MANILA, 3 June 2023 – The Climate Change Commission (CCC) welcomes the new Commission on Audit (COA) regulatory guidelines aiming to strengthen the transparency of the Philippine government’s climate expenditures.

The recently issued COA Circular No. 2023-01 provides guidelines to national government instrumentalities  (NGIs) and COA auditors when auditing programs, activities, and projects (PAPs) part of the Climate Change Expenditure Tagging (CCET) process, under the General Appropriations Act (GAA). 

The Circular aims to validate that the budget utilization and implementation of PAPs with CCET is in accordance with the law. It also determines the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of the implementation of climate change programs.  

“The CCC welcomes this audit policy of COA to support the CCET process. The new guidelines ensure not only the efficiency and effectiveness of its implementation, but also the proper utilization of resources intended for climate action,” said CCC Vice Chairperson and Executive Director (VCED) Robert E.A. Borje. 

The COA Circular emphasizes that all climate-related PAPs in the GAA for fiscal years (FY) 2021 onwards are expected to be implemented and delivered.

The CCET budget has increased by 64.46% – from PHP 282.36 billion in FY 2021 to PHP 464.50 billion in FY 2023.

“This initiative will go a long way in encouraging transparency and accountability from the government in how climate expenditures are allocated. We will work closely with COA and extend the necessary technical assistance for the conduct of post-implementation assessment of climate-tagged programs in our annual appropriations,” VCED Borje assured.

The CCET is a tool used to track and monitor climate-tagged budgets in the annual appropriations. 

Government programs aimed at building climate resilience and promoting a low-carbon future like the Enhanced National Greening Program, Flood Mitigation projects, and Early Warning Systems are tagged in the CCET.

For the CCC, the new COA regulatory guidelines shall serve as a tool to promote a low-carbon future and build resilience to climate-related risks and disasters.

For more information about the CCET, visit https://climate.gov.ph/ and https://niccdies.climate.gov.ph/climate-finance/ccet.