MAIDEN BONDS OFFERING The Department of Finance. According to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd, the government is finalizing the framework for the issuance of the Philippines’ first-ever green bonds. PHOTO BY AARON RONQUILLO
The government is finalizing its sustainable finance framework for the issuance of the Philippines’ first-ever sovereign green bonds in an effort to mobilize funds for capital-intensive climate adaptation and mitigation projects in the face of worsening global warming, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd said on Friday.
With the Philippines shifting from merely talking about climate change to commencing the implementation of practical adaptation and mitigation projects on the ground, Dominguez said such initiatives will necessarily involve the mobilization of a governance structure for “green funds.” Dominguez said the Securities and Exchange Commission has long prepared the country’s capital markets for the demand in green investments, having released guidelines on the issuance of Green, Social and Sustainability (GSS) bonds that adhere to the standards set by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
Philippine companies have issued $4.8 billion worth of Asean-labelled GSS bonds since 2019. This amount, which is equivalent to 29 percent of the current total of Asean-labelled GSS Bond issuances, is the highest in the region, he said.
In preparation for its maiden green bonds offering and the mainstreaming of climate change in the financial sector, the Philippines launched on October 20 its Sustainable Finance Roadmap to serve as the country’s masterplan that will create a synergy between public and private investments in greening the financial system.
Dominguez said the roadmap incorporates the Philippines’ whole-of-nation approach to harnessing finance in support of the country’s transition to a clean, sustainable and climate-resilient economy. “All the old practices that put the planet under the peril it is in now must yield to new mitigating practices,” Dominguez said.
Dominguez said three crucial elements of what he called the “blended approach” to climate finance — grants for capacity building, investments for green projects, and subsidies for the financial costs and risks of communities transitioning to a climate-resilient economy — “need fine orchestration to push sustainability projects as quickly as possible.” According to Dominguez, the delegation to COP26 (United Nations Climate Change Conference 2021) affirmed the Philippines’ position that developed countries responsible for most of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions must bear the largest financial burden in the transition to carbon neutrality of developing countries.
“The Philippines, however, will not wait for the Western nations to get their act together. We are moving ahead with the implementation of actual projects on the ground to enable us to meet our commitments,” said Dominguez.
