Belmonte named 2023 Champion of the Earth

MANILA, Philippines — Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte has been named 2023 Champion of the Earth by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) for initiating innovative solutions that aim to protect the environment and prevent climate crisis.

Belmonte is among winners in the policy leadership category of the UNEP award, which is the UN’s highest environmental award for innovative solutions to beat plastic pollution.

The Champions of the Earth award honors individuals, groups and organizations whose actions have transformative impacts on the environment.

The 2023 laureates are implementing solutions and policies to eliminate plastic pollution.

Belmonte was cited for her efforts to transform Quezon City into an environmental trailblazer.

The UNEP said Belmonte is driving environmental and social actions through a raft of policies that aims to prevent or mitigate climate crisis and end plastic pollution as well as turn urban enclaves green.

Her initiatives include a ban on single-use plastics, trade-in program for plastic pollution, refill stations for everyday essentials and advocacy for strong global policymaking on plastics.

“Mayor Josefina Belmonte’s passionate leadership and policy achievements exemplify how local authorities can solve global environmental problems,” UNEP executive director Inger Andersen said.

“Cities can be dynamic engines of change we need to overcome the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss and pollution and waste – and mayors can help to lead that change,” Andersen said.

For Belmonte, positive change means prioritizing actions on environment to create a liveable, green and sustainable city.

Under Belmonte’s leadership, Quezon City has focused on reducing plastic pollution and extending the life of plastic products already in circulation.

“Plastic pollution is a major problem in the Philippines, as in many parts of the world, because of the throwaway culture,” Belmonte said.

“Plastics clog our drainage systems and end up in the oceans. We know that plastic waste becomes microplastics that can be consumed in the food we eat, the air we breathe and even in the water we drink, which affects our health.”

Under Belmonte, Quezon City banned single-use plastic bags, cutlery, straws and containers in hotels, restaurants and fast-food chains for dine-in customers, as well as single-use packaging materials.

Since 2021, residents have been trading in their recyclables and single-use plastic products for environmental points that can be used to buy food and pay electricity bills under the “Trash to Cashback” scheme.

City officials started the “Vote to Tote” program, which turns tarpaulins used in election campaign into reusable bags.

Still, millions of single-use plastic sachets are thrown away every day in the Philippines.

Although sachet packagings allow households more affordable access to essentials for cooking, hygiene and sanitation, these cannot be recycled effectively, causing serious environmental harm, experts say.

“Sachet culture really gets to me. It really is something that makes me angry because it is there because we are a poor country,” Belmonte said. “Major manufacturers need to do their part and change the way they package products to make them more environmentally friendly.”

To combat plastic pollution, Belmonte initiated this year the establishment of refill stations for essentials such as washing-up liquid and liquid detergents in convenience stores across the city. “With products that are often less expensive than their packaged counterparts, the stations have been received positively and will be piloted in over 6,000 stores next year,” Belmonte said.

Under Belmonte, Quezon City developed a plan to reduce its carbon emissions by 30 percent in 2030 and achieved net-zero by 2050.

It has declared a state of climate emergency to unlock spending amounting to 11 to 13 percent of the city’s annual budget on programs that aim to mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis.

There are also plans to double the number of parks in the city, introduce more electric buses and quadruple the network of bike lanes by 2030 to fight pollution.

Other green initiatives include promoting urban farming and deploying equipment that allow community farms to transform organic waste into methane gas that can be used for cooking.

Although Belmonte has been working hard to forge her own path, she considers one piece of advice from her father, former Quezon City congressman and mayor Feliciano Belmonte, as priceless: “Always spend time with people. Especially go to poor communities, because when you go to the communities and you see how difficult life is for people in the grassroots, you’ll never think of abusing power.”

It is this advice that has shaped her political approach, helped her build public trust and contributed to her popularity among voters.

She was reelected mayor in 2022 and regularly scores the highest approval ratings among Metro Manila’s mayors.

“People will buy into your vision if you value what they have to say. That is the best way to get all of our environmental issues across,” Belmonte said.

Other UNEP’s 2023 Champions of the Earth are the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (United Kingdom) for Inspiration and Action category, Blue Circle (China) for Entrepreneurial Vision category, José Manuel Moller (Chile) also for Entrepreneurial Vision category and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (South Africa) in the Science and Innovation category.