The forthcoming COP30 convenes at a time when millions of our fellow Filipinos are grappling with seemingly unrelenting climate disasters: the recent super-typhoon that ravaged our coastlines and communities, successive earthquakes and floodings that claimed hundreds of lives, devastated ecosystems, and destroyed livelihoods. Our country is among the world’s most vulnerable to climate change and a critical biodiversity hotspot. We are losing out as a consequence of bad governance and the absence of a visionary leadership. Not due to the so-called “wrath of nature”. Instead of systematically advancing adaptation and resilience, some of our adaptation measures, such as flood-control infrastructure, have increasingly become a loot bag for our political leaders and their dynastic families.
We are in a deep moral and ecological crisis.
The Philippine Misereor Partnership, Inc. (PMPI)1 stands before COP30 against this stark backdrop. We have a clear and urgent message: climate justice demands real accountability, nature-based solutions, community focus and a paradigm shift from the old systems that enable and perpetuate the climate crisis.
1. Hold Major Polluters Accountable
The Loss and Damage Fund must serve its true and voluntary contributions, or mechanisms that only pass the burdens onto vulnerable countries like the Philippines. The Fund must be predictable, sustainable, grant-based, accessible, and anchored on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR-RC).
2. No to Financialization of Nature- a False Solution
Carbon markets, offsets, geoengineering, and other profit-driven schemes only weaken the ability of Nature to protect our vulnerable communities, yet enable major polluters to free themselves of accountability and perpetuate such false solutions. PMPI calls on COP30 to reject these false solutions and instead promote Mother-Earth-Centric activities that will ensure the protection of our people and planet
3. No to Corporate Capture and Greenwashing
Corporations—especially those with long histories of environmental destruction—must not be allowed to shape climate negotiations or define the pathways forward. We strongly oppose the corporate takeover of climate policy spaces and the greenwashing of harmful practices disguised as “innovation” or “transition strategies.” Climate solutions must reject corporate-driven and profit oriented solutions. It should instead institutionalize mechanisms to protect Nature so we are also protected, empower communities beyond the buzzword of being resilient and, establish effective accountability mechanisms.
4. Advance True Nature-Based Solutions
Nature-based solutions must be rooted in ecological integrity, community rights, culture and identity of peoples and territorial defense—not in commodification or extraction. We call for:
> An immediate stop to over-extraction, large-scale mining, and fossil fuel expansion.
> Protection and regeneration of forests, biodiversity, watersheds, and ecosystems.
> Recognition of indigenous knowledge, stewardship, and sovereignty.
> Restoration initiatives that prioritize ecosystem health over profit.
5. A Just Transition Centered on Mother Earth, People, and Planet.
A truly just transition means shifting away from fossil fuels entirely, protecting Mother Nature, environmental defenders, and ensuring that ecosystems and communities—not corporations—are at the heart of planning and decision-making.
COP30 must deliver more than words. It must deliver justice. PMPI joins Mother Nature, frontline communities, civil society, and global movements in demanding a World Order that ensures a climate future built on accountability, equity, and the protection of our common home.
[1] PMPI is a network of more than 230 social development and advocacy groups — Non-Government Organizations (NGO), People’s Organizations (PO), the Church’s Social Action Centers or Pastoral Programs of Congregations — working for sustainable development, peace, and integrity of creation.