Philippines Pushes Developing Countries to Cut Their Emissions

As the torrential rains of Typhoon Hagupit flooded the Philippines, driving millions of people from their homes, the Philippine government arrived at a United Nations climate change summit meeting on Monday to push hard for a new international deal requiring all nations, including developing countries, to cut their use of fossil fuels.

It is a conscious pivot for the Philippines, one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies.  But scientists say the nation is also among the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and the Philippine government says it is suffering too many human and economic losses from the burning of fossil fuels.

Previously, Philippine negotiators — most notably, climate diplomat Naderev Saño, who shot to fame last year after staging a hunger strike in the wake of the deadly Typhoon Haiyan — have not been shy about demanding that the industrialized world cut its carbon emissions.

But now, the negotiators say, the Philippines is pledging cuts of its own and urging other developing nations to follow suit, a significant shift that they hope will advance global negotiations.

Negotiators here in Peru are working this week on a climate change accord, with the aim of producing one that will be signed by world leaders next year in Paris.

“The thinking of the pivot is — we’re going to take on commitments and do our part,” said Tony La Viña, a Philippine climate change delegate.  “The call has always been for developed countries to act.  But the thinking is simple.  If we’re going to get hit every year again and again, how can we call on developed countries to reduce their emissions, but not reduce our own?”

The move follows a joint announcement in November by the United States and China that both countries — the world’s two largest carbon polluters — will commit to reducing their fossil fuel emissions in the coming years.

Climate negotiators had hoped that the announcement by China would help end an impasse that, for 20 years, has plagued efforts to forge a global deal to stop climate change:  Developing economies insist that industrialized nations — as the world’s historic polluters — greatly reduce emissions, while poor countries remain exempt from such requirements.

The announcement by the Philippines “builds on the dramatic U.S.-China announcement two weeks ago,” said Robert N. Stavins, director of the Harvard Environmental Economics Program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.  “It shows that there can be a deal in which emerging economies and countries on the growth path from developed to developing are now willing to negotiate.”

In particular, negotiators have hoped that the American deal with China would spur action from India, the world’s third-largest carbon polluter.  But more broadly, climate negotiators hope to bring every nation in the world to the table to pledge cuts, regardless of the size of economy.

In a clear sign of the shift by the Philippines, delegates from the country said they were breaking away from an informal bloc of nations known as the “Like-Minded Group,” which has for the past two years negotiated together on climate treaties.

The group includes nations like Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Venezuela and other petro-states, which have long been viewed as stalling the push for an ambitious global deal designed to lower global oil consumption.

Instead, the Philippines assumed the chairmanship of another negotiating bloc — the “Most Vulnerable Countries.”

“The Philippines is thrilled with this opportunity to play a central role in stepping up the joint efforts for vulnerable countries,” said Mary Ann Lucille Sering, secretary of the Philippines climate change commission.

“We have sustained losses every year since 2008 of 5 percent of GDP,” she said.  “We are experiencing tremendous damages and loss of life from typhoons.”

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