As Filipinos face climate challenges daily, groups urge action in May elections
MANILA, Philippines — As climate change becomes more visible in the routines of ordinary Filipinos, environmental watchdogs are calling on voters to reflect its urgency through their ballot in the May 12 elections.
In observance of Earth Day, Greenpeace Philippines said on Tuesday, April 22, that there is no better time for Filipinos to put “climate justice front and center on the policy agenda.”
It recalls how the past year was marked by climate extremes: blistering heat with temperatures soaring closer to 50°C and a train of cyclones tearing through the country in just a month.
Recent election surveys, however, show that Filipinos' top concerns are primarily economic — job opportunities, food security, healthcare and equal access to education.
While climate change was raised as a separate issue and remains a top concern for many voters, Greenpeace said these economic challenges are already deeply intertwined with the impacts of climate change.
“To secure all these and ensure Filipinos are able to live decent lives free from fear or want, means that climate needs to be the primary lens in government policy making and implementation,” the group said.
Class suspensions, storm-related deaths
The year 2024 not only marked the hottest on record but also saw global temperatures surpass the critical 1.5°C threshold, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
This threshold, established by 196 countries in the 2015 Paris Agreement, was set to limit global warming to no more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, as exceeding it could trigger irreversible consequences.
A report from the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) revealed that 32 of 180 teaching days were lost between April and May 2024 due to dangerously high heat indices. During the same period, nearly 50% of schools in the National Capital Region suspended classes because of the extreme heat.
Greenpeace said this led to Filipino children’s reduced access to education, “deepening the country’s education crisis.”
Later in the year, between October and November 2024, six consecutive storms pummeled the Philippines, leaving little time for recovery between each, and pushing the death toll to 324, nearly four times that of 2023.
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“Typhoons and floods increase the risk of death, diseases and health emergencies. Extreme heat exposes more vulnerable populations to heat stroke,” Greenpeace said, mentioning how climate anxiety has emerged as a major source of mental and emotional distress among the youth.
How this affects Filipinos. On top of the lives lost, the storms severely impacted farmlands and fisheries, slightly disrupting the supply of staple crops like palay.
This, in turn, put food security at risk, drove up the cost of goods, and strained both consumer purchasing power and the incomes of the country’s poorest workers — farmers and fisherfolk — according to Greenpeace.
Environmental groups warn that if these trends persist, the consequences could be far more severe.
“Climate change is already threatening our rights to food, water, health, and security,” Greenpeace Philippines Country Director Lea Guerrero said in a statement. “Candidates must go beyond promises and deliver bold, people-centered solutions.”
5-point agenda for candidates
To help at least reduce the impact of the climate crisis, Greenpeace Philippines outlined a five-point agenda that it urges local and national candidates to adopt in shaping their policies. These include:
- Building climate-resilient communities
- Demanding accountability from climate polluters
- Supporting a just energy transition
- Promoting health-focused climate policies
- Making climate justice and action at the center
So, what would these look like in practice? According to Greenpeace, building a resilient community means “creating and opening spaces” for residents to actively participate in local policymaking.
This includes involvement in city planning, infrastructure projects, permits for large-scale industrial activities and policies on fisheries and agriculture.
Disaster response alone is not enough, the group added. “Coherent strategies beyond disaster response must be put in place, and these should also address long-term vulnerabilities, not just disasters.”
Climate change also costs the government billions of pesos each year — a burden ultimately shouldered by Filipino taxpayers, while major polluting firms continue to profit.
For policymakers, Greenpeace said addressing this means supporting measures like the proposed Climate Accountability Bill, which seeks to establish a framework for holding polluters accountable and securing reparations from those responsible.
Voters were also urged to support candidates who advocate for the eventual phaseout of fossil fuels and promote renewable energy policies that are “people-centered and rights-based” — solutions that avoid creating new environmental problems or serving merely as greenwashing.
“Mining, reclamation, and foreign-backed projects are dispossessing the poor, ravaging our ecosystems, and unleashing state terror on those who resist,” Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment spokesperson Jonila Castro said in a statement.
Indigenous rights group Katribu Youth also called for an end to mining projects that exploit the energy shift agenda to expand mining activities, which have put communities in the provinces at risk.
“Mining and so-called ‘green’ energy projects are trampling our ancestral domains, destroying our livelihoods, and unleashing militarization. Our right to consent is ignored, our communities are threatened. Climate action means nothing if it tramples on indigenous rights and feeds imperialist plunder,” Faye Monge said.
RELATED: No mining expansion needed for Philippines' energy shift – think tank
How would these benefit Filipinos?
Phasing out fossil fuels could result in cleaner air and fewer pollution-related illnesses and deaths, while limiting mining activities to essential operations would help reduce the risk of landslides, polluted water sources and floods.
Placing climate justice and action at the forefront means ensuring alignment with key plans and policies, such as the Philippine Development Plan, Philippine Energy Plan, the National Climate Change Action Plan and the National Adaptation Plan.
If the government is committed to such policies, Greenpeace stressed that it must stop backtracking and approving environmentally harmful infrastructure projects.
“[T]he crisis is not just about climate but also about societal issues that in turn magnify problems such as poverty and conflict,” the group said.
“Future policy- and decision-makers need to understand that the climate agenda is a development agenda, and ensure that climate is the primary lens for government policy and decision-making,” it added.
The midterm elections are set for May 12, with 68.6 million registered Filipino voters expected to elect senators, district and party-list representatives and local leaders.
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