The Department of Finance (DOF) has highlighted the urgency of setting up the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance to strengthen countries’ climate action.
“The New Collective Quantified Goal on climate finance should be established without further delays,” Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said during a high-level ministerial dialogue as part of the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) on December 3 held in Dubai.
COP 21 decided that before 2025, the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement shall set a NCQG starting at a minimum of $100 billion per year, taking into account the needs and priorities of developing countries.
Diokno emphasized the need to ensure that NCQG will sustain and enhance both the quality and quantity of climate finance.
He recommended setting up a five-year time frame to ensure coherence in the overall climate action under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
To address implementation gaps in the provision of climate finance, the quality of climate finance must be anchored on the principles of transparency, accessibility, predictability and efficiency.
According to the finance secretary, transparency in climate finance can be enhanced by making goals science- and evidence-based; establishing the operational definition of climate finance; and stating the time frames and commitments from climate finance providers.
Quantity, on the other hand, must be scaled up by exhausting all possible financial resources.
Diokno said climate finance must be demand-driven and priority-based to ensure that it is aligned with a country’s development pathways.
“The clarity of this new goal will define the predictability of our climate actions. Finally, we must collectively commit to deliver real progress in setting up the NCQG in 2024,” he said.
Extreme weather events and rising temperatures could see 13.6 percent of the Philippines’ economic output lost by 2040, inflicting a heavy toll on the country’s poorest if it does not address climate change, a World Bank report earlier released said.
The report warned that temperatures in the Philippines will continue to rise and rainfall could become more intense due to climate change, putting at risk the country’s ability to meet its development goals.
“Without action, climate change will impose substantial economic and human costs, affecting the poorest households the most,” said Ndiamé Diop, World Bank country director for the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Brunei at the launch of the report.
