Calling All Climate-Smart Cities: Join the One Planet City Challenge in the PH 2023

The One Planet City Challenge (OPCC), an initiative by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) that recognizes cities for their climate action plans and targets, is returning to the Philippines for its fifth cycle in 2023-2024. Since its inception in 2011, over 700 cities from nearly 70 countries across six continents have participated in the competition. In the Philippines, 22 cities have participated since 2015, with Dipolog City winning the 2021-2022 National Award and the “Most Lovable Philippine City” for 2022.

The OPCC is a biennial competition that aims to help cities achieve the commitments of the Paris Agreement and recognize those making significant progress in mitigating and adapting to climate change. Cities are responsible for over 70% of global carbon dioxide emissions and consume over two-thirds of the world’s energy. With their potential impact expected to double by 2050, the OPCC provides science-based targets to improve cities’ climate action plans.

The OPC program is introducing a Customized Strategic Feedback Report, tailor-made for each city to enable better tracking and monitoring of their climate journey. Additionally, shortlisted cities will be able to showcase their work to citizens through the We Love Cities campaign and collect feedback suggestions.

WWF-PH hopes to encourage more cities to lead the charge in becoming climate-smart cities. Interested cities can submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) from March 30 to April 19, accompanied by a signed cover letter from the City Mayor. OPCC will initially screen the applications based on a checklist and later announce the list of qualified cities. For more information, interested parties can email opcc@wwf.org.ph or visit panda.org/opcc.