Climate accountability

The Philippines, for the third consecutive year, is still the most at-risk country to extreme natural events and negative climate change.

The 2024 World Risk Report released two weeks ago rated countries according to exposure, vulnerability, susceptibility, and lack of coping and adaptive capacities. This is not exactly new information but, as the Office of Civil Defense said, the report is a clear reminder to keep working toward a multisectoral approach to disaster risk reduction and management.

But how has the country progressed in addressing the issues and challenges, including responses, to extreme natural events? And what are the measures being taken to help vulnerable communities cope and survive natural hazards such as typhoons and earthquakes?

While nature is beyond human control, man-made activities like burning fossil fuels have greatly contributed to global warming. Those who live on the margins in less developed countries like ours bear the brunt of extreme weather events that damage properties and affect livelihoods. Heavy rains, for example, cause floods or landslides that wash away flimsy housing, or damage crops that double the debts of already burdened farmers.

Local loss and damage fund

It is then symbolic that the Philippines was selected as host of the Loss and Damage Fund board last July. The country will host the 2024 Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction from Oct. 14-17, which will discuss disaster risk reduction financing, gender-responsive and inclusive disaster risk governance, and urban and rural resilience. The event is expected to draw over 3,000 high-level international delegates. This will be a perfect opportunity for the Philippines to use the platform to take the lead in highlighting the plight of climate-vulnerable countries.

The fund so far has received $661.39 million in pledges. But this is not even 1 percent of the minimum $447 billion, or the maximum $894 billion, needed by 2030 for the estimated loss and damage brought by climate events. Climate justice activist Lidy Nacpil called it “shameful” that the United States, the “largest historical emitter” of greenhouse gasses, has pledged only $17.5 million when it should take a bigger responsibility over the climate crisis.

On the part of the Philippines, the legislature must pass the proposed Climate Accountability (CLIMA) Act, which creates a local loss and damage fund that would work as a counterpart to the global fund. The bill, filed in November 2023, is still pending at the House of Representatives committee on climate change.

Strategic role

The CLIMA bill has been dubbed the world’s first climate accountability bill and provides a framework for limiting fossil fuel expansion, helps facilitate the payment of climate reparations to victims and survivors of climate change, and provides for the rehabilitation of affected communities. It also aims to make the fund easily accessible to marginalized or disadvantaged groups who are more vulnerable to the climate crisis.

“Corporations have known the impact of their business on the environment for decades, yet they continue to engage in defensive tactics and greenwashing to deflect responsibility for the climate crisis. This is why this legal framework is urgent and necessary, to curb this industry’s unbridled burning of fossil fuels and prevent further harm to the communities our state is mandated to protect,” said Bohol Rep. Edgar Chatto, one of the bill’s authors.

Passing the bill will show the country’s commitment to the fight against climate change especially given its strategic role as host of the Loss and Damage Fund board. However, this is not enough. Stakeholders must ensure that the bill coming out of the legislative branch is not watered down due to business interests. Further, it must have enough teeth to make entities accountable for causing damage to the environment.

Legal loopholes

In a position paper published last Monday on the website of the Manila Observatory, an Ateneo-based nonprofit research institute, former environment undersecretary Tony La Viña, et al. said the CLIMA law should “leave little to no room for ambiguity that could result in legal loopholes to evade accountability.” It should also incentivize businesses to go above and beyond what they are legally required to do rather than rewarding them for doing the bare minimum.

“The CLIMA Act, if passed, is by no means a panacea for climate change and for loss and damage,” the authors said. They added that it can serve as a “preventive measure to shape future business behavior and decisions” by placing greater responsibility on the private sector and limiting their impact on the worsening climate change.

Legislators have lost the timely window to pass the bill before the October meetings but it must do so when sessions resume in November. That it passed a landmark measure will certainly serve as this Congress’ significant legacy. As La Viña said: “Nothing less is demanded by the urgency of the climate crisis.”