MANILA, Philippines – The Climate Change Commission (CCC) is optimistic as the results of the fourth quarter 2022 Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed an increasing awareness among Filipinos on climate change, including initiatives they can do to reduce its impact.

The survey revealed that four out of five Filipinos (81%) were aware of climate change, an increase from 74% in a similar survey conducted in March 2017 and from 66% in March 2013.

The survey further revealed that 93% of Filipinos said they have personally experienced the impacts of climate change in the past three years.

Eighty-eight percent (88%) of Filipinos agreed that they could do something to reduce climate risk, the survey continued.

Among the solutions to reduce the impacts of climate change, planting trees and protecting forests and saving energy at home ranked the highest, with both garnering 95%. These were followed by walking, cycling or taking public transportation (93%), reducing, reusing, repairing and recycling (91%), and reducing food waste (86%).

CCC Vice Chairperson and Executive Director (VCED) Robert Borje urges people to "take collective, urgent, and transformative action to adapt to and mitigate climate change effects because the lives, livelihood, and future of the next generations are at stake."

This SWS survey is a reflection of the collective effort of government, civil society, private sector, and all stakeholders in mainstreaming climate change in national, local, and sectoral development plans.

The CCC, as the lead policy-making body of the government on climate change, continues to ramp up its information and education campaigns and introduced innovations in the delivery of its capacity development programs through partnerships with national government agencies, local government units, research institutions, and the private sector.

Greenhouse gas inventory training, climate change expenditure tagging, local climate change adaptation plan, and other youth-related programs are some of the CCC’s mainstreaming activities.

“The CCC will continue to further strengthen its public-private-community engagements to further strengthen public awareness and understanding of climate change and improve the quality of risk and vulnerability assessments,” VCED Borje added.

The SWS survey is a clear manifestation of the priority given by the Marcos Administration to the transformative climate change agenda, as laid out in the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028.

The Fourth Quarter 2022 Social Weather Survey was conducted from December 10-14, 2022, using face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adults nationwide – 300 each in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao.

The CCC vows to strengthen its mission in coordination among key stakeholders toward achieving a climate-resilient and climate-smart Philippines.

For more information on climate change mainstreaming activities of the CCC, visit the website, https://climate.gov.ph.