MANILA— The United Kingdom is ready to support the Philippines in its climate change commitments, its envoy said Friday, ahead of the upcoming 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow.
The UK is hosting COP26 this year to discuss and reinforce commitments of nations in terms of reducing global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius set some 5 years ago under the Paris Agreement.
"What we’re hoping to happen at COP is that the Philippines might announce net zero... it’s commitment to net zero by 2050 and we stand ready to support the Philippines in its vision to reduce its emission and to transition to low carbon economy," British Ambassador to the Philippines Laure Beaufils told ANC.
"This conference is about emissions and nationally determined contributions, whether the countries are stepping up and reducing their emissions," she said.
The Philippine delegation will be headed by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, also the country's chief climate negotiator.
Financing is key in terms of climate change discussions especially when the $100-billion annual financing goal is yet to be met, Beaufils said.
Greenpeace Southeast Asia Executive Deirector Yeb Saño, who won't be attending the summit physically after contracting COVID-19, said pandemic response is "very closely linked to climate response."
The pandemic has aggravated "flaws" in the system evident in vaccine inequality, Saño said.
"We live in uncertain times not just because of the actual threat of the pandemic to people’s health but also because of the way the government and society responded to this," he said.
Saño said commitments from the upcoming summit should be ambitious, balanced, comprehensive, durable, equitable and fair.
The climate change summit will be held from Oct. 31 to Nov. 12 in Glasgow in Scotland.
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