MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines pushed for an action-driven and results-orientated cooperation between the Associations of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and the European Union (EU) to strengthen implementation systems and address persistent delivery gaps in climate action.
Speaking at the Asean–EU Sustainability Summit 2026 in Cebu, Climate Change Commission (CCC) Vice Chairman and Executive Director Robert E.A. Borje stressed the urgency of translating climate commitments into measurable outcomes.
He said that Asean–EU cooperation must move beyond policy alignment and shift to achieving concrete results on the ground.
“Now is a time for us to take a few steps back and to look at what the gaps and challenges are. Because truthfully, the challenge for us is really delivering on the ground and implementation,” Borje said.
Borje said that while Asean member states continued to strengthen climate ambition through Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), and other regional frameworks, the challenge now lies in moving consistently from policymaking to implementation and assessment. He identified three major gaps that continued to constrain climate action delivery across Asean: institutional coordination across sectors, ministries, and levels of government; implementation capacity at scale, particularly at the subnational level where execution happens; and project preparation and execution readiness for resilience investments.
“Climate resilience cuts across sectors, ministries, and levels of government, and our delivery systems are still catching up to that reality,” Borje said, adding that implementation support at scale remained critical across Asean member states and local governments.
