The Philippines and France sealed another climate change-related loan worth €150 million or $162.53 million, the Department of Finance (DOF) said Monday, Jan. 16.
The DOF and the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) agreed on the additional policy-based loan for the Climate Change Action Program, Subprogram 1 (CCAP1) to “help the Philippines scale up its efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change.”
In a statement, DOF Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno, who is currently in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum and part of the Marcos delegation, said that “as a country vulnerable to climate change impacts, which cost us over 1% of the country GDP in direct losses to public and private assets due to earthquakes and typhoons, the Philippines is committed to pursuing concrete climate actions with the aim of protecting the most vulnerable from its devastating effects.”
Diokno said the government is allocating 8.72 percent of the 2023 National Budget for climate change mitigation and adaptation programs.
The AFD and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have a combined policy-based loan of €390 million or $442.40 million. On its own, the ADB has another $250-million loan for the CCAP1. It aims to support the country in achieving its nationally-determined contribution or NDC and in its efforts to transform vulnerable sectors into a resilient, low-carbon economy, said the DOF.
“The Philippines is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change and ranked as the fourth most affected country by extreme weather events between 2000 and 2019. In addition to their direct impacts on people, the economic consequences of these disasters will cost the country more than $3.5 billion a year by 2040,” said the DOF on Monday.
It added the government has adopted an important climate action program to move towards adaptation and mitigation, submitting its first NDC in 2021 at COP26.
Meantime, Ambassador of France to the Philippines, Michèle Boccoz, said France is “engaged in a race against time for the preservation of our planet” and the “fight against the climate crisis that becomes a concrete and devastating reality in the Philippines.”
“In this fight for justice and solidarity, France is taking its full part. It will devote €6 billion each year, until 2025, to help developing countries, including the Philippines, finance their transition and cope with climate disasters”, he said.
For hi part, Bénédicte Gazon the AFD country director said: “Since the Paris Agreement, the AFD Group has provided €30 billion in climate finance, including €7 billion for adaptation.”
Gazon said that in the Philippines, climate action is at the heart of AFD’s activities which includes the new program loan, plus the €250-million or $270.68 million adaptation program loan in 2021 to “reduce the risk of natural disasters at the local level.”