The Power for People Coalition (P4P) said the government’s draft new commitments to the Paris Agreement would not hold the rise in global temperature to the 1.C-degrees Celsius, which the international community has pledged.
“They are not enough to avoid catastrophic impacts of climate change,” the P4P said in a statement released Wednesday.
“Despite increasing its GHG emissions reduction from 30% in December 2020 to 75%, the draft Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and the recent consultation provide no assurance that the Philippines is contributing its fair share of mitigation efforts to the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement,” they said.
“This is a goal we so painstakingly fought for in international negotiations as it translates to a greater chance of survival for climate-vulnerable countries like the Philippines,” they added.
Last January, the Climate Change Commission (CCC) conducted consultations with civil society organizations (CSOs) on the new or updated proposals of the Philippines to the Paris Agreement of 2015.
Under the Paris Agreement, UN Member States are supposed to submit last December their revised Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
The Paris Agreement seeks to limit the rise of global temperature to 1.5-degree Celsius (maximum of 2.0-degree Celsius) from the pre-industrial era in order to prevent global warming.
On February 3, the CCC presented the latest draft NDC, which included commitments of the energy sector, among the biggest contributors to green-house gas (GHG) emissions. On February 13, the CCC released a revised draft of the NDC.
The P4P noted the current NDC target asserts only a negligible 2.71% with hardly any mention of how it plans to secure climate financing.
They scored the government’s coal energy sourcing for being inconsistent with the Paris Agreement and self-defeating to the solution for decreasing emissions.
“Not only does the Department of Energy commit to share possibly the least contribution in the NDC goal, it also explicitly stated that it would add more coal to the Philippines’ already installed 9.8 GW,” the P4P said.
According to the P4P, by including the entry of “highly efficient coal technologies” in its measures, the DOE makes way for at least 5.4 GW of additional coal capacity.
“The government is disregarding the strong resistance from communities who will be impacted by these new coal projects,” they said.
The P4P urged the DOE to declare a mandatory retirement for currently operating coal power plants.
They noted some of these coal plants have reached the end of their lifespan and are now providing consumers with nothing but faulty supply, costly electricity and extreme pollution.
“An NDC that values the collective survival of the Filipino people from the climate crisis must boldly commit to the 1.5°C goal, and would find no space for coal—the dirtiest of all fossil fuels,” the P4P said.
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