More green investments pushed

Sen. Loren Legarda has called for closer collaboration among the government, financial institutions and the private sector to generate more green investments in the country.

Legarda, chair of the Senate committees on finance, and climate change, said “green financing and investments are crucial in making the country climate-resilient.

“Our government certainly cannot do this alone. This would entail greater involvement from the private sector in transitioning our whole nation toward the achievement of our national targets,” she said in her keynote speech at “Green Breakthroughs 2017” organized recently by the International Finance Corp.

“The government has already started ‘greening’ our industries in various sectors, but our financial institutions and private banks could further escalate this green growth to a higher level,” she said.

She stressed that a strong partnership among all sectors is needed to attract domestic and foreign lowcarbon investments, and to scale up green financing for adaptation and mitigation measures that will help protect the environment and livelihoods of the people.

To encourage investments, she added, the government must first increase awareness on the severe impacts of climate change within sectors.

A national loss and damage registry and vulnerability assessment could help banks assess the need of a proponent in a particular area for a certain project and realize the urgency of lending funds to finance it, the senator said.

She pointed out the multibilliondollar Green Climate Fund stipulated in the Paris Agreement is more likely to finance countries with Nationally Determined Contributions set in the pact.

She also proposed the creation of a Philippine Green Bank, which would finance green projects using coal taxes, other green financing reserves, or grants from foundations and corporations that support climate investments.