MANILA: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Wednesday that he will use the COP28 summit in Dubai as a platform to remind nations of their climate change commitments, especially in climate financing.
The Philippine delegation led by Marcos will join officials from nearly 200 countries at the annual UN summit that begins on Thursday.
It takes place following a year of record heat and drought and as new reports suggest that international climate pledges are not enough to avert the worst impacts of global warming.
“We will use this platform to rally the global community and call upon nations to honor their commitments, particularly in climate financing,” Marcos said in Manila ahead of his trip.
In 2009, wealthy countries committed to providing $100 billion in climate finance annually to developing countries. Though funding was supposed to start from 2020 onwards, developed nations are “still unable to provide evidence that they will actually deliver on their collective commitment,” according to a June 2023 report by development organization CARE Denmark.
“We have unfortunately been determined to be one of the most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change in the world. And so, we must do our part here in the Philippines,” Marcos said.
The Philippines was the country most at risk from the climate crisis, according to a 2019 report by the Institute for Economics and Peace, which said one of the main factors was the archipelagic nation’s geography, which makes it more vulnerable to extreme weather and rising sea levels, among other concerns.
Philippine officials are also set to join other countries at the Dubai summit to work out the details of the climate “loss and damage” fund, which nations had agreed to establish at COP27 in Egypt last year and was aimed at providing financial support for poor countries that are hit hard by the warming planet.
The fund has yet to get off the ground a year after the breakthrough, as nations postpone the most contentious decisions, such as which countries will pay into it.
