April 18, 2018. From April 18 to 21, 2018, the Climate Change Commission (CCC) is part of the Philippine Delegation to the 2018 Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG) in Washington, D.C.

The CCC is represented by Commissioner Rachel Herrera, alongside other Philippine Delegation members Undersecretary Gil Beltran from the Department of Finance (DOF), Undersecretaries Adoracion Navarro and Rolando Tungpalan from the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), with Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno serving as Head of Delegation and Senator Loren Legarda as Alternate Head of the Philippine Delegation.

Herrera said that the WBG-IMF Spring Meetings provide a platform where government officials, bankers, private sector executives, academics, and other stakeholders discuss a wide range of issues related to poverty reduction, international economic development, and finance.

“The Spring Meetings, as well as the seminars, briefings, and conferences at the sidelines, give the Government of the Philippines the opportunity to learn from other countries, while sharing our own efforts and initiatives in various fields of cooperation. This also allows us to strengthen, especially our climate advocacy and agenda, by communicating to the international community the urgency to transition to clean and renewable sources of energy in order to limit global warming,” Herrera said.

For the first day, Herrera participated in the Second Annual High-Level Strategy Session (HLSS2) on Sustainable, Healthy Cities, and Sustainable Energy Solutions organized by AirQualityAsia (AQA) and the US-Asia Institute, where Sen. Legarda presented the Parliamentary Leadership on Carbon Reduction Policies – Implementing the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on Clean Air.

In a luncheon meeting hosted by former US Ambassador to the Philippines John Negroponte and Executive Director Hank Hendrickson of the US-Philippines Society, Commissioner Herrera, Senator Legarda, Philippine Ambassador Jose Manuel Romualdez, and Director Kristine Sheree Mangunay-Infante shared their thoughts on how US-PH relations could be further enhanced in various fields of international cooperation.

This was soon followed by a roundtable discussion with the US Chamber of Commerce organized by the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Herrera also participated in a series of meetings, first with Mr. Paul Shmotolokha, Vice President for International Sales of Alpha Technologies, to know more about their work and partnerships with Philippine companies in promoting clean energy; and with US Senator Cory Scott Gardner, Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific, to discuss US-PHL partnership in the areas of security, defense, and rehabilitation, as well as the development of renewable energy sources in the Philippines.

“Our events for the first day bring new light to the value of clean and renewable sources of energy in improving air quality and reducing carbon in the atmosphere. I hope that we could sustain this positive energy and collaborative spirit among nations in the coming days,” Herrera added.