Malacañang on Thursday said President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed into law Republic Act No. 12019, known as the “Loss and Damage Fund Board Act.”

The newly signed law grants juridical personality and legal capacity to the Loss and Damage Fund Board to “respond to loss and damage due to climate change” with full legal capacity to contract, acquire, and dispose of immovable and movable property, as well as institute legal proceedings.

The board will also be granted the legal capacity to negotiate, conclude, and enter into a hosting arrangement with the World Bank as interim trustee and host of the Fund’s secretariat as well as undertake activities as necessary for discharging its roles and functions.

As a party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement, the Philippine government touted the creation of a fund board that would “establish financial assistance to the most vulnerable developing countries’ response and recovery from losses and damages caused by climate change.

Malacañang said the government is pushing to advance the country's climate and disaster risk resilience by adopting a whole-of-government approach in creating and implementing effective policy frameworks as well as mobilizing broad and innovative sources of climate financing to address loss and damage.

It also supports the hosting of the Governing Board of the Fund in the Philippines “to accelerate access to critical climate finance and investments for future-proofing the economy and ensuring sustainable and inclusive growth for all Filipinos.”