The Philippines is looking at working with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in conceptualizing and implementing innovative energy efficiency programs to contribute to the global effort to reverse the devastating effects of climate change, a Cabinet official said.

During the Climate Change Virtual Conference hosted by the UAE Embassy in Manila, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III welcomed Abu Dhabi’s ongoing efforts to deploy and use clean energy solutions as one of the main pillars to address the climate crisis.

UAE, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), unveiled in 2017 a strategy that aims to increase the share of clean energy in its total energy capacity mix from 25 percent to 50 percent by 2050.

It will host the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP) next year.

The Philippines has also been at the forefront of taking concrete actions in the fight against climate change, which has become “a real threat and a daily reality” for the country, said Dominguez.

Dominguez, who is the designated representative of the President to the Climate Change Commission (CCC), cited as an example the municipality of Masantol in Pampanga, where he led a team from the CCC and its National Panel of Technical Experts (NPTE) on a visit.

The town has endured prolonged flooding because of climate change. Storm surges and sea-level rise are among the hazards threatening Masantol’s survival.

Representatives from the CCC and the NPTE volunteered to stay in Masantol for months to assess the area firsthand and continuously engage with its residents in order to come up with science-based recommendations and risk-informed solutions to address the town’s flooding problem, Dominguez said.

The perennial flooding in Masantol is not an isolated case as it is happening as well in other parts of the country, he noted.

Dominguez said he expects the recommended solutions of the CCC-NPTE team in Masantol to be replicated, if possible, in other vulnerable communities across the country.

“We will strive to send assistance, one community at a time. This is possible with strengthened coordination and with the guidance of science,” he said in this afternoon’s virtual conference hosted by the UAE Embassy.

“Reversing the trend towards global warming will require the work of generations. It will be hard and interminable work. We have to put in that work to save our planet. There is no other alternative,” Dominguez added.

According to the 2020 World Risk Index, the Philippines ranks 9th out of 181 nations in the world as the countries most affected by extreme weather events.

The Philippine archipelago is also sinking at a rate four times faster than the global average and continues to endure cycles of drought and flooding.

Dominguez said that over the last decade, the Philippines incurred losses and damages from climate-related hazards estimated at about $10 billion, which is equivalent to an annual average of about $1 billion.