MANILA, Philippines – Philippine President Benigno Aquino III confirmed on Monday, November 16, his attendance at the 21st United Nations climate change conference (COP21) in Paris despite the terror attacks there.

“After APEC, we’re headed to ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) to say my goodbyes to my co-leaders. This will be my last ASEAN meeting. After which we go to COP21. This is about 4 days or so and I think I have 2 more state visits,” Aquino said during a question and answer session at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit in Makati.

Aquino will join around 115 world leaders – including US President Barack Obama, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – at the conference.

The conference that is scheduled to begin on November 30 in Paris aims to secure a deal to stave off catastrophic levels of global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions.

There were doubts that the conference would push through following the deadly November 13 terror attacks in Paris. But French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said it would go ahead as planned.

No template answer

Aquino said he is hopeful he would convince COP21 delegates to immediately act on the matter without necessarily forcing any country to accept a particular rule. (READ: Kerry says Paris climate deal will not be legally binding – report)

Aquino said there is “no template answer” for all countries in contributing to the Intended Nationally Determined Contribution. The INDC represents the country’s contribution to the global effort to combat and prepare for climate change.

The Philippines earlier pledged to cut by 70 percent its carbon emissions by the year 2030. 

“Well, again, when we participate in COP21, the message we will simply put is we all have to do the most that we can because this really is a situation where we’re running out of time to be able to stop an irreversible situation,” Aquino said.

“Coming up with that best contribution effort is the challenge and hopefully, we will be able to articulate that in a very good manner that convinces everybody to give what they can now rather than at a more critical period down the line,” he added.

Aquino explained the country’s own challenge. In as much as the country wants to resort to natural gas as energy source, he said it does not have a regasification plant to achieve that.

“It limits our ability to go into that area where the process of enticing investors and negotiating for the setting up of this plants, which won’t happen under my watch. But at the end of the day, we have to look at each particular country’s distribution to their INDCs to be able to prod each one to contribute the maximum as opposed to being combative and forcing everyone to accept a particular template,” he said. – Rappler.com