Home>News>Nation>PH to gain from Biden plan to rejoin Paris Climate Pact
Nation

PH to gain from Biden plan to rejoin Paris Climate Pact

PRESIDENT-elect Joe Biden’s plan to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement would be beneficial to the Philippines in the long run, Muntinlupa City Rep. Ruffy Biazon said Tuesday.

Biazon said the US, through its aid to the Green Climate Fund, is a major factor in achieving the global objectives of the Agreement, and the termination of the $3 billion US funding will have a severe impact, particularly in the area of climate change research.

“The Philippines, which now bears the brunt of stronger typhoons and unusual weather patterns brought about by climate change, will be impacted by the Agreement’s failure to achieve its goals,” Biazon stressed.

“Therefore, President-elect Biden’s intention to take the United States back into the Paris Climate Agreement gives me a sigh of relief in the wake of President Trump’s withdrawal taking effect just after the elections,” Biazon added.

The Paris Agreement is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, with signatories agreeing to voluntarily cut down on greenhouse gas emissions causing the climate crisis. The agreement’s official goal is to keep the world from becoming 2°C hotter than before industrialization.

When the US formally left the Paris Agreement on November 4, Biden tweeted that “in exactly 77 days, a Biden Administration will rejoin it.”

Trump made the decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement citing supposed unfair economic burden imposed on American workers, businesses, and taxpayers by US pledges made under the Agreement.

With its exit from the Paris Agreement, the US joined Iran and Turkey as the only major countries not to participate in the Agreement.

The Philippines ratified the Paris Agreement in 2019, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of French-Philippine diplomatic relations.