No issue is more local and urgent than the climate crisis. It is international and intersectional. The Marcos administration's climate action plan has largely been unclear since his proclamation. Even today, after his inaugural speech, he leaves more questions than answers.
But here are a few takeaways from his first speech as president:
First, Marcos seemed to follow former President Rodrigo Duterte’s approach when he initially aired his misgivings about the Paris climate agreement. The former president questioned how developed countries, which have historically benefited from the use of fossil fuel, had dictated the terms of the collective fund that would be used to help developing countries achieve climate goals. Duterte eventually signed it in March 2017.
“The rich world talks a great deal but does a lot less about it than those with much less but who suffer more death and destruction from climate change and lack of adaptation,” Marcos said.
The Paris Agreement is an international treaty that aims to avert climate catastrophe. A total of 196 parties, including the Philippines, submitted plans outlining commitments to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in documents called the nationally determined contributions or NDC.
Based on the NDC that the Philippines submitted in April 2021, the Philippines is targeting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 75% by 2030. Accomplishing 72.29% of this goal depended on funding and assistance from the international community, based on the report.
The Marcos administration’s energy transition plan will need to be aligned with the country’s NDC to the Paris agreement.
Marcos claimed that “sufficient fossil fuel-free technology for whole economies has yet to be invented” and that “it is not seriously tried by rich countries.” This is partly true, but advanced economies like Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland and Austria have shown examples of progress to tackle GHG emissions from energy generation. These countries along with several others topped the World Economic Forum’s latest Energy Transition Index (ETI). Solutions, albeit small in scale, can also be seen even in emerging and developing countries.
Second, Marcos seems intent to focus more on mitigation rather than prevention.
“First spare victims and help them recover, and move on to lessen the harmful impact of climate change,” he said.
In the last part of his speech, Marcos claimed that large-scale practical solutions to pollution have yet to be seen. “Though some are beginning to emerge, there are tried and proven new ways of mitigation,” he said without giving more detail.
Marcos did mention harnessing power from Ilocos Norte windmills, falsely claiming that he built them. But he was mum on renewable energy targets and how these will be achieved.
Marcos did mention of plans to include nuclear power into the country’s energy mix. If this proceeds, it is likely that the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, a project built during his father’s administration, will be revived. The plant has not operated due to issues of safety and corruption.
What he was more clear about is in the Philippines’ role in reducing plastic pollution.
“We too have our part to play. We are the third biggest plastics polluter in the world, but we won’t shirk from that responsibility. We will clean up,” he claimed.
The deadline to prevent global temperatures from rising by more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels is fast approaching. Decisions made this year, according to the April 2021 assessment report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, are said to determine whether the target is going to be met.
Like many of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries, experts agree that democracy and climate action should be at the center of the Philippines' environment agenda. Where destruction of forests happens, decline in democracy also persists. Across the globe, freedom has taken a backslide, with more countries in the Global South like the Philippines less free.
The case for journalists in these countries has not gotten better either as freedom of expression inherently is also under threat. As the climate crisis intensifies, the situation for frontline communities and defenders of the earth is also getting worse.
Global Witness in 2021 reported that on average, four defenders have been killed every week since the signing of the Paris climate agreement. This figure is almost certainly an underestimate. The Philippines has consistently ranked high among the deadliest countries for environmental defenders in the world. The recorded attacks were reportedly linked to resource exploitation – across logging, hydroelectric dams and other infrastructure, mining, and large-scale agribusiness.
Marcos, whose family's legacy is tainted by some of the most horrifying human rights violations in history, has not made pronouncements on protecting the rights of climate and environmental defenders.
Climate change adaptation and mitigation along with a smart infrastructure development are expected to form part of the new administration’s medium-term socioeconomic blueprint, socioeconomic officials said on Monday, June 27. Details of such plans have yet to be laid out in the six-year Philippine Development Plan that each new administration formulates during its first year in office.
According to the Climate Reality Project, the country’s renewable energy transition will also determine “whether or not the Filipino people will finally enjoy cleaner air, healthier communities, and access to clean, reliable, and affordable electricity.”
“Electricity rates are already high in the country due to imported fossil fuels whose prices are driven by the volatile global market. The same goes with nuclear energy as we would have to rely on imported uranium as nuclear fuel,” the group said.
Marcos has yet to name who will lead the environment and energy departments. END
Follow PCIJ on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
— PCIJ, July 2022