BANGKOK, Thailand―The Philippines reaffirmed its commitment to advancing climate finance and resilience at the recent Inclusive Climate Finance Dialogue for a Resilient Asia-Pacific in Bangkok, Thailand.
Co-organized by UNDP’s Climate Finance Network (CFN) and UN Capital Development Fund, with support from the UK Government (FCDO) and Sweden (Sida), the dialogue focused on unlocking inclusive, sustainable, and locally driven climate finance solutions.
The 12-member Philippine delegation, composed of representatives from the Department of Finance (DOF), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Commission on Audit (CoA) and UNDP Philippines, actively contributed to discussions on key climate finance themes.
These included climate budget tagging, mobilizing public-private and philanthropic climate finance, enhancing accountability through climate data and evidence, and exploring innovations to improve the effectiveness of climate finance delivery.
“The Philippines remains strongly committed to advancing climate-responsive governance through an established climate budget tagging,” said DBM Secretary Amenah Pangandaman.
“By integrating CCET across our society, financial systems, and legal frameworks, we move closer to ensuring that every peso we spend leads to a more sustainable and resilient future―towards fulfilling our SDG commitments and achieving our Agenda for Prosperity.”
“Our role goes beyond just funding and financing,” said John Adrian Narag, Director of the Climate Finance Policy Group, representing the DOF on behalf of Undersecretary Maria Luwalhati C. Dorotan Tiuseco.
“Anchored in the whole of government, whole of society approach, we are actively fostering and promoting an enabling environment for businesses, private sector, NGOs, CSOs, and the academe through key initiatives such as the Sustainable Finance Taxonomy Guidelines and Climate Finance Strategy, that unlocks the full potential of climate finance,” he said.
The Philippines continues to align its budgeting systems with climate priorities, ensuring that national policies translate into effective implementation remains crucial.
“Our audit revealed that while the NCCAP provides a clear strategic direction for climate-resilient development, several validated implementing agency plans were only partially, or not at all aligned with its priorities,” said CoA’s Policarpo Silva, team Leader in the Performance Audit of the National Climate Change Action Plan (NCCAP).UNDP Philippines News
The findings present an opportunity to strengthen coherence across planning and budgeting processes, and to reinforce the NCCAP’s role as a guiding framework for climate action,” he said.
The Philippine delegation stressed the importance of scaling up climate finance mechanisms and strengthening regional partnerships to meet adaptation and mitigation targets.
“As we look ahead, accelerating climate finance–both in the Philippines and across the Asia-Pacific–means we need more than just speed,” said Joanne Decena, Deputy Director of the Sustainability Office, representing BSP. “We need scale and genuine collaboration, with digital innovation forming the backbone of this effort.” UNDP Philippines News
