Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III has said that climate literacy is the greatest defense against climate change as he underscored the urgency of igniting public awareness over the need to take immediate action in ending the worsening environmental crisis.

The effort to end the climate crisis requires a whole-of-society approach, and should involve “each individual, every family, and all communities,” Dominguez said.

Dominguez said he is glad that civil society organizations have banded together, such as through the movement launched last Friday to build strong public support for the country’s climate ambition of achieving climate neutrality by the year 2050.

“The biggest challenge of our time is climate change and our greatest defense in this battle is climate literacy. This event is a very appropriate venue to ignite our educational campaign to save the only planet we have,” said Dominguez in his pre-recorded message at the launch of the movement spearheaded by the Green Convergence for Safe Food, Healthy Environment and Sustainable Economy.

The movement “Ako ang Bukas: Quantum Leap Now! Climate Neutrality 2050” aims to make the Philippines achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions 30 years from now by keeping these emissions to a minimum, and all remaining emissions are offset with climate protection measures.

“I wish this Movement all the strength, courage, and determination in this long fight to save our planet and our civilization. This is a battle we cannot afford to lose,” Dominguez said.

Dominguez lauded the movement as “a shining example of an empowered people’s initiative to build a sustainable and healthier future for our country.”

“People do not realize it, but climate change will hit us like a tsunami if we continue to do nothing about this worsening crisis. It could wipe away all our economic gains in one blow if we fail to mitigate it. It is, therefore, very important that each one of us understands this issue,” said Dominguez, who is concurrent chairman-designate of the Climate Change Commission (CCC).

He said the fight against climate change will require dramatic changes in government policies and in the way we live.

This is why last April, the Philippines submitted to the Paris Agreement its ambitious Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the fight against climate change of reducing the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 75 percent by the year 2030, Dominguez said.

“We set this ambitious emission target to demonstrate to the rest of the world our firm resolve to put an end to the climate crisis. Being among the countries most vulnerable to the ill-effects of climate change, we ought to approach this crisis with greater determination and creativity,” he said.

Dominguez said the CCC is now preparing a comprehensive roadmap towards achieving its tough NDC target, which will require banning single-use plastics in the near terms.

“It should not be a source of pride that seven of the top ten rivers identified as the top plastic polluters of the oceans are in the Philippines,” he said.

Dominguez was referring to a study released by the Science Advances journal, which identified the Pasig River along with six other rivers in the country on the Top 10 list of plastics polluters of the oceans.

“We have to do much more to fight the climate crisis by comprehensively changing the way we live and the way we do things. The effort to end this crisis will require a whole-of-society approach. It must involve each individual, every family, and all communities,” Dominguez said.

On top of pushing a ban on single-use plastics, Dominguez said the national government is currently establishing a sustainable finance ecosystem to synergize investments from both the public and private sectors.

“We look forward to yielding–very soon–green social projects that will have a lasting and permanent impact on the world’s environment and on our people,” he said.

Dominguez said the government has also been conducting a stepped-up public awareness campaign on climate change, citing the recent Sulong Pilipinas forum with the youth as its most recent effort.

“I am very happy with the outcome of the event, especially their well-crafted top actionable recommendations. These will form part of our comprehensive roadmap towards reversing climate change,” he said.

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