Will PH accept the global climate agreement?

PARIS — All cards are on the table. Now everyone must wait as French foreign minister and 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) President Laurent Fabius facilitates bilateral meetings with countries questioning the draft climate pact released on Thursday.

The Philippines, however, will not be among those seeking bilateral meetings.

“We actually have not participated in any bilaterals. Most of the bilaterals would be with negotiating groups but only with the core leaders,” Philippine delegations spokesperson Tony La Viña told media on Friday.

La Viña was among the members of the delegation that stayed up until early morning on Friday for the Indaba, which is a format of talks that allows all parties to give their opinion.

READ: ‘Indaba of Solutions’ key to climate agreement at COP21

“Some parties will still have problems with it. We’ll see if we have problems with it,” he said of the draft agreement which is set to be released on Saturday morning. “Generally for the Philippines, I don’t think we have significant problems on the part of the text so we’re not as constrained as others to have a bilateral.”

While many countries have drawn their “red lines” or provisions they cannot compromise in the agreement, the Philippines has proved to be more flexible, repeatedly saying it is ready for compromise.

As head of this year’s Climate Vulnerable Forum, the Philippines has pushed for a 1.5 goal or to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels instead of the current two degrees Celsius.

“I would say the main red line on the current text is really to keep the 1.5 reference in the option that’s there and to take away the liability and compensation sort of reference or exclusion in loss and damage,” La Viña explained.

The current draft now has fewer bracketed text or phrases and words that may still be revised or removed from the agreement. Among the provisions that no longer have brackets are the ones on the 1.5 target and on human rights.

Article 2 of the draft pact states that one of the purposes of the agreement is to “Hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius, recognizing that this would significantly reduce risks and impacts of climate change.”

Meanwhile, the preamble states that the parties to the agreement acknowledge “that climate change is a common concern to humankind, Parties should, when developing policies and taking action to address climate change, promote, respect and take into account their respective obligations on human rights.”

“We still need want some operative text on human rights but that’s not a red line for us in the sense that we can work with the preamble,” La Viña said. “We just want to improve further. But I think we can declare victory already on what we have on human rights and ecosystems integrity.”

However, among the provisions that the Philippine delegation is looking out for is the one on finance.

“Finance has to be improved. Particularly adaptation finance…They’re (the delegation is) trying to push that hard,” La Viña said.

Delegation head Secretary Manny de Guzman earlier criticized an initial draft of the agreement which did not contain clear provisions on adaptation finance, which is important for countries like the Philippines that are vulnerable to climate change

La Viña said they will have to wait for the text on Saturday and see if they will need to ask for a bilateral. Parties are hoping that the agreement will be approved on the same day.