Thread by @rapplerdotcom

Rappler’s @piaranada sits down with young Filipino lawyer Vicente Paolo Yu III, who is playing a key role in the high-stakes United Nations climate summit in Glasgow. #COP26

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Yu: The mood is, it’s a combination of optimistic and pessimistic. I’m optimistic because at least in some of the negotiating areas that I have been handling for G77 and China, we have seen some progress. #COP26

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Yu: But [I’m] also pessimistic because some of the main issues that we have been raising as developing countries in these negotiations have not seen as much progress as we wished. #COP26

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Yu: If the rest of the world needs us to undertake more ambitious climate action, then we as developing countries need more financing, we need more technology transfer, and we need more capacity-building. #COP26

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Yu: For developing countries, more mitigation actions for us would require more needs of implementation being provided, same with adaptation. #COP26

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Yu: ’Yung position ng developing countries, over the past 25 years, has been that these are two sides of the same coin. Hindi mo sila puwede ihiwalay. #COP26

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Yu: If we need to do greater levels of emission reductions, we need to have greater levels of support coming from developed countries. #COP26

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Yu: The reason why we are in this climate crisis now is because when the developed countries were developing, ’yung mode of development that they undertook resulted in a huge increase of greenhouse gas emissions. #COP26

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Yu: They cut down their forests, they started pumping out oil, they started using coal in their factories in the 18th and 19th centuries and early 20th century. #COP26

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Yu: In addition to that, they also went to our countries. They colonized our countries and took our resources to fuel their own development. #COP26

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Yu: That led to this situation where ’yung mga mayayamang bansa ngayon, effectively, yumaman, dahil pinollute nila ’yung mundo. #COP26

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Yu: Whereas developing countries like the Philippines, Guinea, Nigeria, El Salvador, remained underdeveloped because the resources were not made available to us. #COP26

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Yu: That is what G77 has long been trying to change through these negotiations, by saying to developed countries na, “You agreed that you would provide more money, more technology, and more support to developing countries… #COP26

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Yu: ...so that developing countries do not need to follow the same development mistakes, as far as greenhouse gas emissions are concerned”.... We, ourselves, want to embark on a more sustainable pathway. #COP26

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Yu: We do not want to make our economies dependent on, for example, fossil fuels forever. We want to be able to rely on renewables, maybe we can develop ocean energy technology, but for that, we need resources. #COP26

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Yu: You need science, you need technology, you need financing for us to be able to invest in these. #COP26

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Yu: For developing countries, what we have been saying is if you’re serious about climate finance, then we have to talk about matching what we need with what you, as developing countries, have to provide. #COP26

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Yu: Under the climate convention and Paris Agreement, they have treaty obligations to provide financing to developing countries. Hindi puwedeng, just pull a number out of the air, and then we as developing countries accept it. #COP26

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Yu: The deal is, we have our needs, we identify those needs – and we have identified those needs – and then we discuss how far and to what extent would you as developed countries be able to provide the resources to help us meet those needs. #COP26

Yu: What we should also not forget is back in 2009, they said they would meet that $100 billion goal in 2020. They did not, and they moved the goalpost and said, “Well, baka ma-meet namin in 2023.” #COP26

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Yu: And what we’re saying to them is, that’s not sufficient. You promised, you should’ve lived up to that promise. #COP26

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Yu: If you did not live up to that promise in 2020, then at least, by the end of this COP, pledge that by next year, mafu-fulfill ’nyo ’yan, and then all the way up to 2025. #COP26

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Yu: Then we discuss again, starting now, ano ’yung kanilang commitments after 2025? It should be higher than the $100 billion [goal]. #COP26

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Yu: Over the past week and a half of this COP, we have seen developed countries essentially stonewalling on making concrete, increased announcements in terms of climate finance as a collective. #COP26

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Yu: We have also seen them making it difficult to progress with discussions on what would be their finance goal after 2025. #COP26

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Yu: Whereas the G77 and China [have] been one in saying, “No, we need to see clear and concrete numbers, and second, a clear and concrete work plan in terms of how we negotiate what that new goal will do.” #COP26

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Yu: And so far, both of those things have been difficult to arrive at…. Climate finance is a sticky issue, adaptation is also a sticky issue. Hopefully, there, we’ll see some progress. #COP26

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Yu: There are some other issues where we have seen progress in, for example, the issue of loss and damage. Very important ’yan, sa atin, sa Pilipinas, because we get hit by super typhoons at least four times a year. #COP26

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Yu: Some of our groups have been saying we need at least $1.8 billion a year, and the G77 has been saying when we talk about this new collective goal on finance, we need to be scientific about it. #COP26

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Yu: [Climate finance goals have] to come from how much we think we need, because we are the ones who are going to be doing the actions on the ground as developing countries. #COP26

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Yu: If developing countries need something like $6 trillion over 10 years, that’s roughly about $600 billion a year. Compare that to the $100 billion pledge. #COP26

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Yu: The bottomline is developed countries do not want to be committed to specific numbers that they have to provide. That is negotiated. #COP26

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Yu: [The $100 billion] is a specific number that they provided, it was not negotiated with developing countries. I think ang gusto ng mga developed countries ngayon is they want to be able to set the goal themselves. #COP26

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Yu: I think they want to be able to include, as part of that collective goal, not just them, but also developing countries. We should also be contributing to that global climate finance goal to provide to each other. #COP26

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Yu: Which, for the G77, is not correct, legally and ethically…. Developing countries see this new collective goal as a continuation of developed countries’ collective goal, not all of us, universally. #COP26

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Yu: If you say all of us, universally, it’s as if [they’re] saying, “You poor countries, you fund your own selves.” Then ’yung national budget natin, for example, gets to be a part of that collective goal. #COP26

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Yu: One of the things developing countries raised as we entered COP26 was we wanted to see a greater level of institutionalization of loss and damage in the convention and Paris Agreement regime. #COP26

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Yu: Ang habol ng developing countries was, we have loss and damage, so we need technical assistance and we need financial assistance for us to be able to address these impacts. #COP26

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Yu: We pushed to have a network of the organizations that will provide technical assistance and finance to be more coordinated. #COP26

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Yu: For developing countries, we felt it was really important that we come out of COP26 with a clear set of functions, that this is what we want that network to do, at hindi basta-basta ’yung pagpili ng whoever’s going to run it. #COP26

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Yu: Kailangang pag-usapan ’yan ng members, ng parties of the Paris Agreement and the convention para klaro sa atin na it will not be just any organization from any developed country that will run it. #COP26

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Yu: We knew we would not be able to get both things at the same time. We entered into these negotiations saying we want to get a clear set of functions… #COP26

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Yu: ...and then we want to get an agreement that over the course of next year, we’ll negotiate on how we set up that institutional architecture. For us as developing countries, we said form follows function. #COP26

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Yu: To give credit where credit is due, we managed to get the functions, and we also got the process that says, we are going to do these negotiations next year in terms of the institutional architecture. #COP26

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Yu: The story of loss and damage is that COP does not stop there. Mayroon kaming pinu-push na gusto naming mapag-usapan ’yung loss and damage finance as part of the overall climate financing package and what we are negotiating. #COP26

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Yu: When we look at how the world is changing, we are now starting to realize that financing for mitigation and financing for adaptation are no longer sufficient. #COP26

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Yu: Over the course of time, we are going to see more and more impacts happening na hindi na makaya pondohan or suportahan simply through adaptation financing. We need that kind of loss and damage financing. #COP26

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Yu: What we wanted to do is to make sure, at least at this COP, mayroong clear recognition na yes, kailangan ’yan. Okay lang kung walang numbers, kasi we don’t have time to negotiate those numbers here. #COP26

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Yu: Hopefully, it will become a discussion where you talk about mitigation and adaptation and loss and damage financing. #COP26

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Yu: What we’re saying is hindi magkapareha ’yung adaptation and loss and damage. Kung anumang pera for loss and damage must be new and additional, hindi siya dapat kunin from adaptation or mitigation. #COP26

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Yu: Lahat, umi-increase, so developing countries will have more resources for us to actually do more. #COP26

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Yu: A lot of these things have interlinkages with each other. It's not just an issue of, climate change, let's all reduce emissions. We all have different circumstances. #COP26

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Yu: If you were to ask everybody, please reduce emissions, maybe unfair 'yan.... The problem for most developing countries is the reason why most of us have low per capita emissions is because many of our economies are agriculture-dependent... #COP26

Yu: ...or they don't have much in terms of energy access. Whereas in [developed countries'] case, they have more energy. #COP26

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Yu: What we also have to understand is the COP here, what we're trying to do here as negotiators, is only a small part of the show. #COP26

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Yu: Mayroon kang two levels of outcomes here. One is a negotiated outcome, which might not be that big, and the other is an external outcome, which is not dependent on what we do at all. #COP26

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Yu: The question is, ano ba value ng outcomes na nasa labas? How can you hold whoever made those pledges accountable in a multilateral context? #COP26

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Yu: I feel developed countries are very hesitant to commit funding. This is my personal view, I think they're hesitant to commit funding to countries who will eventually become competitors. #COP26

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Yu: Developed countries are willing to provide money, I think, so long as it's only for the least developed countries and small island states. #COP26

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Yu: That leaves you only with providing climate finance to only 500, 600 million people, out of 6 billion people in developing countries. #COP26

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Yu: What people often forget is most of the world's poor actually live in countries like India, Pakistan – like us. #COP26

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Yu: If you corral climate finance only for LDCs and small island developing countries, some of which are richer than the Philippines per capita, then you're essentially saying, kaunti lang ang gusto naming ibigay na pera. #COP26

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Yu: I think in some ways, developed countries tend to think that middle-income developing countries like ours have the resources or the capability. And maybe, yes we do. Chances are there's a lot of wastage going on. #COP26

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Yu: Definitely there's a lot of things we should do at home as well to improve the way we use our own resources. #COP26

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Yu: When you talk about loss and damage technical assistance, it has to be demand-driven. We have to tell the donors, ito 'yung kailangan namin. The donors don't tell us, ito 'yung kailangan ninyo. It doesn't make sense. #COP26

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Yu: How should we understand environmental issues? It's not simply understanding environmental issues for environment's sake, but because they affect people's lives. #COP26

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Yu: Because they affect people's lives, you really have to think about environment and climate and biodiversity loss in the perspective of, how can this create a better life for communities, for vulnerable sectors? #COP26

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Yu: Negotiating on behalf of the group is a privilege, and I find particularly fulfilling the ability to work together with a brilliant and dedicated team of colleagues from all over the world. #COP26

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Yu: We are determined, yes, grim sometimes when we need to, but I think a big part of the fulfillment many of us have in this process is the ability to work with colleagues from Africa, Latin America, Asia, different cultures. #COP26

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Yu: In the end, because of that work, you realize we have a common humanity. And that common humanity calls on us to have a better future for the humans who are coming. #COP26

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Yu: What we have to understand is those of us trying to negotiate international treaties do so because, ultimately, this will have an impact on our daily lives down the road. #COP26

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Yu: Things that we do here might be abstract, but if you do them wrongly, they can actually create adverse impacts at the national level, which will affect the daily lives of the people. #COP26

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Yu: What happens at the international level will have an impact on us eventually. #COP26

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That's a wRap! Watch the full #RapplerTalk interview here: