April 22, 2018. In Day 4 of the Spring Meetings hosted by the World Bank Group (WBG) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, D.C., members of the Philippine Delegation discussed with the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) Troika Leadership the way forward in advancing the global alliance’s work program for vulnerable countries leading to the upcoming 24th Conference of Parties (COP24) to be held in Poland in December of this year.

The CVF Troika Leadership is composed of the Philippines, being the former chair of the CVF for 19 months since January 2015; Ethiopia, as current chair until August 2018, represented in the meeting by Environment Minister Gemedo Dalle; and Marshall Islands, as incoming chair, represented by Environment Minister David Paul.

Climate Change Commissioner Rachel Herrera represented the Philippines, together with Senator Loren Legarda and Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran.

“We highly value our participation in the CVF because we share with the countries that comprise the CVF the same goals and aspirations for greater and more ambitious global climate action,” Herrera said.

“As led by the Philippines in 2015, the CVF, during the Paris Agreement negotiations, was victorious in further bringing down the climate goal to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The CVF had eventually become a strong moral force in climate talks, as they continue to champion and voice out the rights of highly vulnerable countries,” Herrera added.

Aside from sustaining the global advocacy and action on climate change, the CVF Troika Leadership and the Vulnerable Twenty (V20) discussed further unlocking vulnerable countries' direct access to climate finance mechanisms.

Herrera noted that the V20 consists of Finance Ministers from member states of the CVF, which aims, primarily, “to act collectively and decisively to promote the mobilization of public and private climate finance from wide ranging sources.”

“We cannot truly say that we are successful in our climate advocacy until there is actual climate financing and technical assistance in order for our climate vulnerable countries to be resilient against climate impacts,” Herrera said.

“The CVF and V20 are two important channels for us to communicate and inspire the rest of the world to address climate change in a systematic and urgent manner. We need to sustain this voice in future climate talks in order to secure a better future for the world and humanity,” Herrera concluded.

The CVF-V20 meeting is the last participation of the CCC in the WB-IMF Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C.

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