Climate change is exacting a heavy toll on Filipinos, their properties and livelihood, and left unaddressed, could hamper the country’s ambition of becoming an upper middle-income country by 2040; this is according to the World Bank Group’s Country Climate and Development Report for the Philippines, released recently.
However, the report is positive that the Philippines has many of the tools and instruments required to reduce damages substantially.
The World Bank Group’s Country Climate and Development Reports are a new core diagnostic report aimed at helping countries prioritize the most impactful actions to curb greenhouse gas emissions while delivering on broader development goals.
It also undertakes an in-depth analysis of challenges and opportunities for climate-related actions in agriculture, water, energy and transport.Â
Based on the CCD report specific to the Philippines, annual losses from typhoons have been estimated at 1.2 percent of the country’s GDP.
World Bank Vice President for East Asia and Pacific, Manuel Ferro, mentioned policy actions and investments — principally to protect valuable infrastructure from typhoons and to make agriculture more resilient through climate-smart measures — could reduce the negative climate impacts by two-thirds.
With energy transition towards more renewable energy, he specified that while accelerated decarbonization would dramatically reduce air pollution, it would also reduce electricity costs by about 20 percent below current levels.
IFC Acting Vice President for Asia and the Pacific, John Gandolfo, predicted that the business leaders and bankers who embrace climate as a business opportunity and offer low-carbon technologies, goods and services will be the front runners in the future.
But even with vigorous adaptation efforts, the report estimates many people will still be affected by climate change; some climate actions may also have adverse effects on particular groups, such as workers displaced by the move away from high-emission activities.
The report recommends that the existing social protection system in the country be strengthened and scaled up to provide support to affected sectors and groups.