The Philippines’ submission of its updated climate pledge to the United Nations has been pushed back anew after the Middle East conflict triggered a fresh round of questions over the country’s long‑term energy plans, a senior climate official said.
To continue reading, subscribe to Eco‑Business.
There's something for everyone. We offer a range of subscription plans.
- Access our stories and receive our Insights Weekly newsletter with the free EB Member plan.
- Unlock unlimited access to our content and archive with EB Circle.
- Publish your content with EB Premium.
The Philippines was expected to release its updated nationally determined contributions (NDCs) at COP30 in Belém, Brazil in November, then delayed to April during the Asean Climate Week, hosted by the country as chair of the intergovernmental forum of all 11 states in Southeast Asia. It remains the only country in the region which has yet to update its carbon reduction targets, aside from other lower-middle income countries like Laos and Myanmar.
The shock to global oil and gas markets prompted key cabinet officials to demand a reassessment of assumptions used in the country’s climate targets in the wake of the conflict which began in the end of February, said Romell Antonio Cuenca, deputy executive director of the Climate Change Commission (CCC), the lead government body responsible for developing, coordinating and submitting the Philippines’ NDCs, including future updates.
“International events [such as the Middle East conflict] affect how we operate. We certainly do not operate in a vacuum, but there’s no excuse for us not to do something about it,” he said in a panel discussion held in the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday.
The Philippines, highly dependent on Middle East oil and liquified natural gas (LNG), is considered as among the most impacted in Southeast Asia by war‑driven fuel price spikes, and the only country to have formally declared a state of national energy emergency in response to the disruption of flows through the Strait of Hormuz.
It also to moved to ramp up coal generation “temporarily”, to keep electricity prices in check as the war disrupts gas supplies.
“
International events [such as the Middle East conflict] affect how we operate. We certainly do not operate in a vacuum.
Romell Antonio Cuenca, deputy executive director, Climate Change Commission
Cuenca said the CCC is now focused on ensuring that any revised targets are “very well thought out,” describing the forthcoming submission as “evidence‑based, data‑driven, and backed by science.” Part of the delay, he added, stems from the need to make sure “our principals understand” the implications as the NDC “goes up all the way to the president.”
Cuenca underscored the importance of coordination not just among development partners, but among development and national government agencies, and international government, as well as the private sector and civil society.
“We need to be able to show a really logical progression why this makes sense,” he said, insisting that the Philippines is “not just complying for compliance’ sake.”
While acknowledging that “the deadlines may have been pushed a little bit,” Cuenca said the government is still aiming to file the updated NDC ahead of COP31 in November.
More time needed to fine tune climate ambition?
Analiza Rebuelta Teh, undersecretary for finance, information systems and climate change at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), said in the same ADB forum that the delay also reflects the government’s effort to sharpen its message on ambition.
She added officials want to clearly explain any increase in the country’s unconditional commitments and the addition of the forestry sector to the latest targets.
The Philippines is expected to spell out new forestry goals in its updated NDCs.
In its last submission in 2021, the country already treats forestry and land use as key to its pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 75 per cent between 2020 and 2030 under the Paris Agreement, with reductions spanning the energy, transport, waste, forestry and industry sectors relative to a business‑as‑usual scenario.
Of this target, 72.29 per cent is conditional on international finance, technology and capacity‑building, while only 2.71 per cent is covered by domestic resources, leaving the Philippines heavily reliant on external support to deliver most of its planned cuts.
In a multi‑stakeholder meeting in December, the government signaled its intent to keep the next mitigation target at 75 per cent, but raise the unconditional portion to between 10 and 20 per cent.
