President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed Executive Order 127 directing the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to build a national policy framework for carbon markets. The order makes DENR the lead authority for carbon credit mechanisms and creates an Inter-Agency Committee on Carbon Markets to approve the framework. The framework will cover Philippine participation in Article 6 international transfers and voluntary carbon markets. It sets eligibility rules for projects, criteria for authorizing international transfers, benefit sharing, recognized standards, reporting duties, and administrative fees. The existing Philippine National Carbon Registry will track internationally transferred mitigation outcomes to avoid double counting. For project developers and investors, this is a signal that the Philippines wants clearer rules of the road for carbon credit activity. The key details to watch are the eligibility criteria and benefit sharing terms, since those will determine which projects actually move forward.
