KATOWICE, POLAND 7 December 2018 – Philippines Climate Change Commission Secretary Emmanuel de Guzman urges countries to make progress in the global fight against climate change, adding that the gathering of the world leaders at the 24th session of the Conference of the Parties under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), commonly known as COP24, is an opportunity for countries to demonstrate their commitment and to set stronger climate action in Poland.

Several reports have painted a stark picture of the current state of the planet a few days before the climate talks. The alarming report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for instance, pointed out that world leaders need to step up climate action if the world is to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Already, the Philippines and many other countries are facing challenges such as droughts, higher sea levels and catastrophic typhoons exacerbated by climate change.

“We need to incorporate climate change in our long-term policy. In the climate talks, ours is a leadership voice on behalf of the climate vulnerable. The Philippines championed climate justice,” said De Guzman, also the lead negotiator of the Philippine delegation to COP 24.

At COP24, countries will need to come to agreement on the implementing guidelines that is necessary to operationalize the 2015 Paris Agreement, signal their intention to strengthen their national climate plans by 2020, and make progress on dealing with the finance.

De Guzman said the Philippine delegation to the climate talks will safeguard the continued success of the landmark Paris Agreement, adding that the country will continue to champion the following concerns of developing countries: finance are delivered, including for technology development, transfer and diffusion, and capacity-building; developed countries have clear programmes for delivery; clarity and acceptability of the time frame of the programmes to enable developing countries like the Philippines to build their national capacities to avoid future generation of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and to survive the intensifying impacts of climate change through anticipatory adaptation.

Additionally, the Philippines will push for the establishment of a global accounting system that deals with both the causes and impacts of climate change, and monitors environmental integrity. This system will allow countries to monitor collective progress against the global temperature goal of the Paris Agreement.

The Philippines will deliver on its commitment to submit to UNFCCC its first Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) next year.

“The NDC of the Philippines conveys our country’s readiness to raise our ambition and pursue the low carbon transition of our sectors towards a climate resilient and green economy,” de Guzman explained. “However, we would like to emphasize that defining the ambition and contributions of developing country Parties entails clarity on the delivery of the means of implementation. It is therefore critical that COP 24 delivers on the guidance on how to ensure scale, predictability and sustainability in the delivery of climate finance.”

De Guzman said both developed and developing countries should agree on the modalities, procedures and guidelines, including a common set of clear, straightforward, and measurable indicators, for reporting. A common set of indicators can be tested initially in the current and contemplated reporting instruments, adjusted and adopted at the soonest time possible into a coherent reporting framework.

In his message during the Climate Change Consciousness Week last month in Manila, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte said effective climate mitigation and adaptation strategies can prevent the worst impacts of climate change.

“Climate change is indeed one of the major challenges that the entire world must face. It is a day-today problem that demands effective strategies and measures to enable us to mitigate its effects and strengthen our disaster response capabilities,” President Duterte said. “To live in an increasingly warming planet is to live in constant fear and danger.”