Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno urged the setting up of a new collective quantified goal (NCGQ) of a minimum $100 billion per year on climate finance to strengthen countries’ climate action.

Climate finance is described by the UN as financial resources and instruments that are used to support action on climate change such as grants and loans or carbon taxes.

“The New Collective Quantified Goal on climate finance should be established without further delays,” said Diokno during the High-level Ministerial Dialogue (HLMD) at the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28).

In 2015 during the COP21, it was decided that the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA) shall set an NCQG that takes into account the needs and priorities of developing countries.

The CMA 3 then established a work program for 2022 to 2024, with co-chairs from developed and developing countries committed to holding four expert dialogues each year.

Further, the finance secretary also 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 timeframe that will ensure coherence in the overall climate action under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The quality of climate finance must be anchored on the principles of transparency, accessibility, predictability, and efficiency to address gaps in the provision of climate finance, Diokno said.

He stated that transparency in climate finance can be enhanced by making goals science- and evidence-based, defining climate finance, and stating the timeframes and commitments from climate finance providers.

“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,” Diokno further stated.

The HLMD was rooted in the reports from the technical expert dialogues and submissions made by Parties and non-Party stakeholders in the context of ad hoc work programme on the NCQG on climate finance.

The HLMD was represented by over 183 Parties that aimed to advance a shared understanding of the goal and provide guidance on the direction of the ad hoc work programme upon establishing the NCQG in the next year.