IT IS heartening that the Philippines, where sea levels are rising, is expected to secure a $500-million (P28.14 billion) loan from the Manila-based Asian Development Bank to ramp up the country’s climate action moves.
Finance Secretary Ralph Recto, who met up with ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa, said the multilateral lender is finalizing the approval of the Climate Change Action Program Subprogram 2, a follow-through of the CCAP 1 signed in June 2022 worth over $400 million.
The program is also part of the ADB’s $10 billion climate finance commitment for the Philippines starting this year and continuing until 2029.
The CCAP will also support the Philippines in implementing its national climate policies, including its nationally determined contribution.
The program will intensify efforts to transform critical sectors toward a climate-resilient, low-carbon economy.
Recto said ADB, the country’s top multilateral partner and second-largest source of official development assistance commitments. also pledged to continue leveraging regional facilities like the ASEAN Catalytic Green Finance Facility and the Green Climate Fund to enhance the availability and accessibility of grant financing for the country.
These developments buoy up authorities and climatologists who see that sea levels in the Philippines are rising at about twice the global average.
When especially strong storms make landfall, this higher sea level contributes to storm surge that can rise upwards of 15–20 feet, displacing thousands or even millions of citizens in coastal communities.
Climate change has manifested itself in rising temperature, variability of precipitation, frequency and intensity of typhoons, sea level rise, and the risks of more droughts, floods, heat waves, and forest and grassland fires have impacts on the economy, environment and communities.
Given its geographical location, archipelagic formation in the tropical Pacific, and population distribution, the Philippines is greatly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and has experienced noticeable adverse effects in recent years.
Without concerted global and local action, the challenges the country will face from climate change are expected to intensify in the medium or long term, according to authorities.
But the government, responding to what has essentially become a global crisis, has enacted the Climate Change Act that provides the policy framework with which to systematically address the growing threats on community life and its impact on the environment.
The Climate Change Act establishes an organizational structure, the Climate Change Commission, and allocates budgetary resources for its important functions.
This week, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto underscored the Philippines is set to establish a gold standard for climate finance and action globally with the recent enactment of the Loss and Damage Fund Board Act that enables its hosting of the Board.
The LDF is a global financial mechanism designed to provide support to countries’ response and recovery from losses and damages caused by climate change. Last July 9, 2024, the 26-member LDF Board selected the Philippines as its host.
Developments are looking good.
