The Philippines has incurred losses and damages estimated to reach P506.1 billion (approximately US$10 billion) from climate-related hazards over a decade, underscoring its extreme vulnerability to the climate crisis despite contributing only 0.3 percent of the planet’s total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Data gathered by the Department of Finance (DOF) show that this amount makes up 98.2 percent of the country’s total estimated losses and damages from 2010 to 2020 of P515.51 billion (around US$10.6 billion). This staggering amount is equivalent to an annual average of P48.9 billion, which is about 0.33 percent of the annual average gross domestic product (GDP) of the Philippines.

Located in the typhoon belt and the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Philippines constantly experiences unavoidable losses and damage amounting to 0.5 percent of its annual GDP primarily from an increasingly unpredictable climate, the DOF said.

The Philippines is struck by around 20 tropical cyclones every year and an almost daily occurrence of seismic shocks.

Being a climate-vulnerable country, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the Philippines has much at stake in reversing the devastating effects of global warming.

“As I have said on many occasions, I am determined to set the Philippines as an example for all nations in setting the standards for mitigating the impact of climate change. I want us to be a world leader in this area through our climate ambition,” Secretary Dominguez said.

Secretary Dominguez, who is Chairman-Designate of the Climate Change Commission (CCC), heads the Philippine delegation to the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26).

He is expected to be one of the leading voices from participating developing economies in asking Western countries that are largely responsible for the most GHG emissions to act now in significantly reducing their carbon footprints, and to make good on their commitments to extend the financing needed by climate-vulnerable countries to transition to a clean energy future.

“This is the 26th time that the COP will be meeting. Yet, little action has been taken. Nothing would please us more than seeing the countries that emitted and continue to emit the most greenhouse gasses to accept the responsibility of financing the transition to carbon neutrality,” Secretary Dominguez said earlier at the Oct. 27 opening of the 2021 Annual Meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

The Philippines has committed to a projected greenhouse gas emission reduction and avoidance of 75 percent from 2020 to 2030 for the sectors of agriculture, wastes, industry, transport, and energy, as its National Determined Contribution (NDC) to the Paris Agreement.

According to the DOF, the latest Fiscal Risk Statement (FRS) released this year by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTR) “cites the country’s exposure to natural disasters as a major source of downside risks for the National Government’s fiscal position.”

The FRS is drawn up annually to identify the fiscal risks to which the Philippines is exposed to, and at the same time, outlines the key programs and measures put up by the government to manage these risks.

In 2020 alone, based on the preliminary 2022 FRS, P74.75 billion-worth (approximately US$1.49 billion) of damages have been recorded resulting from disasters, including three consecutive typhoons that have collectively caused the largest damages amounting to P69.02 billion (approximately US$ 1.38 billion). Economic losses were estimated at P35.74 billion (approximately US$ 714.8 million).

In 2019, a single tropical cyclone—Typhoon Tisoy (international code name: Kammuri)– recorded the most damages with a total of P6.6 billion (approximately US$ 132.0 million), of which P2.9 billion (approximately US$ 58 million) and P3.7 billion (approximately US$74 million) pertain to infrastructure and agriculture damages, respectively, the DOF said.

Losses and damages from extreme weather events reached 4 percent of GDP in 2013 as a result of Super Typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan), which killed over 6,000 people, according to the National Disaster and Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

Secretary Dominguez earlier pointed out that, given its high climate vulnerability, the Philippines ranked 9thout of 181 nations in the world as the most affected country from extreme weather events in the 2020 World Risk Index.

The Global Climate Risk Index 2021, on the other hand, ranked the Philippines 4th among 10 countries most severely hit by extreme weather events from 2000 to 2019.

Being an archipelago, the Philippines is also greatly threatened by rising sea levels as an offshoot of global warming.

Based on satellite observations, the level of the Philippines’ surrounding seas has increased at a rate of 5.7-7.0 mm/year from 1993 to 2015, which is twice the highest global average rate of 2.8-3.6 mm/year observed between 1993 and 2010.

Sea level rise, which has been identified by the CCC’s reconstituted National Panel of Technical Experts (NPTE) as among the top 10 climate-induced risks in the country, is putting 64 coastal provinces, 822 coastal municipalities, and 25 major coastal cities at extreme risk.

The country had lost about 68 percent and 82 percent corals and seagrass cover, respectively, from 2009-2016, which was exacerbated by climate change impacts, such as coral bleaching and ocean acidification.

This has contributed to the dwindling fish catch as commercial fish move from warm to cooler and deep waters.

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