DBM backs Earth Hour, says Marcos admin allotted P464.5-B budget for climate change projects

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on Saturday expressed support for Earth Hour, adding that the Marcos administration has allotted P464.5 billion in the 2023 budget to address climate change.

"Earth Hour is one of the simple ways we can help save the environment for future generations. This act of solidarity sparks a huge change for our planet," the DBM said in a press release.

The P464.5 billion budget for climate change projects represents 8.8% of the national budget, the DBM added. The national budget for 2023 is P5.268 trillion.

"This is significantly higher by 60.1 percent compared to the 2022 allocation of P289.7 billion," it said.

The DBM said it "strives to implement programs and initiatives that infuse environmental friendly parameters, such as the institutionalization of the Sustainable/Green Public Procurement, which enables the procurement of goods and services that have reduced environmental impact."

Earth Hour aims to generate awareness to help address the climate crisis and promote measures that help reduce energy consumption through the one-hour switch off, the Department of Health (DOH) together with the World Wide Fund for Nature-Philippines (WWF-Philippines) said Friday.

The DOH and DBM encouraged Filipinos to join the rest of the world in observing Earth Hour on Saturday from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m.

The DBM also urged the public to do what they can "to help prevent ecological degradation and disasters by adopting climate change mitigation and resilience programs, switching to renewable energy, maintaining low greenhouse emissions, and many more." —KG, GMA Integrated News