SEN. Loren Legarda has renewed her call for international climate justice, urging major greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters to fulfill their obligations as global efforts to limit warming fall short and vulnerable nations bear the brunt of climate-related disasters.
Citing the 2026 United Nations Environment Program report, Legarda warned that the world is on track to breach the 1.5 degrees Celsius warming threshold within the next few years amid insufficient emissions reductions.
The report projects that, under the most favorable scenario, global temperatures could peak at 1.8 C above preindustrial levels before dropping below 1.5 C by 2100 through aggressive emissions cuts and carbon removal.
Other pathways project warming beyond 2 C, increasing the risk of irreversible environmental damage.
“I hate to be proven right, but as I said, inaction will lead to us failing to meet the 1.5 C target,” Legarda said, warning that rising temperatures would mean stronger typhoons, more intense heat and other climate-related disasters.
The Philippines, which contributes 0.51 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, was again ranked as the world’s most disaster-risk-exposed country in the 2025 World Risk Index.
Legarda said extreme monsoon rains, flooding, transboundary haze and increasingly volatile weather patterns underscore the disproportionate burden carried by vulnerable nations.
She cited the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) July 2025 advisory opinion affirming the obligations of states to protect the climate system and prevent significant environmental harm. The opinion was welcomed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2026.
“Every country — especially those with significant contributions to GHG emissions, whether in the past or present — must join forces and fulfill its obligations so that we may achieve true climate justice,” she said.
Legarda called for stronger climate governance, financing and local resilience measures, including empowering the Climate Change Commission (CCC) to align national and local development plans with climate goals under Republic Act (RA) 9729, or the Climate Change Act of 2009.
She urged improved access to and monitoring of climate funds, including the People’s Survival Fund, and assistance to local government units in implementing science-based Local Climate Change Action Plans.
She stressed the enforcement of RA 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, to reduce flood risks and protect ecosystems, while supporting low-carbon reforms in the energy, transport, industry and agriculture sectors.
She cited her legislative initiatives, including the Low Carbon Economy Bill, the Philippine Ecosystem and Natural Capital Accounting System and the Circular Economy Act, as measures supporting a resilient, low-carbon economy.
Legarda called on the Department of Foreign Affairs and the CCC to invoke the ICJ opinion in international forums to seek increased climate financing, technology transfer and loss-and-damage support from major polluters.
“We must not remain mere victims of the climate crisis. Although we are among the most affected, we must serve as a global example of how to stand up, fight back and implement genuine solutions rooted in nature and science,” she said.
