MANILA – The Climate Change Commission (CCC) on Wednesday expressed its commitment to advance the Philippines’ interest in strengthening climate cooperation with the international community. This, as CCC welcomed the election of its vice chairperson and executive director, Secretary Robert Borje, as co-chairperson of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’s Inclusive Forum on Carbon Mitigation Approaches (IFCMA). ‘Serving as co-chair presents new opportunities to further strengthen international cooperation in climate action between developing and developed nations,’ the CCC said in a statement Wednesday night. The CCC said the Philippines’ co-chairmanship of IFCMA is vital in establishing enabling policy environment towards improved access to technology development, as well as to the transfer, capacity-building and finance and investments as regards carbon mitigation approaches. As co-chair, the CCC vowed to make sure that the OECD’s forum will facilitate ‘practicable and pragmatic’ partnerships to hasten the implementation of higher impact and cost-effective climate change mitigation actions. The CCC added that the Philippines’ role will further promote complementation with the existing work of international bodies, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UN Climate Change) and its Paris Agreement. It said it will continue to involve more government agencies and stakeholders in the IFCMA work as part of ‘one-country-team’ approach to address climate change and its impacts. It stressed that closer cooperation with concerned government agencies and stakeholders would enable the Marcos administration attain its ‘low-carbon, climate-resilient, and sustainable’ development goal for the Philippines. The IFCMA, which will run from 2023 to 2025, is an initiative that aims to assess the impacts of national mitigation interventions on global greenhouse gas emissions. Borje will be joined by two other co-chairs, Switzerland’s Martin Baur and Chile’s Maria Jose Garcia. The three co-chairs will serve for a period of three years from 2023 to 2025. Each of them will act as Steering Group Chair for a year, with the Philippines’ term to begin in 2024. In the IFCMA Steering Group, the Asia-Pacific is represented by the Philippines, Japan, and Singapore. The Philippines is the only middle-income nation in the steering body. ‘The CCC appreciates the vote of confidence and support by the OECD and IFCMA members,’ the commission said. ‘The election is a demonstration of the continued and growing recognition of the Philippine Government under President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s commitment and capability as a meaningful and constructive partner for transformative climate change action,’ it added. Currently, the Philippines is one of the IFCMA’s project associates and a pilot country candidate, expected to provide data on climate change mitigation-related policies, programs, and projects, and in turn, benefit and learn from a range of carbon mitigation approaches from various countries in different regions. (PNA)

Source: Philippines News Agency