Aquino has yet to confirm if he’s joining Paris meeting

Presdient Benigno Aquino lll INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/JOAN BONDOC

President Aquino has yet to confirm whether or not he would be joining 100 other fellow heads of state who will convene at the end of the month in Paris for a high level meeting aimed at mitigating global warming.

“We are still waiting for the final decision of the President whether or not he will be attending the leaders’ event on the 30th of November. That’s a head-of-state event. I think there are about 100 heads of states from different governments who have already confirmed their participation in that event,” acting deputy executive director Jocelyn Goco of the Climate Change Commission said at a press briefing in Malacañang.

The COP 21 caucus in Paris will seek to come up with a binding and fair climate agreement to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-Industrial Revolution levels to head off the worsening impact of climate change, ranging from fiercer storms and rising sea levels to extreme rainfall and drought.

Last February in Malacañang, President Aquino and French President François Hollande launched the Manila Call to Action on Climate Change ahead of COP 21.

The Philippines also chaired the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) and hosted a three-day gathering of senior officials from climate change vulnerable countries from Nov. 9 to 11.

Goco said many climate change advocates are pushing for an even lower target of 1.5 degrees Celsius, together with the pursuit of sustainable and inclusive development goals.

Matthew McKinnon of the CVF Secretariat said “it will become increasingly difficult for the Paris conference to take the option of 1.5 degrees Celsius off the table, it is a moral concern and it is feasible.”

He said the recent CVF meeting highlighted the question of just how ambitious an agreement would be and how much security it will offer billions of people in the world.