionaries, activists, peace-lovers, and kindred spirits, allow me first of all to offer my sincerest Earth Day greetings to all.

This day is indeed a day to celebrate, but also a day to earnestly reflect on the state of our Planet. 

Today, I wish to announce that I am stepping down as a Commissioner of the Philippines’ Climate Change Commission. I will be working with different faith groups across the world, as part of the larger global climate movement’.

As we celebrate Earth Day, I am filled with gladness and hope as I join OurVoices as Leader of The People’s Pilgrimage.

OurVoices is the global, multi-faith climate campaign created in recognition of the moral urgency of the climate crisis and it is a direct response to the clamor for support for climate action from the world’s religions and faith communities.

OurVoices is a movement that emerged from among people of diverse spiritualities and faiths from around the world, united by our concern around climate change’s impact on vulnerable communities, our children, and our precious planet.

Paris tracker: Who has pledged what to UN climate deal?

We are exceptionally inspired and enthused no end that the inter-faith and religious communities, together with many civil society organizations, have fervently embraced this call for climate action and climate justice. This planetary awakening is profoundly uplifting and amazing.

Today, April 22, along with a group of Filipino pilgrims, we will do a symbolic 10-kilometer walk from the Shrine of Mary Queen of Peace to the Rizal Shrine in Manila.

In the middle of May, we will cross San Juanico bridge as a symbolic departure from Tacloban and say farewell to the Philippines and then head to Vanuatu, recently devastated by Cyclone Pam in one of the most serious disasters the Pacific island nation has ever experience.

The Pilgrimage will include Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, the Great Barrier Reef, India, Rome, Africa, and the Americas, amongst others. Throughout my journey, I will be accompanied by religious leaders, faith communities, civil society groups and individuals.

Together, we will pay homage to global hotspots that are at risk from climate change, but that in equal measure celebrate compelling examples of climate leadership, solutions and climate resilience.

In depth: RTCC’s coverage of 2015 UN climate summit

The People’s Pilgrimage will culminate in a 1,500 kilometer, 60-day walk from Rome to Paris to arrive in time for the UN Climate Change Summit at the very end of November 2015. The same friends walking with me today for the symbolic walk will accompany me from Rome to Paris.

Already, millions of people have lost lives, homes and their livelihoods as a result of climate change.

Yet the actions and commitments of political and industry leaders from around the world remain profoundly inadequate and fail to secure a safe and just future for all.

If these so-called leaders refuse to act adequately to confront climate change and deliver the crucial outcome in Paris at the end of the year, the People will create a new parallel world where the climate crisis can be averted.

For instance, the aspiration of a world powered by 100% renewable energy by 2050 is a dream we can and must build.

Report: UN chief to address Vatican climate change summit

If we are to confront our problems as a human family effectively and pursue that bright future we all want, we must build a better world – eradicate poverty, build resilient and sustainable communities, protect the Earth, promote honor and integrity, and foster a culture of caring.

The fight against climate change is part of a larger struggle for a more just, equitable, caring, and mindful world. As such, greed, apathy, and arrogance have no place in our pursuit of this bright future.

The trend is absolutely clear – climate change is a serious challenge that we face as a nation and as a global community. The extreme climate events that the Philippines and many other vulnerable nations are now confronting and will continue to confront are all connected to the disruption of the global climate system.

The importance of this issue for our generation cannot be overemphasized. The situation calls for a massive global transformation, and the Philippines stands in a unique position to provide the moral voice and leadership in the international community.

I believe that our great country can rally the whole world to take this problem seriously and immediately transition to a global economy that can turn things around.

Video: How are cities in the Philippines preparing for climate change? 

This notwithstanding, it is my humble view that the country has so much yet to confront towards our vision of a resilient nation.

It is important to underscore that even with a concrete set of mandates and the clear adversary that is the nation’s vulnerability, I sincerely feel that the battle cannot be won merely within the confines of the institutions we have built and the boundaries of our country.

After much reflection and examination of my conscience before God, I have arrived at a conclusion that the inspiration I have drawn, and the experience and knowledge I have gained over the years as an advocate and as a civil servant will be needed as part of a larger global climate movement.

This is a battle we cannot afford to lose, and as such I cannot yield from this opportunity to be able to make a greater contribution in the fight against climate change. As many stood selflessly to offer their lives for the greater cause, we realize that sacrifices are needed to win battles.

My own journey and what lies ahead are miniscule compared to what many great Filipinos have done, but I am happy to offer whatever I can for the greater good.

I thank the Philippine government and the Filipino people for having given me the opportunity and honor of serving the country.

Despite the gargantuan challenge that climate change is, it offers the people of this planet the rare but golden opportunity to achieve transformative change.

The climate change challenge will make the world a better place. Simply because it is our only option.

It is a great time to be a part of this growing global movement – for our generation will be the generation that will find the political will and the courage to confront the challenges we face.

We, humans, started this crisis. We will end this crisis.

The post Yeb Sano: Why I’m leaving diplomacy to fight climate change appeared first on Climate Home News.

(Pic: UN Photos)

By Christiana Figueres

“Thank you for restoring our buildings; thank you for being our friends, thank you for keeping us safe.”

The Guiuan schoolchildren sang, smiled and swayed to their own beautiful voices. They touched every heart in the sun beaten public plaza of Guiuan.

Guiuan, a town of 48,000 people on the eastern side of the Philippines is where super typhoon Hayan first made landfall in November 2013.  Most of Guiuan was destroyed by that storm.

Much of Guiuan has been at least temporarily reconstructed. And no one knows what “temporary” is.

It is until more support arrives to repair the XVII century church, or is it until the next typhoon hits and structures are destroyed once again?

Last week I accompanied French President Hollande on his emblematic visit to the Philippines.

Report: France and Philippines call for “ambitious” UN climate deal 

The trip acted as a sort of debut of the French President onto the stage of global climate change, in preparation for his role as host of COP21 in Paris.

He and the Philippine President Aquino jointly launched the Manila Call to Action, a call to turn all good intentions into urgent climate action.

Damage in Guiuan caused by Typhoon Haiyan (Pic: Nick Nuttall/UNFCCC)

The Manila Call was elegantly staged on the beautiful grounds of the Malacanang Palace in Manila, but nowhere was the Call as compelling as in the little makeshift hall lovingly prepared to house a discussion of President Hollande with local leaders in Guiuan.

Early warning systems, grassroots insurance mechanisms for small and medium enterprises, investment in locally available renewable energy, and ecosystem based adaptation were all discussed not as theoretical topics of academic interest, but as real and urgent measures to be taken by highly prone communities.

These ideas were being put forth by community members who had already garnered remarkable strength to rebuild homes, reintegrate families, and re-energize the local economy.

The infrastructure of the town did not withstand the gales of Haiyan, but the resilience of the human spirit is vibrant in Guiuan.

Report: Todd Stern: Don’t rush to judge Paris climate change deal 

In the aftermath of the storm and in the midst of the pain they have found a deep solidarity with one another which is now inspiring them to stand tall, not as victims but as proud survivors, better prepared than before.

And yet they know their own efforts are not enough.

Like many other vulnerable communities around the world, the villagers of Guiuan need a strong agreement in Paris, one that can bend the curve of emissions in order to protect them from the worst impacts of climate change.

Sometimes we think the global agreement is very far from daily life.

Not so in Guiuan.  In his very eloquent speech the young Mayor called for “ambitious nationally determined contributions from all countries to ensure that our recent past does not become the new normal of the future”.

President Hollande well captured our feelings as we departed: “We are working toward COP21 in Paris.

“At the COP I will be thinking of you, I will be remembering your faces, remembering your courage.  It is for you that we must succeed.”

The post Christiana Figueres: We need a climate deal for the people of Guiuan appeared first on Climate Home News.

Hollande and Aquino launched the declaration outside in the Philippines (Pic: UNEP)

By Sophie Yeo

France and the Philippines have launched a joint call for a “universal, equitable and ambitious climate deal” this year in Paris.

All countries, from the poorest to the wealthiest, will come together in Paris in December under the UN to sign a global binding climate agreement.

As president of the proceedings, France is now leading the diplomatic push to make sure the meeting is a success.

During a two day trip to the Philippines, President Francois Hollande met with Filipino president Benigno Aquino to release the Manila Call to Action on Climate Change.

“From Manila today, we hope to make history in Paris in December and not simply watch history unfold,” reads the declaration.

“As we meet in the Philippines, where people have endured an unprecedented series of extreme weather events in the last few years, we are reminded while the developing countries have contributed least to climate change, we are the ones that suffer the most from the impacts of climate change.”

Justice

More than 6,000 people died in the Philippines in 2013 when Typhoon Haiyan made landfall. With the country still in the midst of recovery efforts, President Hollande will tomorrow visit the stricken town of Guiuan, where he will announce further rehabilitation actions.

His high profile delegation – including French foreign minister Laurent Fabius and Oscar-winning actors Jeremy Irons and Marion Cotillard – is an attempt to focus attention on the issue of climate change.

UN climate chief Christiana Figueres is also taking part in the trip.

.@fhollande in the Philippines with 3 Ministers in charge of #COP21: @LaurentFabius, @RoyalSegolene, @AnnickGirardin pic.twitter.com/je7w2eO4vN

— Christiana Figueres (@CFigueres) February 26, 2015

Standing alongside Aquino, Hollande explained that the purpose of the Manila Call was to mobilise public opinion ahead of the UN negotiations.

“We will need to have discussions with world leaders so the necessary commitments are made,” he said. “We will also need public opinion to mobilise, and that is the purpose of this appeal.”

Hollande added that the joint declaration was an appeal for “justice”, recognising that climate change is an issue that hits the poor hardest – despite the fact that it is the activities of rich countries that have been historically responsible for causing the problem.

He highlighted that the Green Climate Fund – which seeks to channel billions in clean energy investments towards developing countries – was key to these efforts. France has so far been one of the most generous donors to this UN-backed bank.

Growth

Reiterating his message to business leaders earlier in the day, Hollande said that the appeal was also for imagination and innovation when it came to creating a model for new finance and green growth.

[#Vidéo] Discours de @fhollande en ouverture du forum “Vers la @COP21, la société civile mobilisée pour le #climat” : http://t.co/Rfy9yHI2S7

— Élysée (@Elysee) February 26, 2015

Touching on the topic of terrorism, which has been another priority for France since the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris in January, Hollande said in a press conference ahead of the launch that the two issues were connected.

“Wars are sometimes the result of climate change,” he said, as they can cause poverty and displacement of people.

President Aquino also focused on the responsibility of all countries to act in the face of climate change.

“This statement, thus, is a welcome call to action: no longer can we be paralyzed by debates over the obligations of individual countries; all of us must do everything we can, in the quickest and most impactful way possible,” he said.

“The choice before us is clear. We can either overcome this problem together, or together reap the consequences of apathy.”

The post France and Philippines call for “ambitious” UN climate deal appeared first on Climate Home News.

(Pic: Jmayrault/Flickr)

By Sophie Yeo

French president Francois Hollande will visit the Philippines this week to drum up support for the forthcoming UN climate negotiations in Paris.

Among his delegation will be Oscar winning actors Marion Cotillard and Jeremy Irons, who have been chosen for their commitment to environmental issues.

“We would like to call on all leaders involved in international climate negotiations to reach an agreement as soon as possible,” said Gilles Garachon, France’s ambassador in the Philippines.

“We’d like to make this call with the Philippines because your country is very much involved in the climate issue. The Philippines, though very vulnerable to the consequences of climate change, has a positive and constructive international stand.”

During a two-day visit, taking place on the 26-27 February, Hollande will visit Guiuan in Samar, one of the areas that witnessed some of the most devastating impacts from Typhoon Haiyan in 2013.

More than 6,000 people died as a result of the storm, which the UN’s weather agency said was likely made more severe by climate change.

Hollande is also expected to open a climate change forum that will be attended by government officials, academics and civil society representatives, the embassy said.

Line-up

As well as the Hollywood stars, the president will be accompanied by foreign minister Laurent Fabius, who will preside over two weeks of negotiations in Paris in December, where the UN hopes a new international climate deal will be agreed.

French minister of ecology, sustainable development and energy Ségolène Royal and Hollande’s special envoy for the protection of the planet Nicolas Hulot will also be on the delegation, alongside a selection of French businessmen and academics.

Two French schoolchildren who won a climate change themed competition are also included in the line-up.

The State Visit is the first time that a French head of state has visited the Philippines since the country gained independence in 1946.

Filipino president Benigno Aquino made his first official visit to France in September last year.

The leaders will also discuss terrorism in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks that saw twelve people, including five prominent cartoonists, killed by Muslim extremists in Paris in January.

Hollande will follow in the footsteps of Pope Francis, who also visited Haiyan struck areas of the Philippines last month, and warned that polluting the planet amounted to a betrayal of God.

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Crowds in Sri Lanka greet the Pope during his tour of Asia (Pic: shehan peruma/Flickr)

By Sophie Yeo

Destroying the environment amounts to a betrayal of God, according to a text by Pope Francis.

The remarks – which went undelivered when the Pope strayed from prepared comments – urged young Filipinos to look after the environment, particularly in light of their vulnerability to the impacts of climate change.

“Respect for the environment means more than simply using cleaner products or recycling what we use. These are important aspects, but not enough.

“We need to see, with the eyes of faith, the beauty of God’s saving plan, the link between the natural environment and the dignity of the human person. Men and women are made in the image and likeness of God, and given dominion over creation (cf. Gen 1:26-28).

“As stewards of God’s creation, we are called to make the earth a beautiful garden for the human family. When we destroy our forests, ravage our soil and pollute our seas, we betray that noble calling.”

The Pope addressed young people from the sports field of Santo Tomás University in Manila, the capital of the Philippines.

He told the young people that they were the future of the Philippines, and pressed them to “be concerned about what is happening to your beautiful land”.

The Vatican said the speech remained official, despite the Pope setting it aside after an abandoned Filipino girl compelled him to deliver impromptu remarks in his native Spanish instead.

Around 30,000 people had gathered at the Catholic University to see the Pope, who has established a reputation as a reformist and a defender of the environment. His chosen namesake, Saint Francis of Assisi, is the patron saint of animals and the environment.

Typhoon Haiyan

There are 80 million Catholics in the Philippines – a country which is still reeling from the impacts of Super Typhoon Haiyan, which killed more than 6,000 people when it made landfall in November 2013.

Francis visited Tacloban, the worst hit city, on Saturday, where he delivered Mass and offered words of comfort to those who had been affected by the storm.

“So many of you have lost everything,” said the Pope, who was dressed in a yellow poncho as he delivered Mass in the heavy rain. He was forced to fly back to Manila early as the bad weather intensified.

While Typhoon Haiyan – the strongest tropical cyclone on record to make landfall – caused unprecedented damage, the Philippines have experienced devastating storms with growing frequency. As the UN climate talks in Lima got underway in December, Typhoon Hagupit struck the island, causing many to evacuate coastal zones.

The World Meteorological Organisation said that higher sea levels are making the impacts of such extreme weather events more severe, as storm surges cause more damage on land.

In comments made to reporters on board his flight from Sri Lanka to the Philippines, Pope Francis said that the “majority” of climate change is man’s fault, and that he had been disappointed at the political response in Lima.

“I think there was a lack of courage. They stopped at a certain point,” he said. “Let’s hope the delegates in Paris [in December 2015] will be more courageous and move forward with this.”

His encyclical on the relationship between man and nature is almost finished, he added, and will be ready in June.

The post Polluting the planet is a betrayal of God, says Pope Francis appeared first on Climate Home News.

By Megan Darby

On his way to the Philippines yesterday, Pope Francis was already speaking out about climate change.

Tomorrow, he visits Tacloban, the city hardest hit by Typhoon Haiyan, known locally as Yolanda, in 2013.

Survivors of the deadly tropical storm, which killed at least 6,000 people, have recorded a video appeal to the Pope for support in facing the impacts of climate change.

The video documents the suffering and hardship of people in the wake of the disaster. It has harsh words for the government, military and “rich and powerful” countries who ignore their plight.

Under the banner People Surge, campaigners urge Pope Francis to use his influence to promote climate justice.

The post Typhoon Haiyan survivors make climate appeal to Pope Francis appeared first on Climate Home News.

(Pic: Republic of Korea/Flickr)

By Megan Darby

Faith and development groups are calling on Pope Francis to ditch the Vatican’s holdings in fossil fuels ahead of a visit to the Philippines this week.

They are promoting the move as a way for the Pope to act on concerns about climate change and its impact on the world’s poorest.

Campaign group 350 says part of the Vatican Bank’s $8 billion holdings are “inevitably invested” in fossil fuels.

On Saturday, Pope Francis will take mass in Tacloban, the city devastated by Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, and meet survivors of the storm.

“We need him to stand in defence of humankind and the environment and take the lead in actions that will help prevent further climate catastrophes,” said Lidy Nacpil, 350.org board member and coordinator of Jubilee South – Asia Pacific Movement on Debt and Development.

“One such urgent action is full divestment from the fossil fuel industry. We urge the Vatican and the Roman Catholic Church to lead the way.”

REPORT: Stanford professors call for fossil fuel divestment

The divestment movement aims to stigmatise companies that profit from selling the fossil fuels responsible for most greenhouse gas emissions.

These emissions cause climate change, which scientists say is raising the frequency and intensity of typhoons.

A number of faith groups, including the World Council of Churches, have committed to phase out investment in fossil fuel companies.

Yeb Saño, a climate change commissioner for the Philippines, urged the Pope to take on “vested interests” preventing action.

The climate crisis reflects “a profound global moral crisis,” said Saño. He has been on hunger strike and a 1,000km march to draw attention to the plight of those hit by climate change.

“We look to Pope Francis to break the political impasse preventing real action on climate change,” he added.

“Twenty years of climate negotiations have left the world at the mercy of political and economic circles looking to protect their vested interests at the expense of mankind and the planet”

Human ecology

The Pope urged unity at UN climate talks in Lima last month and is preparing a heavily trailed encyclical on “human ecology”.

This is expected to come out in late February or March, months before countries are set to agree a global climate deal in Paris.

There has been widespread speculation the Pope will take on climate change deniers and send a message to political leaders.

People familiar with the matter say it will not rewrite the rulebook, however.

The document, to be written in Latin, aims to encourage Catholics to reflect on their lives and will largely focus on poverty.

Pope Francis sees climate change primarily as a social justice and human rights issue, a UN official told RTCC.

John Leydon, a priest from the Missionary Society of St Columban, framed the divestment call as an appeal to relieve human suffering.

He said: “Political and economic decision makers and church leaders hardly appreciate the extent to which the insatiable demands of our global economy are thoroughly tearing apart the web of life, with disastrous consequences for future generations.”

Corazon dela Cruz and her four children in the wreckage of their home destroyed by Typhoon Haiyan
(Pic: Pio Arce/Genesis Photos – World Vision)

On his trip to the Philippines, the Pope’s themes are “mercy and compassion”. He is scheduled to have lunch with victims of Typhoon Haiyan.

More than 6,300 Filipinos died in the tropical storm and many thousands more lost their homes.

Around 80% of the country’s 100 million people are Catholic and the Pope’s visit is expected to cause gridlock in the streets of Manila and Tacloban.

UK-based Catholic aid agency CAFOD, which supports disaster relief in the Philippines, warned the country could become more vulnerable to typhoons.

Aude Archambault, CAFOD emergency manager for the Philippines, said: “We pray that the Pope’s visit this weekend will provide a source of comfort to typhoon survivors, while drawing the world’s attention to the impact of disasters on vulnerable communities.”

The post Pope urged to divest from fossil fuels as he visits Philippines appeared first on Climate Home News.

People on the streets of Manila, which has the highest population density in the world (Pic: Ville Miettinen/Flickr)

By Sophie Yeo

The Philippines’ rapidly growing population is increasing its vulnerability to climate change, according to a government document.

Around 92 million people live in the Philippines and the number is growing by 1.9% a year. The country has slipped recently from 12th to 3rd most vulnerable in the world to climate change.

“The large number of people and their migration patterns have led to crowded cities, waste and housing problems, pollution, and encroachment of upland forests and watersheds leading to denudation and, consequently, significant reduction of carbon sinks,” write the authors of the report.

In 1970, the population of the Philippines was 30 million. Population growth has slowed since then, but the number of people living in the country is nonetheless expected to double in the next thirty years.

The 102-page document was submitted to the UN’s climate body on 29 December. It outlines the country’s vulnerabilities, actions and constraints in tackling climate change.

Fragility and resilience

The growth is mainly happening in urban areas, as Filipinos migrate towards cities. Since 2000, the number of people living in rural areas has been shrinking, the government reports.

Urban areas tend to be more at risk of flooding and earthquakes, which raises the pressure on the Philippines as rising temperatures are predicted to intensify the impacts of climate change.

The vulnerability of the Philippines was thrown into the spotlight in 2013 when Typhoon Haiyan made landfall, killing more than 6,000 people and forcing millions into temporary homes.

Heherson Alvarez, from the Philippines Climate Change Commission, told RTCC at the UN climate talks in December that the country was working on building its resilience in the aftermath of the typhoon.

“The government has been reorganised so at the grassroots we’re stronger at responding,” he said.

But the latest document speculates that inadequate measures in the Philippines could be one reason why it is becoming more vulnerable than other countries.

Environmental degradation

According to World Bank data, the Filipino population is increasing faster than in neighbouring countries Indonesia and Vietnam. But it is slower than many African countries, where growth rate in 2013 was more than 3%.

Not only is population growth increasing the country’s vulnerability, but it is also boosting its emissions.

“As the population and the economy grew, energy consumption increased, as well as transport use, and industrial activity in all the production and services sectors,” the document says.

“All of these meant greater use of the country’s agricultural, forestry and marine resources and increasing pressure on the natural environment.”

Total energy use has increased proportionally with population growth, it notes.

Greenhouse gas emissions from road transport – which makes up 36.8% of total energy demand – is predicted to rise from 24 million tonnes of CO2 today to 87 MtCO2 in 2030.

Forest cover in the Philippines has also been reduced from around 27.5 million hectares in the 1500s to around only 7.2 million today. Many of the causes – including logging,  agriculture and unplanned land conversion – have been worsened by population growth.

The post Population boom driving Philippines’ climate vulnerability appeared first on Climate Home News.

Yeb Sano is absent from the Lima climate talks
(Pic: 350)

By Megan Darby in Lima

Typhoon Hagupit is bearing down on the Philippines, a year after Haiyan killed thousands and devastated millions of homes and livelihoods.

Such deadly tropical storms are expected to get more intense and frequent as greenhouse gases warm the earth’s atmosphere.

The country’s star climate change negotiator, Yeb Sano is mysteriously absent from this year’s UN talks in Lima.

Today he took to twitter to track the storm’s progress and urge his former colleagues and adversaries from afar to take action.

Typhoon #Hagupit threatens the Philippines, as @UN_ClimateTalks #COP20 happen in #Lima. #ClimateExtremes pic.twitter.com/Wp6hWOKy77

— Yeb Saño (@YebSano) December 4, 2014

#ClimateWalk sojourned through areas to be hit by Typhoon #Hagupit. We know how vulnerable the people are. #stopthemadness

— Yeb Saño (@YebSano) December 4, 2014

Typhoon #Hagupit may bring wind gusts up to 380 km/h! Pray for the Philippines.

— Yeb Saño (@YebSano) December 4, 2014

Super Typhoon 4th year in a row outside PH typhoon season. Is this normal? #ClimateExtremes #ClimateJustice

— Yeb Saño (@YebSano) December 4, 2014

Let’s show the Filipino spirit and together let’s muster the courage to prepare for this hellstorm called #Hagupit. I love the Philippines.

— Yeb Saño (@YebSano) December 4, 2014

Time is running out to avert the climate crisis. Lima, please deliver! How many more hellstorms do we have to endure??? Typhoon #Hagupit

— Yeb Saño (@YebSano) December 4, 2014

We refuse to accept that facing super typhoons become a way of life. #ClimateJustice

— Yeb Saño (@YebSano) December 4, 2014

Projections on track, wind speed show #Hagupit likely to cause extensive damage in #Philippines. #SuperTyphoon pic.twitter.com/MT4P5qzpOZ

— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) December 4, 2014

Everyone should be ready. One scenario track shows a potential direct hit on Metro Manila. Typhoon #Hagupit #RubyPH pic.twitter.com/zqPPQWPqDi

— Yeb Saño (@YebSano) December 4, 2014

Time for Filipinos to unite. The real enemy of our nation is out there – climate change #HarapinHagupit #ClimateWalk

— Yeb Saño (@YebSano) December 4, 2014

Rich countries muddying the process in Lima right now. Shame on you. Climate change is upon us.

— Yeb Saño (@YebSano) December 4, 2014

All we are asking for in Lima right now is for the negotiating text to be projected on the screen. Rich countries disagree. Hiding anything?

— Yeb Saño (@YebSano) December 4, 2014

“In the line of fire is the place of honor.” — Lean Alejandro

— Yeb Saño (@YebSano) December 4, 2014

Where am I? I am in my motherland, The Philippines. I will not be ashamed to cry for my people. #YebNotInLima

— Yeb Saño (@YebSano) December 4, 2014

They can silence my mouth. But they cannot silence my soul.

— Yeb Saño (@YebSano) December 4, 2014

Climate change will affect my children and future generations. This is beyond the foolish politics of today.

— Yeb Saño (@YebSano) December 4, 2014

Climate change and the injustices in this world will persist for generations, beyond the foolish politics of today. #YebNotInLima

— Yeb Saño (@YebSano) December 4, 2014

I am certain we shall overcome the Dark Lord of our age. The War of the Rings is on. The glory of the Third Age is coming. #ClimateJustice

— Yeb Saño (@YebSano) December 4, 2014

The post Yeb Sano: I will not be ashamed to cry for my people appeared first on Climate Home News.