Germany wants to expand its collaboration with the Philippines and help increase its climate resilience as one of the most susceptible countries to climate change.
Jennifer Lee Morgan, Germany's State Secretary and Special Envoy for International Climate Action, emphasized the need to promote renewable energy sources and decarbonization when discussing climate mitigation.
In an interview, she said that the Philippines need to think about resilience but would also need to think about biodiversity as it moved forward.
"We're looking to scale that up, and that's what we'll be discussing during our consultation (with Philippine authorities)," she added.
Manila and Berlin continue to collaborate closely through Germany's International Climate Initiative (IKI), which funds projects aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, adapting to the effects of climate change, conserving natural carbon sinks with a focus on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+), and conserving biodiversity.
Morgan stated that Germany intends to bring forward a proposal that incorporates climate biodiversity and resilience through this collaboration.
Morgan is in Manila with Environment Secretary Antonia Loyzaga to lead the inaugural Philippine-German Climate Consultation.
She paid a visit to Tacloban City on Monday, where she met with victims of Typhoon Yolanda, which devastated the country in 2013.
Morgan stated that Berlin would also work with Manila and international partners to create a loss and damage fund by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Germany and the Philippines both serve on the transitional committee of the United Nations loss and damage fund, which is generating the aforementioned funds to assist developing nations.
Loss and damage relate to the negative consequences of climate change that cannot be avoided by mitigation and adaptation, such as extreme weather occurrences, sea level rise, and glacial retreat, among other things.
