MANILA – The next Philippine president should focus on climate-proofing the economy, an environment think-tank said Wednesday.

• ‘Now or never’ to avoid climate catastrophe, warns UN

“For the Philippines, we must consider, and this is what also we are asking candidates to do, is to consider climate security as energy security, as food security, and as water security,” said Denise Fontanilla of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities.

Fontanilla said that unlike developed nations, the Philippines should not focus so much on attaining carbon neutrality or reducing emissions.

“What the next administration should be looking at is how to make energy more accessible, more affordable, more reliable and secure. How to move more people and not cars in terms of public transport and urban mobility. How to protect our biodiversity and help our farmers and fisherfolk who are at the frontlines of our climate crisis,” she said.

Fontanilla also said the Philippines should shift to renewable energy to make power more accessible and affordable to Filipinos.

“The cost for not shifting as soon as possible to renewable energy to the centralized grid, to a modern power system would be even more costly for the Philippines in the long run,” she said.

“I mean even before the pandemic, before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we have been experiencing power shortages, we have the highest rates of electricity in Southeast Asia. Second in Asia, next to Japan. So this is really a problem that goes even beyond reducing emissions,” she explained.

Scientists warn that any rise above 1.5C risks the collapse of ecosystems and the triggering of irreversible shifts in the climate system.

To achieve that target, the UN report said carbon emissions need to drop 43 percent by 2030 and 84 percent by mid-century.

"It's now or never, if we want to limit global warming to 1.5C," said Jim Skea, a professor at Imperial College London and co-chair of the working group behind the report.

"Without immediate and deep emissions reductions across all sectors, it will be impossible."

To do that the world must radically reduce the fossil fuels behind the lion's share of emissions.

Nations should stop burning coal completely and cut oil and gas use by 60 and 70 percent respectively to keep within the Paris goals, the IPCC said, noting that both solar and wind were now cheaper than fossil fuels in many places.

--ANC, 6 April 2022

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