The one-two punch of typhoons Tino and Uwan have driven home the fact that we are, essentially, in a battle for the soul of our planet – and, by extension, of humanity.
The former claimed over 200 lives, mostly in Cebu, where people were caught unaware of the rising flood waters. The latter’s death toll at the moment stands at 18, although we are still uncovering the storm’s impact in northern and central Luzon. And those two storms come as the Philippines struggles to emerge from a particularly destructive typhoon season, exacerbated by a series of major earthquakes – and, of course, rampant corruption in government.
For better or worse, the destruction wreaked on our country has become a backdrop in the COP30 talks in Belem, Brazil, where world leaders gather once again to calibrate and agree on a response to rising global temperatures and the effects of climate change. Prior to the talks, the United Nations’ secretary general, Antonio Guterres, warned that we have missed the targets set by the Paris Agreement in 2015, to limit global temperature rises to 1.5 °C – although some have said we must act quickly to prevent the worst consequences of these broken commitments.
Here in the Philippines, in the frontlines of these weather disturbances, there are multiple perspectives that may seem to be at odds with each other. Some believe that corporations bear a heavy responsibility, with their products polluting the planet, especially in this country where the “sachet economy” thrives, for better or worse. Some believe the government should take a more proactive and holistic role, particularly in balancing economic interests with environmental ones – take the resumption of new mining sites in the country and its effect on our forests and mountains. And yes, regular Filipinos have a responsibility too, although it’s refreshing to see that the discourse has moved away from blaming them for everything – because, frankly, a lot of the actions we have to take to protect our environment from ourselves is beyond their purview.
In reality, everyone has a role. Perhaps the fact that some are keen to position some players as more “inherently evil” than others is distracting from the fact that we all have to work together, collectively, to even start addressing the issues we’re facing. Never mind the fact that global politics means discussions on shielding the planet are falling by the wayside in favor of further promoting prosperity – and inequality? – we have to get started by ourselves.
But who takes the lead?
I have been privileged to see efforts from our members on promoting environmental sustainability, and understand how they fall in the grand scheme of things. And yet I can’t help but feel that we are not doing enough – or, more accurately, we are not able to go further than we can imagine. Some of the constraints may be technological, while others may be financial. But here the government can lead not just in promoting policies that encourage such practices, but in fostering an environment where businesses are not anxious about investing in technologies and processes that put the environment on an equal footing with customers and the bottom line.
From a supply chain perspective, this means, for example, improving transportation networks to also further enable reverse logistics, the movement of waste products to be recycled or destroyed. It also means making a healthy investment environment to allow companies to further explore advances in energy use, packaging and consumption formats – three key factors affecting our corporate response to the challenges posed by climate change.
Businesses should also be far more proactive when it comes to making consumers more environmentally-minded. In these times, it is important to avoid just greenwashing everything. We have to be upfront, we have to be genuine, and we have to be honest. It is a difficult undertaking, but difficult decisions have to be made. We also have to remember that, as we directly interface with the customer, we have the ability to shift their behaviors. If we did it with the “sachet economy”, we can also force our customers to think more about reducing their footprint as much as we reduce ours. Therefore, we have to truly engage them, rather than keep an arm’s-length approach that really just screams you’re only there for their money.
As for us consumers? It’s time we stop being passive and start demanding more. We hold such power in this instance. The public and private sectors alike have the tools, but we set the pace. As the ones bearing the brunt of the storms and extreme temperatures, from our daily commutes to our day-to-day livelihoods, we can – we should – set the pace. And not just for ourselves, but for everyone else. A collective effort requires a collective, selfless response.
I wonder, though, if at the rate the world is going now, we can still accomplish any of this before it’s too late?
Henrik Batallones is the marketing and communications director of SCMAP, and editor-in-chief of its official publication, Supply Chain Philippines. More information about SCMAP is available at scmap.org.
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