The Financial Sector Forum (FSF) of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), through the social media accounts of BSP posted a Call for Comments on the proposed Sustainable Finance Taxonomy Guidelines (SFTG). Fair Finance Philippines (FFPh), as a national coalition advocating for a responsible and sustainable Philippine financial sector, answered the call and sent the coalition’s comments on October 6, 2023.

The FFPH comments primarily forwarded the following:

• Emphasized the principles of Inclusivity, Governance, Prioritization, and Dynamic Nature;
• Proposed the following Assessment Standards and Tools:
  • Oxfam Philippines safeguarding standards for vulnerable sectors to mitigate climate change impact;
  • Oxfam Confederation Tool for calculating carbon footprint;
  • Risk Assessment Tool by Operation Listo;
  • LGU Guidebook on Formulation of Local Climate Change Action Plan;
  • OPH Rapid Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis tool; and
  • Fair Finance Guide Methodology.
• Underscored the expressed inclusion of illegal and massive destruction weaponry in the list of excluded activities; 
• Proposed a dynamic period for compliance instead of a static 5-year period;
•  Recommended the urban sector to be included in one of the priorities, forestry and coastal ecosystem and Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) as one of the enabling sector, and      
• Cautioned on the weakness of a principle-based taxonomy

The FFPH Comments to the proposed PH-STFG is accessible by clicking here.

The proposed Philippine Sustainable Finance Taxonomy Guidelines is available online (click here).