Climate change and the new Marcos brand of diplomacy

WE saw the President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. brand of diplomacy at the 29th APEC Summit in Bangkok, Thailand, and I like it. It is refreshing and exciting. This was his first appearance on the world stage and he did well, as former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said. The Asia-Pacific region covers more than half of the world’s economies. The president seemed very at ease among the leaders of major economies like France, Canada, China and Saudi Arabia, like he was in the comfort of old colleagues, or friends even. There was that light moment with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau when they both compared their printed socks.

With the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, President Marcos threw in a little nostalgia about how his father, the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos, would send him as an emissary to Saudi Arabia during the oil crisis. In this bilateral meeting they discussed the important issue of energy, Saudi Arabia being the world’s largest oil producer. There were reciprocal invitations for state visits in the future. More importantly, the Crown Prince committed to pay for the unpaid salaries of more than 10,000 overseas Filipino workers who lost their jobs in construction when they declared bankruptcy in 2015-2016. The Saudi government will also establish an insurance system to secure the salaries of future OFWs. According to Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Ople, it was refreshing to see both leaders sitting and talking like old friends, both visionaries and both proud of the Filipino workers.

With France’s President Emmanuel Macron, the President discussed potential cooperation in agriculture, energy and defense. The two had met in person on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York last September. During this bilateral meeting, they discussed a potential partnership in nuclear energy.

Though both Saudi Arabia and France are not members of APEC, their leaders were invited as guests at the informal dialogue with the Asia-Pacific leaders.

France is one of the European Union’s best performing countries in decarbonizing their energy mix and is well on its way to achieving a 40 percent reduction in GHG emissions by 2030. France has minimized its reliance on petroleum, coal and gas by increasing its use of nuclear energy. It will be remembered that Marcos Jr. had mentioned the possibility of reviving the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, a project under his father which was mothballed in 1986 due to safety concerns. A lot has happened in the nuclear industry since, including small and portable nuclear reactors.

In the conversations with climate change activists, nuclear energy is still a bit of a bad word despite it having zero carbon emissions. The world is, however, facing pressures from all angles beyond environmental catastrophes brought by climate change, including post-Covid economic recovery, food security, regional tensions and the war in Ukraine. Europe is facing a very cold winter as much of their gas is supplied by Russia. These challenges are forcing nations to re-evaluate their commitments to the proposed single solution to reducing carbon emissions by switching to renewable sources of energy. Germany has gone back to the use of liquefied natural gas to reduce its dependence on Russian energy. It is a bitter pill to swallow, the return to fossil fuels with the use of gas. The world cannot rely on renewables like solar and wind alone as an alternative to phasing out fossil fuels. It will have to go through a gradual hit or miss cocktail.

In the meantime, while Europe and other bigger economies try to navigate through this winter’s energy crisis, the Philippines is in a unique resilient position of having been so used to an energy and environmental crisis through the decades while looking at a better mix for our energy sources. The President knows that to reach our long-term economic goals, we need a stable supply of energy that is not reliant on one source, hence, the talks with Saudi Arabia for oil and France for nuclear, and other possibilities discussed bilaterally with Australia, New Zealand and China. All that in four days.

It is a very interesting time for Marcos Jr to be stepping into the world stage as our president. These person-to-person meetings after the pandemic-induced lockdowns, do a lot more than just achieve points in bilateral discussions. They provide a platform that has long been missing in diplomacy and business forums — the human touch, the light moments, the laughter. And it seems, Marcos Jr. has it — the Marcos brand of diplomacy we saw from his father and mother, a mix of wit and charm that can even knock the socks off some of the most politically correct leaders of this time, like Trudeau and New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern. He continues to represent the Philippines as a sovereign nation in a peaceful Asia-Pacific region, who is a friend to all, and enemy to none.