European Union lauds RP Climate Change Act

MANILA, Oct. 23 — The European Union hailed today the signing of the Philippine Climate Change Act of 2009, the landmark bill that institutionalizes government response to adopt itself to climate change.

European Ambassador to the Philippines Alistair MacDonald lauded President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who signed the bill into law. He said the law addresses a “very important global issue.”

“We need a firm commitment to ensure that we do not reach this tipping point of rise in global temperature,” MacDonald said.

He added he hopes all countries, particularly the rich and developed nations, will play their part in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions within a sufficient time frame.

MacDonald said that based on the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, the impact of uncontrolled climate change costs around 20 percent of the world’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

MacDonald said a global green recovery program or adaptation measure is necessary to cut the cost, as the $ 100 billion yearly adaptation cost estimate is just equivalent to only one percent of the world’s GDP.

As she signed the law, the President ordered Secretary Heherson Alvarez, presidential adviser on climate change, to press developed nations to take the lead in reducing global carbon emissions, under the programs of the Kyoto Protocol expiring in 2012.

The new treaty will be voted upon by world leaders at the 15th Conference of Parties (COP-15) in Copenhagen in December. (PNA)

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