Carlos G. Dominguez
Secretary of Finance
Leaders’ Summit on Climate
April 22, 2021
United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and distinguished guests: good afternoon. Thank you for inviting the Philippines to this Leaders’ Summit on Climate.
Climate change presents the planet with an existential threat. We must do what is necessary. There are painful choices to be made. We must prepare our people to make them.
The conversation about climate change is very real to the Philippines. As an archipelago sitting on the typhoon belt and the Pacific Ring of Fire, we are most vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.
As Chairperson-designate of the Philippine Climate Change Commission, I am aggressively advocating for the protection of our environment. I am striving to make our citizens aware that as individuals, all of us play an indispensable role in this battle against the climate crisis. Behavioral change, as one of the solutions to the climate emergency, must come first within ourselves and in our homes.
Recognizing this, the Philippines is pushing for the passage of a piece of legislation that will ban single-use plastics. Once passed, every Filipino will have the ability to do his or her part on a daily basis in helping save the world’s environment.
While the Philippines accounts for only three-tenths of one percent of global carbon emissions, we want to become a world leader in drastically reducing greenhouse gases.
On April 15, 2021, the Philippines submitted its first Nationally Determined Contribution. We have set a high target of 75 percent greenhouse gas emission reduction and avoidance by 2030. This ambitious target was set to challenge both ourselves as well as the rest of the world. It underscores the urgency with which we view this greatest challenge facing the earth today.
We have a unique opportunity in Mindanao to demonstrate our commitments. We are exploring a financing mechanism to enable the government to improve the generating capacity of the Agus-Pulangi hydro power plant and acquire all coal-fired power plants in that region to repurpose them. This will shift most of our energy requirements in Mindanao to hydropower. Eventually, it will spur investments from companies seeking to expand their operations in areas powered by clean energy.
Within the framework of the Paris Agreement, the advanced economies committed to assist the developing countries through financing arrangements, investments, and technology transfers. We look forward to seeing these commitments materialize.
We cannot simply sound the alarm. We need a call to arms. Each person, each community, and each country must do what needs to be done to reverse the destructive course we ourselves inflicted on our own planet.
Thank you.
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