3rd IKI Networking Workshop in the Philippines

Private Sector, Civil Society and Academia are essential actors in transition process, project experience shows.

From 5-6 November 2019, more than 80 participants gathered in Manila for the 3rd Networking Workshop of the International Climate Initiative (IKI) for the Philippines, bringing together political partners and implementing organizations.

The activity was organized by the <link en/nc/details/project/support-of-the-philippines-for-developing-and-implementing-national-contributions-to-the-international-climate-change-regime-15_II_122-445/>Support CCC II</link> Project, implemented by the Climate Change Commission in cooperation with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). It provided a platform for IKI implementing organizations to get to know each other’s work, network and identify opportunities for synergies, as well as to liaise with various government partners and align and coordinate their priorities for the future.

In his opening address, Deputy Executive Director Romell Antonio Cuenca of the Climate Change Commission of the Philippines stressed the importance of "transforming our business as usual way" to build a resilient nation and achieve greenhouse gas emission reductions. The German Ambassador to the Philippines, Anke Reiffenstuel, emphasized the cross-border nature of climate change and thus the importance of the multilateral system and international cooperation in addressing the challenge.

Given the urgency to act on climate change and the loss of biodiversity, the transition to a low carbon and resilient society was emphasized throughout the workshop. Working groups and plenary sessions emphasized that asides from action across government, the private sector, civil society and academia need to be actively engaged and support the transition process.

The Philippines is one of the countries considered to be most at risk of the negative impacts of climate change. In response, the Philippine Government has developed a comprehensive and innovative climate change policy and development agenda. Since 2008, IKI supports the Philippines based on priority areas defined by the Philippine Government consistent with IKI’s objectives and key areas of support. To date, the IKI portfolio in the country amounts to at least 62 million Euro for all bilateral, regional and global projects in various stages of implementation. This covers a diverse area of climate policy, adaptation strategies, ecosystem-based adaptation, protection and sustainable use of climate-relevant biodiversity with focus on REDD+, innovative financing instruments, Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) and renewable energy.

The Philippines continues its leadership role on climate action in the international arena. During the 2018 Katowice Climate Change Conference it led the advocacy on climate justice on behalf of 48 developing countries of the Climate Vulnerable Forum. Furthermore, the Philippines pledged to deliver on its commitment to submit to the UNFCCC its first Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) by 2019. In April 2019, the process of updating the Philippine National Climate Change Action Plan (NCCAP) was highlighted as one of the Open NAP country cases in this year’s NAP Expo.

In the same month, after 30 years the Energy Efficiency and Conservation (EE&C) Act was signed into law. The act aims to standardize energy efficiency and conservation measures and to reduce energy costs in state-owned and leased buildings and facilities.

Completed projects have shown its sustainability. For example, after the successful conclusion of the IKI project <link en/nc/details/project/green-banking-capacity-building-on-green-energy-and-climate-finance-15_I_251-481/>Green Banking</link>, implemented by the Renewables Academy (RENAC) AG in cooperation with ADFIAP, the Green Energy Finance Specialist (GEFS) programme is now being continued as an open training beyond the IKI funded project life.

Earlier this year, to celebrate the culmination of three and a half years of implementation of the Support CCCII Project, which functions as the IKI interface in the Philippines, the project team and the Climate Change Commission (CCC) invited implementing partners and relevant stakeholders to the SupportCCC II Project Knowledge Exchange and Culmination Event in Manila.