Figueres visits PH, calls for responsibility on climate action

Christiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC and the current Convenor of Mission 2020, met with various stakeholders for a focused group discussion on climate action at Annabel’s Restaurant, Quezon City last 15 February.

Figueres pointed out that limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as targeted under the Paris agreement, does not lead towards paradise. Furthermore, the mentality for mitigation and adaptation measures should not be human-centric, but rather be inclusive of all life on Earth.

“We’re not doing that to save the planet,” she said. “What we’re trying to save is the conditions that have given us a few thousand years for humankind to actively develop, prosper, and thrive.”

Representatives from the government, academe, and religious and civil society organizations engaged with Figueres, who encouraged the attendees to become responsible for the fate of the world and inspire others to do the same.

“With ownership comes responsibility. We cannot own something and not assume the responsibility of its inhabitants,” she remarked.

Highlighting that the current Anthropocene era has seen humankind essentially take ownership of the world and citing the Laudato Si, Figueres noted that the current generation has something unprecedented: a shared responsibility to determine the future of the planet and the quality of life for future generations.

“We’re all called to create and nurture the garden of responsibility, in which we will assume the responsibility and the health of our planet,” she said.

During the rest of her stay in the Philippines, Figueres met with climate advocates and officials, including Senator Loren Legarda and Climate Change Commission Vice-Chairperson Emmanuel de Guzman. Key issues discussed include generating more opportunities to accelerate the transition towards a low-carbon economic growth and providing governments more avenues to enhance ambition under the Paris Agreement, on the road to the UN Climate Summit this September.

This meeting is part of Figueres’s visit to Asia for more transformative climate investments within the region. The event was co-organized by the Global Climate Change Movement, Mission 2020, and the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities. Mission 2020 is a global initiative aiming for greenhouse gas emissions to peak by 2020 and decrease afterward to reduce vulnerability to climate change, especially among the poorest communities, and place the world on the path to sustainable development.

—Source: Climate Reality Project