5000-strong climate advocates in the Philippines showed force to urge world leaders at the Climate Summit in Baku, Azerbaijan for bolder climate actions to prevent the relentless march of global warming above 1.5C.
This 2-week-long climate negotiation is expected to ramp up climate action and set a new global climate finance goal. “The Philippines, as one of the countries most vulnerable to the impacts of the climate crisis, plays a crucial role in these climate talks. From the devastation of Yolanda to Odette and now Kristine, the country is an alarming reminder for developed countries to adhere to their historical responsibility and provide higher climate finance. This is essential to address mitigation, adaptation needs, losses, and damages, just transition and to facilitate a rapid phase-out of coal and fossil fuels while ensuring a just transition to renewable energy,” PMCJ National Coordinator Ian Rivera said.
Emergency: Point of No Return
These weather extremes are not just a natural occurrence; they are intensified by the harmful practices of continued fossil fuel consumption, coupled with the business-as-usual. The evidence is clear: burning fossil fuels is a major culprit to global warming, and 2025 should be the end of fossil fuel reliance.
Fossil-fuel-affected communities from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao also organized a localized action to fight against these climate injustices. Communities across the Philippines continue to oppose fossil-fueled power plants causing detrimental harm to our lives, health, livelihood, environment, and economy. The strong push of the site of struggles to stop the operations of fossil fuel power plants, canceling its contracts went even as far as urging the local government units to declare a climate emergency within their vicinities.
“The recent coal spill in Masinloc is just one of the many incidents that Zambales communities experience with the coal-fired power plant in their area. Their decades-long struggle happens as other areas in Luzon such as Bataan, Batangas, and other provinces invigorate each other voices fighting for the same cause: End fossil fuels, hold the perpetrators accountable; and push for clean energy,” PMCJ Luzon Coordinator Erwin Puhawan said.
Communities in the Visayas region take offense to the ill effects of coal-fired power plants in their area. PMCJ Visayas Coordinator Estela Patalingug said in a statement that residents are already suffering from housing eight coal-fired power plants in Toledo City, Cebu. In September they submitted a petition to AboitizPower and Therma Visayas Inc., the power corporations behind the plant that endangers their lives and livelihood, urging them to comply with the law by conducting the necessary health assessments for the project.
Early this year, the provincial government of Misamis Oriental conducted discussions with the PMCJ with regard to their 100 percent renewable energy transition. Last week, the municipal government of Villanueva also welcomed a talk with the climate justice organization regarding the status of the two coal-fired power plants in their area and alternative clean energy solutions.
In a period of climate emergency, there is no time for empty promises. “These decisive actions from local government units show their recognition of the climate emergency, where the government must go above and beyond the rhetoric of climate change adaptation and mitigation programs. How will the national government match this urgency and take bold, transformative action to address the climate crisis? It is to declare a national climate emergency now,” Rivera argued.
More than 100 dioceses signed a petition from the Catholic Church of the Philippines, calling for the government to declare a climate emergency: “We are called to make a decisive change, to reject this path of destruction, and to choose life and sustainability. Time is running out; we are nearing a point of no return. The glimpses of catastrophe we have already experienced may only be shadows of greater trials to come if we do not act now.”
The recent Sangguniang Kabataan Climate Emergency Declaration of Cabusay, Labo, Camarines Norte; as well as the successfully held Albay Renewable Energy and Investments Summit, securing 84 billion pesos in pledges for 1250MW renewable energy projects are just some of the local initiatives towards a liveable Philippines. “Local movements play a vital role in ramping up campaigns for climate justice. The alternatives, testaments, and solutions, come from the ones directly affected and lambasted by climate change. It is essential that we amplify their voices and committedly side with the ongoing fight,” Rivera added.
He also stressed the need for the Philippine delegation for COP29 to emphasize the need for reparations and actions as the host of the Loss and Damage Fund board. People from least-developed countries are the rightful ones to exact accountability from the rich nations, as they must deliver compensation and remedies for the harms and damages done.
Climate Debt, Finance Dearth
“At COP28, governments have committed to transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems with developed countries taking the lead. COP29 will be key to unlocking the climate finance needed to enable mitigation, adaptation,loss and damage and the needed finance needed for just transition. So far, most of the climate debt that has been delivered were loans, not grants, blocking climate action and exacerbating debt distress in many developing countries,” said Lidy Nacpil, coordinator of the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD), in their statement.
Nacpil also highlighted the urgency for the Global North to deliver climate finance of at least US$5 trillion annually and reparations for climate debt. “The new climate finance goal should be based on the actual needs of developing countries for climate action and the just transition of communities dependent on fossil fuels,” she added.
“We demand higher finance ambition from public financial institutions on a global scale, as we consequently call for the national government to declare a climate emergency. Alternatives and solutions have been laid out to ramp up fossil fuel phaseout and just transition as the local government units are doing their role for the environment,” Rivera stressed.
As world leaders start the negotiations in Baku, Azerbaijan, the thousands of people gathering in the Philippines from various organizations to conduct local protests as voices of the communities from developing countries are relevant in the climate summit.
“The principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and historic responsibility is needed now more than ever, as the Global South is the one experiencing the ill effects of the climate crisis. What we want is for the Philippines and the world leaders to deliver obligations needed by the people and the planet,” Rivera ended.
