1 week Ago By Rox Peña
Last Monday, November 11, the 29th Conference of Parties (COP 29) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change convened in Baku, Azerbaijan. The meeting will last until November 22. A key focus of COP29 will be on finance.
Climate finance refers to local, national or transnational financing, drawn from public, private and alternative sources, that seeks to support mitigation and adaptation actions that will address climate change. This is based on the ‘polluter pays’ principle, the commonly accepted practice that those who produce pollution should bear the costs of managing it. The discussion on climate funding is important to the Philippines, as we are one of the most vulnerable nations to the effect of climate change.
Only recently, we were hit by super typhoons Kristine and Leon with damage amounting to P 11.2 billion. The strong typhoons that hit our country can be attributed to climate change.
More heat in the atmosphere and warmer ocean surface temperatures can lead to increased wind speeds in tropical storms. As more water vapor evaporates into the atmosphere it becomes fuel for more powerful storms to develop. The Philippines is sending a delegation to COP 29 headed by Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo Loyzaga.
While present in Baku, the DENR chief said the Philippines is also preparing to host the fourth meeting of the Board of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage in Manila this December 2-5. The Loss and Damage Fund is a financial instrument that helps developing countries recover from the economic and non-economic damages caused by climate change. During the COP 29, countries will also present their updated national climate action plans under the Paris agreement which are due by early 2025.
Their pledges to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) are called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC). The Philippines, though a tiny contributor of GHG, still committed to a 75% reduction in GHG emissions from 2020 to 2030. The 2024 NDC Synthesis Report found that current pledges fall far short of what is needed to limit global warming.
They would result in emissions that are only 2.6% below 2019 levels. The target is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 43% by 2030 and 60% by 2035, compared to 2019 levels.
This is critical to limiting global heating to 1.5°C this century to avert the worst climate impacts. Every fraction of a degree matters, as climate disasters get rapidly worse.
UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell, reacting to the 2024 NDC synthesis report, said that current plans combined – if fully implemented – would see emissions of 51.5 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2030. Greenhouse gas pollution at these levels will guarantee “a human and economic trainwreck for every country, without exception”.
For this COP 29, the Philippines and other vulnerable nations are calling on governments to convert the pledges they made during the COP28 into real-world, real-economy results..
