Gov’t budget to cover spending on climate change initiatives

Spending on climate change initiatives will be tightly woven into the budget process and will be more closely monitored by the government.

According to Joint Memorandum Circular No. 2015-01 issued by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Climate Change Commission on March 24, “performance indicators specific to climate change expenditures shall also be formulated in sync with the National Climate Change Action Plan.”

The National Climate Change Action Plan outlines the climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies for the years 2011-2028, with the ultimate goal of building adaptive capacities in communities, increasing the resilience of vulnerable sectors as well as natural ecosystems, and optimizing mitigation opportunities towards sustainable development.

According to the circular, the government would track, monitor and report all climate change programs, projects and activities so that oversight and line department managers can monitor climate change-related expenditures.

As “all climate change-related strategies and investments of the government shall be identified as adaptation and mitigation,” expenditures on such initiatives will have to be tagged in the Online Submission of Budget Proposal, National Expenditure Program, and the General Appropriations Act.

All government agencies are therefore required to identify and tag climate change expenditures, while the DBM is tasked to ensure the readiness of the tagging systems.