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| Remember "Ondoy" Greenpeace members light candles forming the words “climate justice” on the promenade over the relief map of the Philippines at Rizal Park in Manila to mark the 11th anniversary of Tropical Storm “Ondoy,’’ which left a swath of devastation across Metro Manila on Sept. 26,2009.(File photo by=Richard A. Reyes) |
[Asia News Communication = Reporter Reakkana] Environmental group Greenpeace Philippines urged President Rodrigo Duterte to declare a “climate emergency” as a policy instrument to help the Philippines meet its goals under the Paris Agreement after his call on other countries in the United Nations General Assembly to honor their commitments to fight the climate crisis.
Declaring a climate emergency, she said, would “enable a recovery that will transform our economy and society to tackle the climate crisis and promote positive environmental and health outcomes. Doing so will help build resilience against future shocks, and make sure a society that puts the well-being of people and nature first.The country’s poor renewable energy performance is partly due to the private sector, instead of the state, driving most of energy investments, it added.
Greenpeace made the appeal after its Southeast Asia organization released a report last week that none of the eight countries in Southeast Asia were meeting the global targets set to help prevent the planet’s temperature from rising by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius “without significant market and regulatory changes.” It recommended that the Philippines immediately lay down exclusion policies for new coal and gas power starting from 2020, and to improve grid development for solar and wind.Should the Philippines continue, coal would go over 60 percent of its energy mix by 2030, with solar and wind at 5 percent.
