WITH the Philippines ranking third in the world as having the highest risk of vulnerability to climate change, the need to promote green economic development has become even more pronounced.
For Volker Steigerwald, program manager of the German Development Cooperation’s Promotion of Green Economic Development (ProGED) initiative, micro, small and medium enterprises are the most vulnerable among registered businesses in the country.
During the Eko Conference held at the Radisson Blu Hotel yesterday, Steigerwald said their ProGED program specifically chose the MSME sector, as they are the most affected by the effects of climate change, which impacts the availability and fluctuation of prices of resources such as power, fuel, water and production inputs.
Droughts reduce productivity in agriculture while extreme temperature changes lead to fish kills, rising food prices and higher cooling needs. Excessive rainfall can also cause landslides, flooding and rising of seawater levels.
He said that aside from the United Nations’ report, the country’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources also lists 80 percent of areas in the whole country as having a high to moderate vulnerability.
Steigerwald said greening a business can address the negative impacts of climate change, enhance competitiveness and ensure sustainability and survival.
They hope to introduce technological and business processes that improve efficiency in the use of resources, reduce climate-related risks, reduce adverse inputs on the environment, improve solid waste management, reduce water and air pollution and produce green products and services.
Steigerwald lamented that it was not made aware that the country’s ecological footprint has been negative since the 1960’s.
As the country updates its Philippine Development Plan, he hopes discussion on developing a green economy will move towards this direction, as neighboring countries like Vietnam and Indonesia have done.
He was glad to note that it is slowly gaining importance, with large companies requesting their suppliers to initiate green practices and the government offering incentives for the development of renewable energy sources.
Philippine Business for Environment executive director Bonar Laureto said that even large companies can feel effects of climate change.
He said there is data available to prove that earnings face risk with changes in the prices of commodities, which are dictated by the scarcity of natural resources. He added that companies around the world have reported getting higher cash flows with sustainability reporting.
For Laureto, saying green economic development is redundant, as true development should already take dependency on natural capital into account.
Businesses, he said, should consider the impacts to the ecosystem on which their business is dependent on.
To say green economic development means to accept that there is also development that is not sustainable. For him, this is not an option.
Among their initiatives is an industrial waste exchange program which is a database of company waste that others can check to see if they can use it in their own companies.
There is also a program to ensure company vehicles save on fuel costs. Another program is to gather a million drivers to let them learn on safe driving, which ultimately leads to 500,000 liters of expensive fuel saved.