Philippines Courts Private Capital for Climate Goals

MANILA, Philippines — The Marcos administration is seeking to attract more private capital to bankroll green projects and help accelerate the country’s progress toward its climate targets. Environment Secretary Juan Miguel Cuna is calling on investors and business leaders to invest in clean technologies while actively participating in high-integrity local carbon offset frameworks. “We need capital that builds,” Cuna said at the Philippine Net Zero Conference 2026 hosted by the Net Zero Carbon Alliance. He urged financial institutions to stop treating climate projects as “high-risk anomalies” and instead make green financing “accessible, scalable and non-debt creating.” Cuna likewise pressed for stronger collaboration between the government and the private sector to bridge the gap between climate ambition and real-economy delivery. While the Philippines is a signatory to the Paris Agreement, the international climate treaty adopted at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, the country has yet to declare a net-zero target. It has, however, committed to cutting its greenhouse gas emissions through its nationally determined contribution (NDC). According to Cuna, the enhanced 2026 NDC would set a target of reducing and avoiding net emissions by 75 percent through 2035. “The 2026 NDC is our national economic platform linking climate action directly to energy security, economic stability, fiscal resilience and social protection,” he said. As part of its climate efforts, the Philippines is currently crafting policies that will set clear criteria for determining which mitigation activities, projects and programs are eligible to generate and receive carbon credit certificates. These certificates can be traded and represent one ton of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions that have been reduced or removed from the atmosphere. “For a highly climate-vulnerable nation like the Philippines, achieving net zero emissions remains an indispensable shield,” NZCA executive director of conference convenor Allan Barcena said. “(It is) no longer just an environmental ideal but a structural economic blueprint that ensures independent clean energy, long-term enterprise survival and protection from volatile global fossil fuel prices,” Barcena said.