CCC highlights water utilities’ role in climate resilience

Quezon City – The Climate Change Commission (CCC) underscored the urgency of aligning the business strategies and investments of essential services, including water service providers, with the country’s national climate commitments during the 1st Manila Water Sustainability Leadership Talk in Quezon City.

In his keynote address, CCC Vice Chairperson and Executive Director Robert E.A. Borje highlighted that for a water-stressed and disaster-prone archipelago, climate risk is systemic and must be managed in coherence with sectoral agencies and private operators while engaging the communities who are also active agents of resilience.

“Climate action does not succeed on policy alone. Nor does it succeed on infrastructure alone. It succeeds when institutions, communities, and individual Filipinos move together,” Borje said.

Moreover, he highlighted the central role of water utilities in strengthening climate resilience, noting that climate impacts directly affect water availability, infrastructure integrity, and service continuity, making climate action a governance and operational priority.

“The role of water utilities is fundamental. We must ensure water security despite a changing climate, by climate-proofing infrastructure, diversifying water sources, and integrating nature-based solutions for watershed management,” Borje said.

Highlighting the policies under the guidance of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Borje underscored the Philippines’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and National Adaptation Plan (NAP) as the country’s core frameworks for addressing climate risks and advancing sustainable development.

He emphasized that water utility companies contribute to national mitigation targets through improved wastewater treatment, energy efficiency, and low-carbon operations, while also advancing adaptation through risk-informed planning and resilient infrastructure.

“This is where the idea of bridging sustainability and resilience becomes concrete,” Borje said.

“When your sustainability strategies align with our NDC and our NAP, you are doing more than complying with policy. You are translating national commitments into daily realities for millions of Filipinos.”

Affirming this view, Manila Water President and CEO Roberto Locsin underscored that providing service for sustainable solutions means more than just delivering the basic needs.

“Every task we perform, every decision we make, can be transformed into direct climate action. This is the power of our work. It goes beyond operations, it shapes resilience for generations to come,” Locsin noted.

The Sustainability Leadership Talk is Manila Water’s platform for engaging leaders from government, academe, and industry peers on sustainability and resilience.

Its inaugural session, with the theme “Bridging Sustainability and Resilience for a Climate-Smart Future,” focused on climate action, public-private partnerships, and embedding resilience into organizational planning and operations.

The CCC actively engages with the private sector as a core part of its mainstreaming strategy, recognizing business as a crucial partner in achieving national climate resilience.

The agency leverages relevant pathways, such as bilateral partnerships and its system of contact groups, to sustain collaboration as a loop of action and ambition.

Aligned with the national climate agenda and the country’s commitments under the Paris Agreement, the CCC reaffirmed its commitment to working with the private sector and other stakeholders to advance climate-resilient development and safeguard essential services amid a changing climate.