President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday said the Philippines will not honor the Paris agreement on climate change it signed in December.
Speaking before the Philippine Olympics athletes, the president said the treaty will ‘limit the country’s industrial growth,’ and reiterated that it was not his signature on the agreement.
“You are trying to stymie us with an agreement na ganito lang kayo (that you will stay this way)…That’s stupid. I will not honor that. Sabi niya (He said), you signed. That was not my signature,” said the president.
Duterte was referring to an ambassador who asked if the Philippines would be able to limit its carbon emissions.
“I said, ‘No. I cannot tell … You don’t do it that way, Mr. Ambassador. [Your country] has reached the apex [of industrialization] and along the way put a lot of contaminants and emissions, and went ahead in destroying the climate,’” he added.
“We have not reached the age of industrialization. We’re now going into it. But you are trying to stymie [our growth] with an agreement that says you can only go up to here,” the president said. “That’s stupid. I will not honor that.”
“That’s how very competitive and constricted our lives now. It’s being controlled by the world, it’s being imposed upon us by the industrialized countries. They think that they can dictate the destiny of the rest of the [world],” The President said.
In December 2015, almost 200 nations gathered in Paris for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, and agreed to limit the global warming to below two degrees Celsius (2ºC).
The Philippines has pledged to reduce its carbon emissions by 70% in 2030 through renewable energy, improving mass transport services, efficient waste management.
