Laying the groundwork for climate justice

Since almost all countries signed on to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992, the international environmental treaty for global climate negotiations spawned the annual Conference of the Parties (COP) meetings that produced agreements on limiting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and temperature. 

In the COP19 held in Warsaw, Poland, in 2013, a consensus to address loss and damage from climate change was reached. But 11 years would pass before the corresponding Loss and Damage Fund (LDF) was established at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. 

The LDF is intended to compensate vulnerable nations like small island states and the Philippines for economic and non-economic losses caused by extreme weather events like typhoons and droughts, despite such countries’ minimal historical GHG emissions. 

Funding was supposed to start last year, but Climate Change Commission (CCC) vice chairperson and executive director Robert E. A. Borje says the LDF board, where he is a member, is still discussing the payment modality and mechanism.

“I would assume that it would take around five to seven years before it is approved,” he says of the funding process.

Borje, who has been at the helm of the CCC since 2022, reveals that there is already a seed fund of $200 million for loss and damage, but the Philippines is not getting compensation for the series of weather disasters it suffered last year and in 2024. Beneficiaries simply have to wait for the LDF board members to reach a consensus and finalize the funding mechanics.

For the CCC chief, the situation demands patience, something that he possesses after a long and fruitful career in diplomatic service.

Collective discipline

Before leading the Commission, Borje spent nearly two decades in diplomacy, representing the Philippines in multilateral arenas and serving in posts abroad. That experience is proving useful to global climate negotiations under the UNFCCC, where he serves as the country’s National Focal Point and sits on its Adaptation Committee — the first Filipino appointed to that body.

Securing climate finance is just one of his many tasks at CCC. He also works to strengthen data systems, align institutions, train local governments, mobilize youth and adjust private sector incentives.

The son of a Navy admiral and a barangay captain, Borje was raised between discipline and grassroots service. The latter is shown by promoting local adaptation plans to municipalities. 

His academic training — a communications degree followed by an Executive Master’s in Disaster Risk and Crisis Management — reflects his dual focus: explain clearly, prepare systematically.

At a resilience forum introducing national adaptation strategies, he advised local chief executives gathered there to “build right at first sight,” meaning to make resilience deliberate, not accidental.”

The phrase captures his philosophy. Prevention over reaction. Foresight over improvisation.

At a business and governance forum, he reminded private sector leaders that “real climate action does not succeed on policy alone. It succeeds when institutions, communities, and individual Filipinos move together.”

The setting mattered. He was asking corporations to view climate risk not as corporate social responsibility but as an operational reality.

Resilience, he argues, must become embedded in supply chains, infrastructure investments, school curricula, and local budgeting processes.

In other words, climate-safe living will not emerge from one agency. It must grow from collective discipline.

Pushing for responsibility

Colleagues describe Borje as measured and methodical — more inclined to listen than to dominate discussion. In international negotiations, that temperament helps him balance diplomacy with national interest. At home, it allows him to convene agencies that historically worked in silos.

He has received national honors for public service. Yet in interviews and public remarks, he rarely frames his work in terms of achievement. More often, he speaks of timelines — 2030 targets, mid-century pathways, adaptation benchmarks.

He talks about “mainstreaming” climate in development plans — a technical phrase that, in practice, means changing how roads are built, how cities expand, how farms irrigate.

There is honesty in the way Borje discusses climate governance. He does not promise a climate-proof Philippines within a decade. He acknowledges the scale of the challenge — global emissions, economic pressures, political cycles.

Likewise, climate justice will not be achieved in one administration, or even one generation. But it can begin now — in zoning ordinances, corporate disclosures, school programs, adaptation budgets.

The keyword to making this possible is responsibility. Responsibility from local governments to integrate risk into planning. Responsibility from businesses to invest in sustainability. Responsibility from citizens to understand that climate action is not optional.

On most days, Borje’s work does not make headlines. No ribbon-cuttings. No photo-ops. No applause. Instead, he quietly helps construct architecture and systems that anticipate storms before they strike, policies that reduce vulnerability before tragedy unfolds. With his stewardship of the CCC, he is laying the groundwork for giving Filipinos the climate justice they deserve.