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Thusday, March 2, 2016
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PRESIDENT Duterte’s signing of the landmark Paris Agreement is most welcome. It is hoped that the agreement, when fully ratified the world over, will compel highly-industrialized nations to cap greenhouse gas emissions and pursue massive development of renewable energy.
Yes, there must be more aggressive action to address the climate crisis. People now have a better understanding of the climate crisis and how it is linked to our survival. This inconvenient truth must ignite collective climate action.
The Paris Agreement on Climate Change, signed by 175 countries, including the Philippines, proves that we now realize the urgency of taking action to address climate change and mitigate its impacts. The goal is to keep a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius and to drive efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. But these realization and commitments must be translated into concrete action, mainly through the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
For the Philippines, climate action means achieving its goal of 70 percent greenhouse gas emissions reduction as stated in its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) submitted to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The government must draw sectoral roadmaps that will lead to the achievement of its INDCs, especially in energy, transport, forestry and agriculture. We certainly cannot go business as usual. In the energy sector, there should be a good energy mix where there is a bias for renewables.
There is no reason to hesitate or delay action on a challenge so compelling, on a threat to humanity so clear and present. For every second that ticks away is but a second closer to the next calamity. We must lead the way towards meaningful change for our children and grandchildren, for all of humanity, for all species in the world, and for Mother Earth.
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