Philippines, 194 countries adopt Paris deal guidelines

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines and 194 other countries have adopted guidelines to implement the 2015 Paris Agreement meant to guide efforts for global climate action.

The so-called Paris Rulebook was adopted by all member-countries at the recently concluded 24th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 24) following two weeks of negotiations in Katowice, Poland.

The Paris Rulebook includes the estabishment of a new finance goal of $100 billion a year by 2020 to support developing countries in their disaster mitigation and resilience projects.

Climate Change Commission Secretary Emmanuel de Guzman, who led the Philippine delegation in the COP 24, said that more work still has to be done by all countries. 

The Philippines, he said, reaffirmed its commitment to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement and engaged in all climate talks while protecting its key interests, including climate justice.

Countries are expected to re-submit or update their climate pledges known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by 2020. 

The Philippines is set to submit its NDCs next year after it has completed ground work with all local stakeholders – both with the national government agencies and the non-state actors, De Guzman said.

In 2015, the Philippines committed to reduce its emissions by 70 percent by 2030.

As chair of the Climate Vulnerable Forum in 2015, the Philippines, on behalf of 48 developing countries, led the advocacy for the ambitious global warming threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius, which is now enshrined in the Paris Agreement as its long-term temperature goal.

The Paris Agreement aims to strengthen global response to the threat of climate change by keeping the global temperature increase “well below” two degrees Celsius relative to pre-industrial times and preferably within 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The climate pact is set to come into effect in 2020.