The Philippine delegation to the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will highlight the urgent need to address financing gaps in climate action.

Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo Loyzaga will lead the Philippine delegation to COP29 or the 2024 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Baku, Azerbaijan from Nov. 11 to 22.

In a news release Friday, Loyzaga said the delegation would seek to follow up on previous commitments and set a new global climate finance target for 2025 onwards, working from the USD100 billion per year commitment, which the parties have previously agreed on.

“Limited fiscal space in climate-vulnerable developing countries means we need urgent access to the best science, along with new, additional, and appropriate financing and innovative mechanisms and instruments from public and private sources,” Loyzaga said.

She said Asia-Pacific nations host many islands that remain among the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

“We are heading into COP29 inextricably linking Paris to the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) under UN auspices and the Plastics Treaty, as well as other international commitments. All these must be linked because they rely on human and largely political decisions and actions and are truly interdependent,” Loyzaga said.

The team, she said, would also focus on issues vital to sustainable climate action, including ocean and land biodiversity, food and water security, climate-driven migration, urban resilience, and developments in carbon and biodiversity markets.

In addition to COP29, the Philippines is also preparing to host the fourth meeting of the Board of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage in Manila from Dec. 2 to 5.

In August, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed into law Republic Act 12019 known as the Loss and Damage Fund Board Act, granting juridical personality and legal capacity to the Philippines’ hosting of the Board of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage.

The law empowers the Board of the Fund to respond to and recover loss and damage arising from climate change and mobilize broad and innovative sources of climate financing for this purpose.

“I have met with the co-chairs, and together with the newly elected executive director, we hope to explore ways that the Philippines and the Fund can work together to accelerate operationalization so that we can contribute to achieving the goals of the Fund,” Loyzaga said. (PNA)