The Philippines will repay the Asian Development Bank (ADB) until 2039 for the new $500-million policy-based loan it secured to intensify climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts.
Documents showed that Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary Ralph G. Recto, on behalf the Philippine government, and ADB Philippines country director Pavit Ramachandran on Dec. 11 signed the loan agreement for the Climate Change Action Program (CCAP) Subprogram 2, which the Manila-based multilateral lender approved last November.
This loan shall take effect or can be disbursed 90 days after the agreement was signed by the two sides.
The euro-denominated loan, equivalent to over 449.1 million euros, would have a 12-year principal repayment period, starting the year 2028.
This fresh financing must be spent before the loan closing date on Dec. 31, 2025.
According to the loan agreement, this ADB financing will support its host-country's institutional and policy reforms to implement climate change policies enshrined in the Philippines' nationally determined contribution (NDC) to the United Nations (UN) Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The country's NDC aims to slash greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 75 percent by 2030.
This additional financing will build on the earlier $250-million CCAP subprogram 1 that the ADB green-lit back in 2022 -- the first-of-its-kind climate action policy-based loan in Asia-Pacific.
In particular, CCAP 2 will fund initiatives to enhance resilience to climate impacts while strengthening low-carbon pathways as well as climate action financing, institutional linkages and planning.
This program will be jointly implemented by the following government agencies: the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP); the Climate Change Commission (CCC); the departments of Agriculture (DA), of Budget and Management (DBM), of Energy (DOE), of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and of Transportation (DOTr); the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC); the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA); and the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC).