Philippines : Climate Change Action Program, Subprogram 1

Agriculture, natural resources and rural development / Agricultural policy, institutional and capacity development

Energy / Energy sector development and institutional reform

Finance / Finance sector development

The program constitutes the first dedicated climate change policy-based loan undertaken by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and addresses climate change as its core objective. It will support the Philippines to implement its national climate policies, including its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), which aims to peak greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030, and scale up climate adaptation, mitigation, and disaster resilience. The program will increase and intensify actions to transform key sectors toward a climate-resilient and low-carbon economy. It focuses on sectors that are of national priority for climate action, targeting adaptation in highly vulnerable sectors (agriculture, natural resources, and environment), and mitigation in emissions-intensive sectors (energy and transport). The program reform areas are (i) strengthening planning, financing, and institutional linkages for climate action; (ii) enhancing resilience to climate impacts; and (iii) strengthening low-carbon pathways. The program has been prepared jointly with the Agence Fran

aise de D

veloppement (AFD).

The programmatic approach is anchored on the growing recognition that the Philippines needs to act now to put in place a policy, institutional, and financing framework that will use the post-pandemic recovery as an opportunity to address the massive challenges posed by climate change. It responds to the need for long-term support to implement the mitigation and adaptation priorities of the NDC, and enables sequenced reforms to successively strengthen institutions and integrate climate into sector development. The approach provides flexibility for mid-course design adjustments, which is important given the evolving COVID-19 pandemic conditions and the need to learn from emerging experiences.

The program comprises two subprograms consisting of three reform areas: (i) planning, financing, and institutional linkages for climate action strengthened; (ii) resilience to climate impacts enhanced; and (iii) low-carbon pathways strengthened. Subprogram 1 supports the submission of the NDC and strengthens linkages between key national and sector agencies. It also supports initial actions to strengthen planning, financing, institutions, and operations in priority NDC implementation sectors. All prior actions for subprogram 1 have been completed. Subprogram 2 actions will build on these initiatives and scale up implementation of efforts to increase the resilience of agriculture and ecosystems and the transition to a low-carbon pathway. It will help set a long-term strategy and provide a foundation upon which future NDC development can be built. The program supports the government to deliver its unconditional NDC actions by strengthening sector institutions, including their capacity and budgets. It also enables the implementation of conditional NDC priorities by (i) helping to demonstrate and deploy low-carbon and climate-resilient technologies, and (ii) enabling public and private financing. Policy actions and reform areas were selected based on multicriteria optimization across (i) climate change impacts, (ii) government priorities, (iii) ADB's value addition, and (iv) development partner coordination.