Philippine senators discuss Paris climate change treaty with French lawmakers

Philippine senators discussed the importance of the Paris Climate Accords during a meeting with French lawmakers on October 25.

In a meeting with French National Assembly member and Economic Affairs Committee Chairman Guillaume Kasbarian, Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda raised the need to uphold the 2015 Paris Accord as the Philippines was one of the nations that suffered from the effects of climate change.

"One of the many advocacies and issues that bond France and the Philippines is the Paris Agreement. Being number one in the world risk index, as the most vulnerable nation in the world, we value our ratification of the Paris Accord in 2015,” said Legarda.

She then urged the European Union to increase its National Determined Contributions or the climate action plans submitted by nations, to lessen the impact of climate change on vulnerable countries such as the Philippines.

In the latest World Risk Index report, the Philippines has the highest disaster risk among 193 countries around the world.

The Philippines scored high in its exposure, vulnerability, susceptibility, lack of coping capacities, and lack of adaptive capacities in the face of disasters.

“It’s been seven years since the ratification of the accord and it is incumbent upon industrialized nations in the EU, including France, to perhaps scale up the National Determined Contributions so that vulnerable nations like the Philippines, which only emits ? of 1% in terms of global greenhouse gas emissions, will not be as affected,” Legarda said.

“That is one of the advocacies that I share with my colleagues, which we know the French government and the French people hold dearly, as well, because this impacts our energy security, our food security,” she added.

Citing the World Bank, Legarda said the European Commission had committed to decreasing greenhouse gas emissions from the EU by 2030 and to produce "net zero" emissions by 2050.

The Philippine senators also met with the French-South East Asian Friendship Group led by Senators Mathieu Darnaud and Gisele Jourda.

In the meeting, the Philippine lawmakers conveyed the country's commitment to the High Ambition Coalition (HAC) for Nature and People and they also thanked France for its assistance to the Philippines.

“I’m glad that France does not stop in helping in giving technological, technical, and capacity-building, and even financial assistance in so far as biodiversity conservation, sustainable development, and climate action,” Legarda said.

“We are grateful for your continued support for the Philippines and other developing nations, and as the COP talks start in the first week of November in Egypt this year, we hope that France will be on the side of developing nations so that the 100 billion commitment in the Paris Agreement would finally be realized, and so that the issues of loss and damage, which is important to vulnerable nations, could also be defended or even discussed," she added.

To help Philippine efforts against climate change, the Agence Fançaise de Développement (AFD) committed €482 million to the country.

In 2021, Legarda also mentioned a policy-based loan amounting to €250 million which was granted to the Philippines by France as funding support for disaster risk reduction, preparedness, and response at the local level.

Apart from these discussions, the Philippine senators also raised with their French counterparts matters related to the environment such as the investments in the blue carbon economy.

The Filipino lawmakers also met with different French companies, private sector leaders, and France's Nuclear Safety Authority.

The Philippine delegation was led by Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri.

Zubiri and Legarda were joined by Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva, Deputy Majority Leader JV Ejercito, and Senators Lito Lapid, Nancy Binay, Grace Poe, and Christopher "Bong" Go. — DVM, GMA News