By Argyll Geducos

President Duterte said that the Paris Agreement on climate change is doomed to fail if there will be no sanctions for its signatories that will violate its provisions.

In a speech in Sarangani Friday evening, Duterte reiterated that the Agreement should have sanctions for its members who will fail to adhere to the agreement which aims to deal with greenhouse-gas-emissions mitigation, adaptation, and finance.

“The one thing that is not present and therefore becomes a very inutile commission, is it does not have sanctions. You can commit so many things there, excess of carbon monoxide and all, and yet there is no sanction. You should better understand that. It has to have a sanction for violators,” he said.

“Without a sanction, I do not think it will succeed. It will only fail and worsen the situation for the coming generation. But without a sanction, I don’t think it will succeed,” he added.

“You and I know that if you cannot arrest climate change now, sigurado ‘yan (for sure), our children will suffer severe climate changes, typhoons and all,” he continued.

Duterte clarified that he supports the Agreement but said that the convention was doing little to address the issue it is supposed to resolve.

“I am for [the] climate change [commission], I really [am]. The problem is the Climate Change Commission is always calling for a meeting. And always it’s how much carbon footprints you leave on Planet Earth. And it’s all talking, it’s all conferences. So that this time, I said it would be a waste of money,” he said.

In 2017, despite his misgivings, President Duterte signed the Instrument of Accession to the Paris Agreement on climate change. The Paris Agreement is a pact within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It deals with greenhouse gases emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance starting in the year 2020. So far, the treaty has 195 signatories.

Duterte previously said he found the treaty problematic as it does not state who will foot the fund of $5 billion.

Last year, Duterte blamed climate change on Western countries, saying they called for a global effort to address climate change only after witnessing their actions’ impact on the environment.