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17 APRIL 2021, Saturday Headline STRATEGIC April 17, 2021 COMMUNICATION & Editorial Date INITIATIVES Column SERVICE 1 of 2 Opinion Page Feature Article PH vows to cut gas emissions by 75 percent By: Krissy Aguilar - Reporter / @KAguilarINQ INQUIRER.net / 04:36 PM April 16, 2021 Screengrab from RTVM’s Facebook page MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has committed to the United Nations its target to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 75 percent between 2020 and 2030. The Philippines submitted its first Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on April 15, as seen on the latter’s website. “The Philippines commits to a projected GHG emissions reduction and avoidance of 75%, of which 2.71% is unconditional and 72.29% is conditional, representing the country’s ambition for GHG mitigation for the period 2020 to 2030 for the sectors of agriculture, wastes, industry, transport, and energy,” the country’s NDC stated. The unconditional target of 2.71 percent means the government is undertaking this “using nationally mobilized resources” while the remaining 72.29 percent conditional target relies on support from the international community. “The Philippines shall undertake adaptation measures across but not limited to, the sectors of agriculture, forestry, coastal and marine ecosystems, and biodiversity, health, and human security, to preempt, reduce and address residual loss and damage,” the NDC read. The UNFCCC said 192 of 16 parties to the Paris Agreement have submitted their first NDCs while eight countries already submitted their second NDCs. The Climate Reality Project Philippines lauded the country’s move to finally submit its first NDC while noting that “this is just the first step toward ensuring the country’s just transition to a low- carbon and climate-resilient economy.” “Now that the country’s first NDC has been officially submitted to the UNFCCC, it is time for the Climate Change Commission to facilitate a whole-of-government-and-society approach to the development of a comprehensive NDC Roadmap,” the organization’s manager Nazrin Castro said in a statement. Headline STRATEGIC April 17, 2021 COMMUNICATION & Editorial Date INITIATIVES Column SERVICE 2 of 2 Opinion Page Feature Article PH vows to cut gas emissions by 75 percent “This roadmap should hammer out the sectoral policies and measures that will deliver our NDC targets and will spell out detailed plans and timetables for the transition of sectors into a low- carbon economy in line with our aspiration to peak our emissions by 2030,” she added. In his debut speech before the UN last year, President Rodrigo Duterte said climate change must be addressed as urgently as the COVID-19 pandemic. The President appealed to parties of the Paris Agreement to comply with its terms as developing countries like the Philippines suffer the effects of climate change the most. The Paris Agreement aims to strengthen global response by keeping the global average temperature this century to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Read more: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1420004/ph-vows-to-cut-gas-emissions-by-75- percent#ixzz6sEryyKIw Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook Headline STRATEGIC April 17, 2021 COMMUNICATION & Editorial Date INITIATIVES Column SERVICE 1 of 2 Opinion Page Feature Article Duterte OKs 75% emissions reduction PH commitment by 2030 April 16, 2021, 8:33 pm Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the country’s first Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), which sets a 75-percent greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction and avoidance by 2030, as part of the Philippines' commitment to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. The NDC represents the country’s goal of modernizing and pursuing low carbon and resilient development for the agriculture, waste, industry, transport and energy sectors over the 2020-2030 period. This target is based on the country’s projected business-as-usual cumulative economy-wide emission of 3,340.3 metric tons (MT) of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) for the same period. “The Philippines is submitting an ambitious NDC target of 75-percent reduction of GHG emissions by 2030 in the name of climate justice. The NDC will be our tool to upgrade our economy by adopting modern and low carbon technologies and approaches that would help mitigate the climate crisis and make our economy more resilient and our growth sustainable,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, chairman-designate to the Climate Change Commission (CCC) which facilitated the NDC formulation process, said in a statement Friday. Headline STRATEGIC April 17, 2021 COMMUNICATION & Editorial Date INITIATIVES Column SERVICE 1 of 2 Opinion Page Feature Article Duterte OKs 75% emissions reduction PH commitment by 2030 Of the 75-percent target, 72.29 percent is “conditional” or contingent upon the support of climate finance, technologies and capacity development, which shall be provided by developed countries, as prescribed by the Paris Agreement. The remaining 2.71 percent is “unconditional” or shall be implemented mainly through domestic resources. Compared to the Philippines’ Intended NDC that was submitted in 2015, which conveyed a conditional 70 percent GHG reduction target, this first official NDC conveys a higher target and includes an unconditional commitment of climate action. Dominguez expressed appreciation to the lead agencies --the Departments of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), of Agriculture (DA), of Transportation (DOTr) and of Energy (DOE); of Foreign Affairs (DFA); and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA)-- for working on the NDC despite the pandemic and the successive storms and typhoons that further delayed the process late last year. Dominguez also thanked industry representatives along with leaders of the academe and civil society organizations for their valuable inputs and support for the government’s vision of a transformational NDC. He likewise called on the international community to work together to strengthen global efforts for climate change mitigation and adaptation during this critical decade. “We expect that developed nations, which historically caused the global climate crisis, will deliver their commitments to the Paris Agreement with the right speed and scale to keep global average temperature from breaching the 1.5 degrees Celsius survival threshold. The critical time between now and 2030 gives us a window of opportunity for transformative climate action to ensure planetary well-being before it is too late,” Dominguez added. NDCs are pledges submitted by countries to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as their contributions to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, particularly in limiting global warming to well below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels or further to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The formulation of the Philippine NDC followed a rigorous process, which included economic modeling analyses, expert reviews and consultations with various stakeholders from the public, private and civil society sectors. (PR) Source: https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1137085 Headline STRATEGIC April 17, 2021 COMMUNICATION & Editorial Date INITIATIVES Column SERVICE Opinion Page Feature Article DENR wants updated solid waste management law to better address PH garbage problem By Pilar Manuel, CNN Philippines Published Apr 16, 2021 8:25:28 PM Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 16) — The Department of Environment and Natural Resources wants the law on solid waste management amended to keep up with the times, an agency official says. “Actually, the [Ecological] Solid Waste Management Act, yung [the] RA 9003, is a good law. But of course like other laws, we need to update also this law,” DENR Undersecretary for Policy, Planning and International Affairs Jonas Leones told CNN Philippines’ The Exchange on Friday. “This was passed in 2000 and a lot of things happened, there are already new technologies on how to dispose this kind of waste.” Among these technologies are waste-to-energy projects, which Leones said are in place in other countries. However, such technology has yet to be allowed in the Philippines, which he says has been facing an alarming surge in garbage generation during the raging health crisis as medical wastes in particular pile up steadily. “If we can amend or revise some provisions of RA 9003 to include the waste-to-energy projects, I think we can adequate address this problem,” he added. The utilization of waste-to-energy facilities in the country’s waste management efforts has been forwarded by lawmakers like Sen. Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian. He is among the authors of Senate Bill No. 1789, or the proposed “Waste-to-Energy Act,” which aims to hit two birds with one stone: beef up the country’s waste treatment and disposal, and generate sustainable energy. Given that current environmental laws ban technologies using incineration, Leones said authorities have found an avenue for adopting waste-to-energy projects by allowing certain industries to non-burn technology in addressing their garbage woes. Headline STRATEGIC April 17, 2021 COMMUNICATION & Editorial Date INITIATIVES Column SERVICE Opinion Page Feature Article DENR wants updated solid waste management law to better address PH garbage problem For now, the DENR is in close coordination with hospitals, which generate massive amounts of medical waste amid the health crisis,

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