Batangas City named Philippine winner of WWF challenge

MANILA, Philippines — The capital city of Batangas province has been named the Philippine winner in the latest edition of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)’s One Planet City Challenge (OPCC), joining national winners from 22 countries worldwide.

WWF-Philippines executive director Joel Palma said the city’s comprehensive climate mitigation and adaptation plan, which includes interventions based on city-specific climate vulnerabilities, impressed the urban sustainability experts from across the globe that compose the OPCC jury.

He added that Batangas City also reported an ambitious target for carbon neutrality by 2030 and its vision to be the first carbon-neutral city in the Philippines.

In a letter from the OPCC team in Stockholm, the jury acknowledged the city’s aggressive efforts in promoting climate risk assessment.            

“Batangas City showed particularly strong performance related to its vision. The city scored well across different indicators, especially political action and climate risk assessment and evidence of action, especially related to adaptation.”

Together with Batangas City, fellow finalists Muntinlupa and Santa Rosa, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Dipolog, La Carlota, Pasig, San Carlos, Tagum, Malolos, Parañaque and Quezon City were included in the country’s roster of qualifiers for OPCC 2019-2020.

Palma praised the City of Batangas, as well as the other local qualifiers, for representing the Philippines well.            

“I would like to commend the Batangas City local government unit (LGU) and all the other LGUs who have taken part in the OPCC. I would like to commend their efforts in finding solutions to ensure that development is made sustainable by putting into the equation the environment and people.

The challenges we are facing now, particularly the pandemic, proves that there is a direct link between the health of the environment and the health and well being of people,” Palma pointed out.