QUEZON CITY, Philippines, September 7, 2026: The Climate Change Commission (CCC) is taking steps to strengthen the country’s National Climate Change Expenditure Tagging (NCCET) system after an assessment identified key challenges and opportunities to improve the tracking and monitoring of government spending on climate-related initiatives.
The NCCET Impact Assessment examined existing processes, institutional arrangements and the experiences of government personnel involved in climate expenditure tagging. Its findings are expected to guide reforms aimed at addressing implementation gaps and improving the effectiveness and sustainability of the system.
The NCCET functions as a public financial management tool that enables national government institutions to track, monitor and report expenditures related to climate change. As climate considerations become increasingly integrated into government planning and budgeting, the system has helped make climate investments more visible while strengthening transparency and accountability in climate finance.
The CCC, with support from the University of the Philippines National College of Public Administration and Governance (UP-NCPAG), recently convened discussions to validate the assessment findings and identify practical, evidence-based measures to improve NCCET implementation.
The assessment identified several challenges, including the concentration of NCCET knowledge and responsibilities among a limited number of government personnel, uncertainty over determining climate relevance and expenditure attribution, and the absence of an integrated platform for NCCET submission and review.
Other concerns included the lack of a standardized mechanism for tracking climate-related results, limited perceived influence of NCCET information on budget deliberations, and gaps in awareness and application of audit guidelines.
To address these issues, the assessment recommended establishing minimum institutional requirements, developing more detailed and context-specific guidance on climate expenditure tagging and attribution, and streamlining administrative procedures.
It also called for climate indicators to be integrated into planning, monitoring and evaluation frameworks, stronger mechanisms for budget traceability, and a review and clarification of climate expenditure audit guidelines. Strengthening institutional support for agencies implementing the NCCET, including the capacity of the NCCET Helpdesk, was also identified as important.
CCC Vice Chairperson and Executive Director Robert E.A. Borje emphasized the need for continuous improvement of the NCCET to ensure that climate-related public investments are properly tracked and ultimately deliver measurable results.
“Enhancing the NCCET is essential to strengthening how government plans, tracks, and accounts for climate-related investments,” Borje said. He added that continued assessment and improvement could help build a more robust, transparent and responsive climate expenditure framework capable of supporting effective climate action.
Engr. Aimee Evangelista, Senior Science Research Specialist of the CCC’s Implementation Oversight Division, likewise stressed that improving the NCCET is an ongoing process.
“Improvement of the NCCET is an ongoing process. Everything that we discussed here would be used to improve the NCCET,” Evangelista said.
Dr. Kristoffer Berse, Dean of UP-NCPAG, said the assessment provided a broader picture of both the achievements and remaining gaps in the national climate expenditure planning system.
The assessment reviewed how climate expenditure planning and tagging are implemented across government, including institutional arrangements, administrative processes and the experiences of personnel responsible for implementation.
The findings and subsequent discussions are expected to support the CCC’s continuing efforts to improve climate-responsive public financial management.
By strengthening the NCCET, the Philippines aims to establish a more transparent, accountable and effective framework for tracking government climate spending and ensuring that climate-related investments translate into meaningful and measurable outcomes for climate resilience and action.
