Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III has welcomed the support offered by the United Kingdom (UK) to the Climate Change Commission (CCC)’s advocacy on banning single-use plastics, along with UK’s continuing strong partnership with the Philippines on accelerating both infrastructure development and financial inclusion.
In a recent virtual meeting with British Ambassador Daniel Pruce, Secretary Dominguez said the Philippines would appreciate UK’s offer of technical assistance and support in effectively communicating to the public the importance and long-term benefits to the economy of banning single-use plastics.
He cited the need to raise public awareness on the dire effects of the climate crisis, and how every Filipino can play a key role in mitigating these by explaining to them how eco-friendly initiatives such as banning single-use plastics will benefit them and future generations over the long term.
Ambassador Pruce said the UK is ready to assist the Philippines in preparing for its contributions to the discussions in the 26th United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), which could encompass a broad range of issues such as green finance, energy transitions and climate crisis resilience and adaptation strategies.
The COP26, which the UK is chairing this year, will be held in Glasgow, Scotland this November. It brings together signatory-parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Assistant Secretary Paola Alvarez, the point person of the Department of Finance (DOF) on climate crisis concerns, said during the meeting with Ambassador Pruce that discussions are underway with the British Embassy on engaging with renewable energy (RE) investors to determine from them the possible Philippine policy gaps that need to be addressed to encourage the entry of RE investments to the country.
She said these discussions will be held with representatives from the DOF, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Energy (DOE).
Assistant Secretary Alvarez underscored the urgency of attracting more RE investments into the country, given the government’s recent decision to impose a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants.
During the meeting, Secretary Dominguez also briefly discussed UK’s commitment to implement the first phase of its Iconic Bridges Project for Sustainable Socioeconomic Development in Cagayan province.
Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the UK International Champion on Adaptation and Resilience for the COP26 Presidency and Minister of State (Minister for Business, Energy and Clean Growth) later met with Secretary Dominguez to discuss climate crisis-related concerns, particularly on sharing UK’s expertise in pushing Philippine legislation on plastics use reduction.
During the meeting with Minister Trevelyan, Secretary Dominguez committed the Philippines’ participation in the UK-led Adaptation Action Coalition, which will act as a forum for developed and developing economies to share knowledge and best practices on local, regional and global solutions to deal with the climate crisis.
The Coalition is in response to the UN Call for Action on Adaptation and Resilience and aims to turn the commitments secured from this call to action into on-the-ground support for climate crisis-vulnerable communities.
Secretary Dominguez also separately met with Alok Sharma, the President of the COP26 and Member of the UK Parliament, to further explore areas of cooperation between the Philippines and the UK on raising the awareness of Filipinos over the urgency of climate action, and in finetuning the legislative measure that aims to ban single-use plastics.
They also briefly discussed how a “green industrial revolution” can give rise to new industries and create more jobs while effectively cutting carbon emissions.
-oOo-
