The climate meeting is expected to be the biggest diplomatic gathering in history, with over 50,000 participants, including around 25,000 delegates from 195 parties, UN officials, the government, private sector, climate experts and leaders of civil-society organizations taking part in the historic event.
From November 30 to December 11, the meeting will tackle climate change with the end-goal of reaching a legally binding agreement to mitigate climate change through carbon-emissions reduction that will limit global-temperature increase below 2 degrees.
As the Philippines submits its “conditional” commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 70 percent from 2020 to 2030 based on a “business-as-usual” scenario under the Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC), environmental and climate advocates are gearing up for the Paris climate meeting to demand for a more ambitious target and climate-change action to achieve climate justice.
They said a deep cut in carbon emissions can only be achieved in the Philippines by stopping the construction of coal-fired power plants; a radical shift toward a clean, renewable energy; and achieve a more sustainable energy mix.
Globally, they said that even the target of limiting temperature increase below 2 degrees will no longer suffice if we are to prevent the impacts of climate change-triggered events—such as intensifying typhoons, above normal rainfall that trigger flash-floods and landslides, or even drought, and sea level rise that affect ecosystems and threaten human existence.
A more realistic target, they said, is a deep cut in carbon emissions both for highly industrialized and developing countries like the Philippines, which will limit temperature increase below 1.5 degrees.
Ahead of the climate meeting in December, with France as host-country, the French Embassy in Manila launched a series of event dubbed “The Road to Paris Starts in Manila” to stir discussions about the climate.
Also called, Climate Week, the event highlights the role of civil society in the upcoming meeting, hoping to involve more non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in a broad, multisector, spirited debate of what needs to be done to address the biggest challenge to mankind. In the Philippines, considered as one of the highly vulnerable countries to climate-change impacts, environmentalists are fretting over the would-be result of the Paris climate meeting.
Another failed climate meet, they say, will condemn the world, starting with the most vulnerable countries that are the first to be affected and the last to recover from climate change-triggered disasters.
Granting that an agreement is reached, carbon-emission reduction that will limit temperature increase below the 2-degree threshold as targeted by UNFCCC, the unpredictability of climate-change events are still feared to have severe impacts that will threaten the lives of millions of people.
High hopes on Paris climate meeting
Nevertheless, many remain hopeful that a legally binding agreement will be reached and honored by the parties, especially the industrialized countries and major polluters, which they say, will pave the way to climate justice.
Rodne Galicha of the Climate Reality Project said: “We expect a strong climate agreement which will not only focus on cutting carbon emissions but also address the needs of vulnerable countries on adaptation through capacity building, technology transfer and climate finance,” he said.
“The huge challenge, however, is coming up with an ambitious, fair and binding agreement consistent to the original principles of common but differentiated responsibility, human rights and climate justice,” he added.
“A climate agreement has been a long time coming. The conference of parties will be on its 21st year and throughout this time, already, so much has changed. We’ve felt the devastating effects of climate change, more than ever, in the last few years. While leaders could not decide what to do to tackle climate change, people have died, lost homes, lost livelihoods because of its impacts. We should stop dilly-dallying and ensure an agreement that is fair, just, and binding is reached in Paris,” Renee Juliene M. Karunungan, program officer for advocacy of Caucus of Development NGO Networks and communications director at Dakila, an NGO actively taking part in the Climate Week activities, said for her part.
Karunungan was among the panel of NGOs that attended the Climate Justice forum organized by the French Embassy in Manila at the Ateneo Professional School in Makati on October 6. According to Karunungan, developed countries must not forget their responsibilities to developing countries.
“They should admit that the climate change we are facing now is caused by them. Loss and damage should be part of a binding agreement,” she said.
“A climate fund to ensure developing countries will have the capacity to adapt to climate change should also be in the agreement. In terms of mitigation, each country, including the Philippines, should commit to a long term goal of zero carbon emissions,” she added.
“The INDCs are currently not reaching the targets we want to stop global warming below 2 degrees Celsius. Therefore, we also need the five-year cycles to ensure that every country commits to reaching the long-term goal, renewing their country’s commitments, without backsliding,” she added.
Much needs to be done by the world’s leaders, she said.
“Paris will just be the beginning of the work we need to do to tackle climate change,” she said. Interviewed as to what is expected in the upcoming Paris climate meeting, Gerry Arances, national coordinator for the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ), said INDCs are all in. But the projection is 3-degree-Celcius increase.
“It will be a failure unless, like us Filipinos, it is in our character to take the road to fight for our fundamental rights. We, Filipinos have a rich history in fighting for our basic rights from the time of fighting the Marcos dictatorship, Gloria Arroyo, and Erap [Joseph] Estrada. What is at stake in Paris is the basic right of the Filipino people and all vulnerable countries,” he said. Arances said that ahead of the COP21 meeting, parties should have started adjusting targets and initiating actions a long time ago.
“Countries should approximate target from 2020 to 2030. All the projections are for a 2-degree-Celcius increase, they consider ambitious. A 2-degree-Celcius increase in temperature, in arithmetical projection, will spell an impact equivalent to three times that of [Sypertyphoon] Yolanda [international code name Haiyan,” he said, referring to the super typhoon that struck the country on November 8, 2013, as the potential worsening impact of global warming that may trigger devastating climatic events worldwide.
Economic impacts
“Imagine the impact in terms of economic losses of a 1.5-degree increase. It is estimated to affect [with a] cost of $40 billion. A 2-degree increase in temperature will be double, or around $80 billion,” Arances said.
“Many carbon-intensive projects were already committed by many countries, especially the highly industrialized nations. On top of a deep and ambitious cut in emissions, emitters including emerging emitters, should commit to a legally binding agreement,” he said. The Philippines, he said, is committed to allowing the construction of 59 coal-fired power plants on top of its 17 existing coal-fired power plants to date.
“Climate justice is connected to systems changes. At the heart of the climate crisis is the change in systems, a change in priority,” he said.
“We have been producing energy for whom? Is it for the people? No. It’s for the industries like mining. Coal-fired power plants will be constructed by mining companies for their operations,” he said.
On top of “forcing” big polluters to start reducing their carbon footprints, they should pay-up for their crimes against the climate.
Arances said that as early as the 1990s, big polluters have committed to fund climate mitigation and adaptation measures worth $100 billion. To date, however, highly vulnerable countries like the Philippines, have yet to access the climate fund.
Needed: Unconditional, realistic targets
On the country’s “conditional” commitment, while Arances said it is indeed a welcome development, more to it, the government should demand for climate finance from polluters. They should show their sincerity in reducing their carbon footprint by identifying targets for carbon reduction—unconditionally—such as rescinding contracts that go against its own INDC.
According to Karunungan, a 70-percent reduction “looks ambitious.” However, she said that all of these commitments are conditional.
“This can be an excuse to say in the future, ‘Well, we submitted that but we really don’t have to do it.’”
She said that there is a need for transparency on the part of the government on its promise to reduce its carbon footprint.
Where will this 70-percent reduction come from? We need to know the data, which the CCC [Climate Change Commission] has not given us. In the Philippines, we have 59 approved coal-fired power plants. How can we achieve a 70-percent reduction of emissions if we have coal plants as part of our energy plan? It somehow doesn’t add up,” she lamented.
Stop coal, shift to renewables
“Polluters should stop polluting, period. There is no other way. If we continue a fossil-fuel, carbon-based economy, there is no sincerity in tackling climate change. While we continue to emit carbon, the planet will only continue to warm. The age of fossil fuels is over. We need a radical shift to renewable energy. We see other countries are doing it. Costa Rica, for example, is already almost 100-percent running on renewables,” Karunungan said.
The government should first be transparent with its climate commitments, she said.
“No one institution can solve climate change. If we are to work together, which we should, to tackle climate change, the government should include everyone in the process. The government should also start committing to renewable energy,” she said.
“Coal is cheap and it is business. But is it sustainable? As a vulnerable country, we should take the lead in energy revolution. We do not want to dig our own graves. It is not an excuse that we are not a big carbon emitter. We should do our own share of commitments. And then, of course, we should strengthen our adaptive capacities. We should invest on adaptation measures to ensure we are ready when faced with climate impacts,” she added.
Galicha said that delegates to the Paris climate meeting should reflect on the would-be outcome of the meeting, such as the official Philippine delegation.
“Before opening their lips in the negotiations and articulate the official position, they must reflect in silence and think of the thousands of lives and livelihoods lost due to extreme-weather conditions and sustain the credibility the delegation has to speak in behalf of the most vulnerable of communities—not of their political masters but of the Filipino people, their true bosses.”
He added that the Philippine INDC is a continuing document as more data become available.
“The commitment is ambitious and will require close coordination among government agencies, private sector and civil society. There may be a need to review existing policies on energy, mining, forestry and land use. Legislation of new laws to institutionalize the INDC may be explored. Above all, to walk the talk, the government must commence the gradual but sustained phaseout of coal-fired power plants and implement the National Renewable Energy Plan which triples the renewable energy capacity of the country by 2030,” he said.
Source: Business Mirror | 11 October 2015