Govt still committed to green financing
Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2019 16:25:59 +0000
THE government remains committed to improve green financing in the Philippines.
“Climate change is the most pressing problem of our time. The challenges posed by climate change demand all hands be on deck — [the] government, the private sector and nongovernment organizations,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd said during the “Green Finance Towards a Sustainable Philippines” forum at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on Thursday.
Dominguez underscored green financing as a weapon the Philippines has against climate change, which would allow the government to mobilize investments for a range of initiatives.
He said that, since strategies for climate-change adaptation and mitigation across all sectors required huge investments, the government needed to refine its concepts and instruments for green financing to help make investments in adaptation and resilience attractive.
He also said the government was keen on strengthening its climate-financing policies, adding that it was looking at expanding the coverage of the Asean Framework for Green Bonds to cover such sectors as transportation, infrastructure, and commercial banking.
Asean Green Bonds refer to bonds and sukuk (Islamic bonds) that comply with the Asean Green Bond Standards, which were developed through consultations with the International Capital Market Associations, capital regulators and industry players in Southeast Asia.
Asean stands for the Association of Southeast Asia Nations. It is made up of 10 members: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore Thailand and Vietnam.
Proceeds from the issuance of Asean Green Bonds will be exclusively applied to finance or refinance, in part or full, new and/or existing eligible green projects.
“We hope to mainstream access to green financing through the banks and microfinance institutions. We are, to be sure, exploring possible funding of various public-private partnerships or PPPs through green financing,” Dominguez said.
Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said the government should be pushing for measures to funnel more resources to green finance given the country’s vulnerability to climate risks.
“In the Department of Budget and Management, there is an initiative to channel more resources to green projects,” he added.
He said climate change expenditures by the government now exceeded P200 billion annually both for adaptation and mitigation. He added that 96 percent of climate change expenditures are now allocated for adaptation programs and projects.
“This is a massive turnaround from previous experiences, unexpected from a development country that is not a major greenhouse gas emitter,” Diokno said.
He also said climate change expenditure already reached 6 to 7 percent of the national budget, with most of the funds allocated to agriculture, environment and public works sectors.
“The government is channeling virtually all of its resources to climate change adaptation. Indeed, the government is slowly improving its climate financing,” the Budget chief said.
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