Presidential Task Force on Climate Change

[LQT]

‘While climate change may be a high-profile global issue, it needs to
be linked to local concerns’

How do you localize a global concern such as climate change?

To mark the 38th Earth Day today, abs-cbnnews.com/Newsbreak zeroed in
on the Presidential Task Force on Climate Change (PTFCC), the
mechanism created by President Arroyo to mitigate climate change.

The following are excerpts from our interview with Department of
Energy Secretary and PTFCC chair Angelo Reyes conducted by Abs-
cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak’s Purple Romero:

Q: The Presidential Task Force on Climate Change submitted its action
plan last October 2007. What other initiatives will the Task Force
embark on?

Reyes: Compared to industrialized states, the Philippines does not
significantly contribute to greenhouse gas emissions that cause global
warming. But, as part of the international community, we have to do
our share in mitigating climate change by pursuing a climate-friendly
energy supply mix, developing policy incentives for renewable energy,
and undertaking diverse interventions in energy demand management and
efficiency promotion in homes, offices and factories, and on the road.

The adaptation response guidelines include addressing vulnerabilities
of specific sectors – such as agriculture, fisheries and health – and
areas like coastal regions and provinces frequently visited by
typhoons. The focus here is on disaster-prone settlements, high-risk
population centers and food production areas.

We built in the social mobilization dimension into the Philippine
response framework because we felt that, while climate change may be a
high-profile global issue, it needs to be linked to local concerns and
vulnerabilities for our stakeholders – down to the community level .

Q: The Task Force was able to submit the Climate Change Response
Framework and Action Plan less than a month after its creation. How,
as the head of the Task Force, do you plan to keep such momentum?

A: It is fair to say that the Philippine climate change response
framework and action plan was the product of a team effort on the part
of all member institutions within the Task Force. Nevertheless, I
commend the core climate change staff within the DOE for efficiently
consolidating all the information from various sources into one
coherent strategy document. Moving forward, we are proposing the
creation of a Climate Change Office (CCO) within the PTFCC to
streamline and manage the operational activities of the Task Force. We
will continue to work in close coordination with all members, both at
the top management and technical levels.

Q: How does the Task Force work? What are the difficulties that the
Task Force faced in improving its work?

A: The Task Force is composed of the heads of the DOE, DENR, DA, DOST,
DILG. DEPed and CHEd, plus representatives from the non-government
organizations that have activities related to the climate change. All
the line agencies named in the Task Force, along with the designated
private sector and civil society representatives, will be involved in
program planning and implementation.

The nature of the Task Force does not require that it hold frequent
top-level meetings. More critical to its operations is a system by
which to organize its scientific and programmatic database and to
monitor key programs at the institutional and multi-sector levels,
based on strategic impact metrics. They would normally entail
consultations with scientists in fields linked to, or affected by,
climate change and periodic technical inter-agency meetings.

The main challenge facing the Task Force stems from the fact that many
mitigation and adaptation interventions cut across many sectors and
can be very technology-intensive, protracted, and expensive.

On the other hand, since climate change is a relatively new concept,
it has not yet been factored into the programming and budgeting
process of most line agencies and local government units; what is
often reflected in their work programs are "climate-related"
initiatives.

Our response, therefore, has to be well orchestrated so that we can
maximize the use of limited resources and minimize duplication of
efforts. We should be able to do this more effectively once the
proposed Climate Change Office becomes operational to work on the day-
to-day activities and coordination tasks of the PTFCC.

Our first line of attack targets "low-hanging fruit" or readily doable
projects in areas like energy and water conservation and energy
efficiency promotion. Down the road, of course, we will have to reckon
with more formidable challenges like attracting investments to
renewable energy projects, spurring research in drought-resistant
crops and remedies to emergent health threats, and mobilizing
endangered communities to relocate to less vulnerable areas or
vulnerable sectors to embrace new forms of livelihood, if necessary.

Q: In DOE, what programs did you implement and still plan to spearhead
to mitigate climate change? What are the difficulties the Department
faces in pushing for action?

A: Even before I was appointed energy secretary, the DOE and its
attached agencies have already been carrying out programs related to
climate change, such as the promotion of renewable energy sources and
the push for energy efficiency and conservation. When I came in, two
factors provided the impetus to accelerate the pursuit of these
initiatives.

First, the climate change portfolio came with my job description, and
this constituted a new focal point for energy programming. Second,
international oil prices hit an all-time high, setting alarm bells in
the industrial, transport and consumer sectors.

In partnership with NGOs, the academe, the private sector and other
line agencies, we convened an Energy Summit where over 2,000
stakeholders from various sectors discussed issues and potential
responses. We all came away from that summit in the spirit of
opportunity, mapping out ways by which to sidestep the issue of high
oil prices through short-, medium-, and long-term energy solutions.
This led to a convergence of priority programs on both the energy
security and climate change fronts. This has given us a convenient
entry point for making a complex issue like climate change
understandable and actionable among key publics.

Now, we are looking at was to intensify energy demand management to
generate peso savings, as well as significant cutbacks in greenhouse
gas emissions, equivalent to foregoing expenditures for – and carbon
emissions from – a new power plant. One immediate way is to scale up
our program to switch from incandescent bulbs to more energy-efficient
compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) in homes, buildings and public
places. This is just the first in a series of massive social
mobilization efforts we will embark on to rally public support for
energy and climate change programs.

We are also looking at ways to attract more investment to the
renewable energy (RE) and biofuels sectors with a view to eventually
reducing the share of fossil fuel-powered power plants and vehicles in
the energy and transport mix. As an important first step, we are
closing ranks with other stakeholders in aggressively pushing for the
passage of the Renewable Energy Bill on the heels of the recent
enactment of the Biofuels Law.