Harnessing Cities’ Share in the Implementation of the Environment and Natural Resources Component of the Philippines’ Nationally Determined Contribution

ACP Rep

Back Completed Start date: 17.04.2022 End date: 13.12.2023

ACTIVITY INFORMATION

What we did

The Philippines is among the Southeast Asian countries experiencing rapid economic growth and urbanization. Asian megacities face severe urban challenges and are a major contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Thus, the need to accelerate climate change initiatives in these big cities is imperative. In the first Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) submitted by the Philippines to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in April 2021, the Philippines set a GHG emission reduction and avoidance of 75%. 2.71% of which will be unconditional, and 72.9% conditional. As the strategic priorities identified in the NCCAP - namely, the Environmental and Ecological Stability, Human Security, Sustainable Energy, Climate-Smart Industries and Services, and Knowledge and Capacity Development - also fall under the sectoral development concerns of the CDP, Local Government Units are able to enhance their programming, project identification, investment programming and prioritization towards adaptation and mitigation. This complements the Climate Change Act with Memorandum Circular No. 2014-135 (or the Guidelines for the Formulation of the LCCAP, as released by the DILG. Section 3.3.5 of the Memorandum Circular) that strongly suggests LGUs identify mitigation options to help reduce their carbon footprints and contribute to efforts in addressing climate change.

How we tracked

By the end of this capacity building program, the participating LGUs are expected to have crafted their own work plans and roadmaps in formulating and implementing their City Promises in line with their contexts, priorities, and aspirations to support and complement the national government’s efforts in fulfilling its NDC.

What we achieved

This capacity building program intends to help local government officers of highly urbanized cities in the Philippines to understand the fundamentals of local climate change mitigation planning. Participating HUCs will be equipped with basic knowledge and skills in formulating their baseline GHG emissions inventories, setting science-based GHG reduction targets, and crafting low emission development strategies that are consistent with the priorities and aspirations of DENR’s contributions to the implementation of the Philippine NDC.