PH gets $4.14 million to aid climate change

Department of Finance | INQUIRER.net file photo

The Philippines will get a $4.14 million grant from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) for funding climate adaptation and mitigation projects bringing the total grant to $139.9 million, the Department of Finance (DOF) said on Wednesday.

In a statement, the finance department announced that the GCF Board approved a total of 17 funding proposals for adaptation and mitigation projects, along with six new accredited entities. These approvals cover sectors such as coastal resilience, sustainable agricultural systems, ecosystem restoration, and climate technologies.

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“The DOF’s active involvement in the GCF Board and the recent success in securing the Philippines’ hosting of the Loss and Damage Fund (LDF) Board, along with its championing of climate finance initiatives in the country, highlights DOF’s leadership in mobilizing climate finance,” DOF said.

One of the approved projects was the Collaborative Research and Development Business (R&DB) Programme for Promoting the Innovation of Climate Technopreneurship. This project aims to facilitate technology transfer and enhance the local ecosystem for climate technology by empowering local entrepreneurs in the Philippines, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and Vietnam.

The GCF is an international fund under the global climate treaty, the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The fund was created to support low-emission development and climate resilience projects in developing countries like the Philippines.

The Philippines is currently carrying out four readiness activities with the GCF which focuses on strengthening the capabilities of DOF as fund recipient.

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Undersecretary Dorotan Tiuseco highlighted REDD+ results-based payments as a regular part of the fund’s projects and programs. This means making these payments a standard part of how the fund operates.

REDD+ is a program run by the United Nations that helps countries cut down on pollution from cutting down and damaging forests which will allow to integrate the funding modality into the regular project and program activity cycle of the Fund.

Emergency fund

In a separate statement, the DOF said that it is ready to tap $500 million of the standby credit line extended to the Philippines to support the national government’s disaster relief and rehabilitation efforts in areas devastated by typhoon Carina.

“These funds will be immediately withdrawn and released once the President declares a state of calamity. This will allow us to rapidly deliver critical services like healthcare, shelter, and food to those affected by typhoon Carina as well as fund post-disaster emergency response, recovery, and reconstruction efforts,” Finance secretary Ralph Recto said on Wednesday.