Beginning of end for fossil fuels
For nearly three decades, negotiators from countries worldwide have made attempts. Still, they could not reach a consensus on the critical need to substantially diminish the use of fossil fuels, i.e., oil, coal, and gas, and stop the further destruction of this planet through global warming.
Finally, on 13 December, delegates from 170 countries to the 28th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) reached a landmark agreement in the unlikeliest place — Dubai, in the heart of the Arabian Peninsula.
The milestone occurred when, after 12 days of intense negotiations, 190 delegates to COP28 called on all countries to "contribute to a list of goals," including the "transitioning away from fossil fuels" and accelerating action towards this end "in this critical decade."
This was the first time in almost 30 years that a COP decision called out fossil fuels in explicit language, even as countries were asked to contribute to the global tripling of renewable energy capacity and the doubling of the rate of energy efficiency improvements by 2030.
There was a measure of disappointment that COP28 had ended short of a full "phase out" of fossil fuels, which not a few believe is needed for this planet to stay below the 1.5C-degrees threshold, the ambitious goal set in the historic Paris Agreement.
Keeping world temperatures at 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the devastating climate change effects we see will be substantially reduced.
For small island and low-lying nations, especially those battered by storms, rising sea levels, and land and reef degradation, 1.5C would still pose some challenges, and that is why loss and damage funding is significantly important for the survival of these nations and others vulnerable to climate change.
COP28 started off exceptionally strong when delegates, in a breakthrough deal on the first day of the conference, agreed to establish a fund that would compensate vulnerable countries coping with loss and damage caused by climate change.
Developing nations on the frontlines of climate change, including the Philippines, had already been negotiating for years to operationalize such a fund.
To be sure, the declaration in COP 28 that a loss and damage fund would now be set up was an exhilarating moment for the Philippines, made more so when the country secured a seat on the fund board.
The Philippines will represent the Asia Pacific as a full member next year, in 2026, and as an alternate member in 2025.
"This has been a long time coming after the Philippines spent decades being at the forefront of negotiations for the loss and damage fund," said Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga, who led the Philippine delegation at COP28.
"We are very fortunate and very lucky that, through the hard work and vision of the President, we have garnered a seat on the board of the loss and damage fund," she said, pointing out that having a board seat allows the Philippines to influence the decision on which countries will gain access to the fund.
The fund's primary purpose is to help developing and vulnerable countries cope with droughts, floods, rising sea levels, and the like due to climate change.
Initially, sixteen countries immediately announced their contributions totaling P700 million, including $109 million each from Italy and France; $100 million each from the UAE and Germany; $50 million from the UK; $27.1 million each from the EU and Ireland; $25.6 million from Denmark; $26.4 million from Norway; $21.8 million from Spain; $17.5 million from the US; $16 million from the Netherlands; $11.8 million from Canada; $10 million from Japan; $3.3 million from Finland; and $1.6 million from Slovenia.
The World Bank will likely serve as the fund secretariat and trustee. A country will host the fund board, and President Marcos has expressed intent for the Philippines to host the board.
On the Philippines' landing a seat on the fund board, the President said, "I think that's a very good development. We will keep working to make sure that the Philippines continues to have a strong voice on all climate change issues, of which we are severely affected."
To be sure, the task of weaning nations from fossil fuels remains a colossal challenge, particularly where it concerns countries belonging to OPEC whose economies run on oil. But the first giant step has been taken.
As Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, COP20 president and now global leader of Climate & Energy at the World Wildlife Fund and interim chair of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Climate Crisis Commission, sees it, "After three decades of UN climate negotiations, countries have at last shifted the focus to polluting fossil fuels which are driving the climate crisis. This outcome signals the beginning of the end for the age of fossil fuels."
