The Climate Change Commission joins the 2nd Adaptation Investment Forum, highlighting the importance of investing in adaptation efforts to strengthen resilience against climate change.

TAGUIG CITY — The Climate Change Commission (CCC) underscored the importance of strengthening climate resilience through strategic investments during the 2nd Adaptation Investment Forum.

CCC Vice Chairperson and Executive Director Robert E. A. Borje emphasized that strengthening climate adaptation requires not only identifying solutions but also building the systems and investment pathways needed to implement them effectively.

“The challenge of adaptation does not stop at discovering solutions. It also involves organizing institutions and creating investment pathways so solutions can actually happen,” Borje said.

The  Philippine Adaptation Investment Platform (AIP), launched at the Forum, is an innovative mechanism designed to mobilize investments for climate adaptation initiatives, particularly those that protect and strengthen economically important yet highly climate-exposed food crops across the Philippines.

The AIP will support pilot implementations in several areas across the country, including Negros Occidental, Iloilo, Bukidnon, and Isabela, focusing on climate-resilient initiatives for key crops such as sugarcane, rice, coffee, corn, and other high-value agricultural products. These initiatives aim to help protect the livelihoods of farming communities whose incomes depend on climate-sensitive agricultural production.

The AIP supports the implementation of the country’s National Adaptation Plan (NAP), which adopts a science-based and risk-informed approach to strengthening resilience across sectors and communities.

Developed under the leadership of Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., the NAP serves as the Philippines’ long-term roadmap toward building climate-resilient and climate-smart communities.

CCC Commissioner Rachel Anne S. Herrera urged local government units and development partners to take a proactive approach in prioritizing climate initiatives and investments.

“To our local governments: bring forward your priority projects—we are building mechanisms to help you structure, finance, and scale them. To our development partners and financial institutions: strengthen early-stage support, deploy catalytic capital, and help scale what works.”

Complementing the launch was the graduation ceremony for the first cohort of the Adaptation Investment Learning Course (AILC), which aims to support the localization of the NAP by equipping local governments and stakeholders with the knowledge and tools needed to develop viable adaptation investment projects.
The learning course is designed to help translate local climate knowledge into actionable and bankable adaptation initiatives that can attract investments and deliver tangible benefits to communities.

Borje highlighted the importance of strengthening knowledge and capacity to help turn climate plans into concrete investments at the local level.

“Knowledge and capacity-building must become a launchpad for a pipeline of evidence-based adaptation investments. When investments reach the local level, the results are immediate and practical,” he added.

The event was co-presented by key national government agencies together with the CCC, with support from the United Kingdom Government led by Ambassador Sarah Hulton.

The CCC continues to advance partnerships and financing mechanisms that transform climate plans into concrete actions that protect communities, livelihoods, and the country’s food systems.

For more information on the CCC’s climate mainstreaming activities, visit www.climate.gov.ph and www.facebook.com/CCCPhl.