WWF-Philippines Invites Local Cities to Participate in the One Planet City Challenge 2019-2020
February 2019
Aerial photo of the Central Business District of Pasig City. Pasig City was announced as the local winner of OPCC 2018. Photograph © WWF-Philippines
Cities from around the globe are once again enjoined to show tangible commitment towards a low carbon, climate-resilient future as World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) formally launched the 2019-2020 run of its One Planet City Challenge (OPCC) on February 12.
With the Swedish city of Uppsala bagging the Global OPCC Prize during the last edition of the biennial challenge anchored on sustainable transport and mobility, WWF has raised its ambitions by challenging cities to meet commitments made during the Paris Agreement to keep global warming within 1.5 °C.
Launched in 2011 as the Earth Hour City Challenge, the OPCC has become the largest and longest-running friendly competition of its kind, with over 400 different cities across 5 continents having participated at least once — all having embraced their crucial roles in achieving sustainability by raising global climate ambitions to reverse current trends. “The battle for sustainability will be won or lost in cities,” says UN Vice-Secretary General Jan Eliasson, reiterating cities’ significant role in global warming.
Cities, which are home to 55% of the human population and responsible for 70% of global emissions, need to act urgently and develop infrastructure, housing, transport, and mobility solutions to sustainably address fast and large transformations in population, consumption patterns, resource use, and waste management. Projections show a total of 3.9Gt of greenhouse gas emission reduction by the year 2050 through the OPCC.
The arch of the City of Sta. Rosa. Sta. Rosa was declared the National Capital during the OPCC 2015 – 2016 run, where Philippine cities first joined. Photograph © City of Santa Rosa LGU
Philippine cities first joined the OPCC in its 2015-2016 run with the City of Sta. Rosa being declared the National Capital. Pasig City got that distinction during OPCC 2017-2018 while the cities of Makati and San Carlos were also hailed as national finalists. Pasig City also went on to place second to Jakarta in the We Love Cities global campaign, which is a social media contest aimed at inspiring and engaging the respective citizens of the national finalists across the globe for support, votes, and ideas for improvement.
With the excellent turnout of OPCC 2017-2018 qualifiers from the country, WWF-Philippines hopes that more cities join in limiting climate change to 1.5 °C for a climate safe future.
“We are inviting our cities to join OPCC 2019-2020 as a way to show their stand as champions of sustainable low-carbon solutions through progressive policies and actions,” says WWF-President and CEO Joel Palma who looks forward to seeing more cities to be declared as OPCC national qualifiers. “This edition of the OPCC is bigger as participating cities will be given guidance to big-win climate impact reduction actions, as well as advice on how to best develop impactful actions towards keeping within the 1.5 °C global warming goal,” he adds.
Aerial photograph of the suburbs of Pasig City. Photograph © Pasig City LGU
From February 21 to March 18, WWF-Philippines will be accepting Expression of Interest (EOI) from interested Philippine cities. A required checklist must be filled-out together with a cover letter from the Mayor to officially be part of the OPCC. To receive the checklist, please email opcc@wwf.org.ph. Information provided in this checklist will be then used for the initial screening prior to the announcement of qualified Philippine cities.
Once an official list of entries is gathered, the cities will be evaluated by an international jury of experts, on areas ranging from urban planning and transport, to consumer behavior and energy systems. The most ambitious cities will be recognized as national winners, and, from among these, one city will be crowned the global winner of the One Planet City Challenge. WWF will profile the winning cities’ achievements in a global digital campaign designed to strengthen public support for city-led climate action.
Participating cities will be then asked to submit emission reports, as well as their goals and targets relating to climate action using standardized reporting platforms. These will then be subjected to a methodology that has been devised by experts and which incorporates findings from the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C.
Visit www.panda.org/opcc and http://www.welovecities.org/ for further details on the One Planet City Challenge and We Love Cities.
For more information, please contact:
Communications & Media Manager Mr. Dan Ramirez (dramirez@wwf.org.ph)
