PNoy joins world leaders in calling for carbon pricing

MANILA, Philippines - President Benigno Aquino III and other global leaders have called on countries and companies around the world to put a price on carbon.

Aquino is part of the Carbon Pricing Panel which has urged world leaders to support carbon pricing "to steer the global economy towards a low carbon, productive, competitive future without the dangerous levels of carbon pollution driving warming."

The Carbon Pricing Panel is a group convened by World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde "to spur further, faster action" on climate change ahead of the Paris climate talks.

The panel includes Aquino, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, French President Francois Hollande, Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, Governor Jerry Brown of California and Mayor Eduardo Paes of Rio de Janeiro.

In his statement, Aquino said years of international research show that intensifying global greenhouse gas emissions are contributing to the factors that put many countries at risk.

"In this vein, developing a price on carbon sets in motion the shift towards cleaner investments for our peoples. The Philippines thus believes that this is a step we must all take part in, lest we collectively suffer the consequences of inaction," Aquino said in his statement.

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Aquino said climate change is real as it threatens food and water security while and contributing to the occurrence of more frequent and more destructive storms.

"In our part of the world, whole Southeast Asian coastal communities are at a particular risk. They need to be relocated, given the threats of storm surges, rising sea levels, and even landslides," Aquino said.

"In our own country, we are indeed hard pressed to build back better our vulnerable communities, to support their way of life, and to provide safer, more sustainable livelihood," he added.

The Philippines, which is visited by about 20 storms every year, has become the poster boy of climate change-vulnerable nations, especially after Super Typhoon Yolanda devastated Eastern Visayas in 2013.

The country is currently reeling from the effects of lingering Tropical Cyclone "Lando," which flooded several areas in Luzon earlier this week.