ADFIAP Consulting (AC) was invited to the “Forum on Business Risk Assessment and Management of Climate Change Impacts” organized by the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) at the Makati Shangri-La on April 13, 2015.
The forum was based on the study that BPI and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Philippines undertook for a climate change adaptation project in 16 key cities in the Philippines, namely, Laoag, Baguio, Dagupan, Batangas, Iloilo, Zamboanga, Puerto Princesa, General Santos, Santiago, Angeles, Tacloban, Naga, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Butuan and Davao. The selection of the cities was based mainly on the occurrence of storms, floods, drought and other extreme climate events during the past decade and has gauged the selected cities’ vulnerability to environmental/climate exposure, socio-economic sensitivity and adaptive capacity and was supported by the inputs from the multis-sectoral scenario-building exercise conducted in each city. The study is not only crucial to the development of climate risk adaptation methodologies of BPI business partners but also to the local governments and the communities as well in ascertaining site-specific strategies to better respond to future disasters and climate impacts.
BPI Chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala gave the welcome remarks, citing BPI’s commitment to provide resources to assess and manage climate change impacts on business enterprises. WWF Vice Chairman, Jose Ma. Lorenzo Tan, presented the results of the study mentioning that each city faces its own set of advantages and disadvantages in adapting to a sustainable future. With insights from the study on the business risks faced by each city, solutions to “climate-proof” infrastructures and technology are available to protect and strengthen their economies and their economic supply chains and more eco-friendly solutions for the development of the country. BPI Vice President and Head of Sustainable Energy Finance, Jo Ann Eala, discussed how Filipino businesses are responding to climate change and what support BPI provides in terms of technical assistance and financing.
BPI is one of the associate partners in the SWITCH Asia project, “Increasing the Uptake of High Efficiency Motors (HEMS), in which ADFIAP is also one of the main partners. ADFIAP’s role in the project is to advocate for development finance and to facilitate access to green finance through its members for the sugar milling industry, other electric motors-intensive industries, and ESCOS involved in the implementation of more efficient motors and drives systems.