‘Phl failed to push climate agenda in APEC’

The Philippines has also failed to push a stronger climate agenda among member economies of APEC, a group advocating climate justice said.

Gerry Arances, national coordinator of the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice ( PMCJ), said the leaders’ statement fell short on its commitment to address climate change.

“The Philippines should have been more ambitious in terms of asserting its stand,” Arances told The STAR yesterday.

He noted the lack of commitment of the APEC member-economies to push for a climate agreement seeking to limit the increase in temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2100. And “as host, we have the opportunity to do that.”

The Philippines, which sits as president of the Climate Vulnerable Forum composed of countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, is among those pushing for the ambitious 1.5 degree target, instead of the initial goal of not over 2 degrees.

Arances said the Philippines could have urged the APEC member-economies to commit to such target, instead of a “vague wording that falls short of what is necessary” to address climate change.

In its statement, the APEC leaders committed to achieve “a fair, balanced, ambitious, durable and dynamic agreement on climate change at the Paris Climate Conference in December.”

“We reaffirm our aspirational goals to reduce aggregate energy intensity by 45 percent by 2035 and double renewable energy in the regional energy mix by 2030 to achieve sustainable and resilient energy development within the Asia-Pacific,” they added.

But according to Arances, the 45 percent reduction of energy intensity is not enough, noting that the leaders’ concept of “ambitious” may actually be different from climate justice advocates.

“Our measure of ambitious, fair, just is far more ambitious that they’ve laid out,” he added, stressing that rich and industrialized nations should be carbon-free by 2030.

The APEC leaders also committed to phase out medium-term inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption.

Arances said such a statement has loopholes, noting that coal power plants are still being constructed, for instance here in the Philippines, under the guise that it is a form of “clean coal.”

The PMCJ also hit the leaders for affirming the use of nuclear power as a possible source of energy.