Lawmakers, NGOs call for climate accountability ahead of international loss and damage board meeting in Manila
Quezon City, Philippines, 28 November 2024 – Lawmakers, activists and Filipino communities are pushing for a law that will mandate carbon majors to pay communities for losses and damages brought on by climate impacts. In a policy roundtable held earlier today these groups gathered to deliberate the urgent need for a strong Climate Accountability (CLIMA) bill, and to answer the question: "Who Pays for Climate Loss and Damage?"
The roundtable–organized by the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC) and Greenpeace Philippines with support from Oxfam Pilipinas–was convened ahead of the first meeting of the Board for the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage Fund (FRLD) in Manila, which will put a spotlight on the relation between the climate crisis and loss and damage.
Hosted by the Philippines, the Board is tasked to operationalize the fund aimed at helping vulnerable nations respond to large-scale climate impacts. Created by the United Nations, the FRLD currently holds USD 700M, an amount far below the identified needed payment coming from rich nations.
“Climate destructive businesses must be made to pay for the costs of climate impacts borne by communities. With the current paltry amount of pledges in the Fund and the disappointing outcomes for climate finance at the UN climate talks in Baku, the FRLD has a difficult task ahead. As host to the Fund Board, the Philippines can set a global precedent--the passage of the CLIMA Bill will send a strong message that high emitting companies must pay for climate impacts, and at the global level, carbon majors must be made to pay reparations into the FRLD,” said Lea Guerrero, country director of Greenpeace Philippines.
Fourteen (14) developing countries on the Board have said that at least $100 billion is needed annually by 2030. A United Nations 2022 report found that as much as $300 billion was needed every year by 2030, while the Loss and Damage Collaboration puts the amount at $671 billion annually.
Precisely to augment funds as well as to emphasize accountability, local groups Greenpeace Philippines and the LRC are pushing for a national law that will penalize companies that continue to emit large greenhouse gasses (GHGs) amid the urgency to phase out fossil fuels.
“The Climate Accountability (CLIMA) bill filed in Congress in 2023 is a first in the global South. It will penalize carbon majors that breach acceptable thresholds for carbon emissions. The penalties will be funneled into the Climate Change Reparations Fund (CCRF), which affected communities, prioritizing vulnerable and marginalized groups, can directly access in the aftermath of a large-scale disaster. Under the CLIMA bill, carbon majors can be brought to court for their role in losses and damages that will be suffered by communities. As the host of the Board for the Fund, the Philippine government can further solidify its climate leadership by passing the CLIMA bill,” said Maya Quirino, advocacy coordinator-associate executive director of LRC.
In fact, the international climate negotiations could take the cue from CLIMA in pursuing climate justice.
“As climate change-related loss and damage undermines the right to development and other human rights of individuals and communities, loss and damage should be treated as part of the remediation pillar of climate justice. Remediation in the context of climate change should be interpreted in the sense of full reparation, comprising restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction and guarantees of non-repetition. In addition to providing financial assistance, developed countries should facilitate the transfer of green technologies, build capacity, provide technical assistance and offer migration pathways to climate-induced migrants,” said Prof. Surya Deva, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development, in a statement.
The international climate negotiations held every year are organized around three major pillars: mitigation (reducing carbon emissions); adaptation (preparing for climate impacts); and loss and damage (responding to impacts beyond adaptation).
Under loss and damage, rich nations refuse the language of financial reparation as this will open them to lawsuits. From within the UN system, Prof. Deva has joined the longstanding clamor for the loss and damage pillar to cover remediation and reparations.###
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