Among all surveyed countries, the Philippines ranked first in terms of the highest number of respondents (85%) who would support political candidates who prioritize taxing the super rich and polluting corporations such as oil, gas and coal companies.
QUEZON CITY, Philippines (31 July 2025) – Environmental and rights-based groups Greenpeace Philippines and Oxfam Pilipinas today called on the Marcos administration to enact stronger policies holding corporate polluters accountable, after a global survey showed that most Filipinos favor taxes on oil, gas, and coal corporations which are responsible for most of the emissions that exacerbate climate change.
The survey [1] revealed that 84% of Filipinos want financial burdens levied on said companies, as these contribute to “wildfires, floods, droughts” and other health impacts to the public. Said study was run by Dynata and commissioned by Greenpeace International and Oxfam International.
Cheng Pagulayan, Oxfam Pilipinas Climate Justice Portfolio Manager, said “The poll results affirm what we’ve known for a long time: Filipinos have a strong sense of justice and majority support taxing the climate polluters to compensate for the damages they cause. These taxes should rightfully go to the vulnerable communities most impacted by the climate crisis and to supporting community-based renewable energy investments.”[2]
Dynata polled 1,200 Filipinos in May 2025 through computer assisted web-based interviewing and with a ± 2.83% margin of error. The study found that most Filipinos (64%) wanted taxes on oil and gas companies to finance the aid for victims of storms, wildfires, droughts and floods.
“The results validate the need to make polluters pay, strengthening the need of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to pursue them and demand climate justice,” said Greenpeace Philippines campaigner Jefferson Chua. “The president is quickly running out of reasons to escape his responsibility to the Filipino people. The week before his State of the Nation Address, the International Court of Justice ruled that governments can hold big polluters like fossil fuel corporations responsible for harming future generations. This was during a time when millions of Filipinos were displaced due to flooding caused by multiple consecutive extreme weather events.
“Climate justice should not be just mere rhetoric. The president must go beyond piecemeal solutions to the climate crisis and heed the Filipino people’s demand for justice. He must start the process of litigating oil and gas companies for climate impact damages and immediately call on lawmakers to pass the Climate Accountability (CLIMA) Bill. This is the climate action that we need.”
Filipino consensus on taxing said corporations was higher than the average result across the 13 countries polled, at 81% [3] Filipino respondents also noted the lack of government action in countering the negative influence of polluting industries and the super rich in state affairs. Besides the Philippines, countries like Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, South Africa, Spain, UK, USA were also subject to the same survey, garnering similar results.
Among all surveyed countries, the Philippines ranked first in terms of the highest number of respondents (85%) who would support political candidates who prioritize taxing the super rich and polluting corporations such as oil, gas and coal companies.
A separate rapid attribution study[4] last year found that climate change “supercharged” six consecutive tropical cyclones in the Philippine area of responsibility within the span of over a month—a number which was extremely unusual. The same study likewise revealed that the burning of fossil fuels increased the likelihood of three landfalls by 25% within a year.
“To borrow President Bongbong Marcos’ words from his SONA speech: Mahiya naman kayo sa inyong kapwa Pilipino! The government should act to make climate polluters pay now!” Pagulayan added.
Notes to editors:
[1] Public support for profit taxes on oil and gas corporations and the super rich to pay for climate
damages: Survey results
[2] Rich polluter profits tax could raise up to $400 billion and help phase out fossil fuels
[3] 8 in 10 people support taxing oil and gas corporations to pay for climate damages, global
survey finds
[4] Climate change supercharged late typhoon season in the Philippines, highlighting the need for
resilience to consecutive events
###
About Oxfam Pilipinas
Oxfam Pilipinas is a rights-based, feminist organization working toward an equal and just future for all. It is part of the Oxfam International confederation of 22 organizations networked together in 77 countries.
For media inquiries, please send an email to communications@oxfam.org.ph.
The 3rd Southeast Asia Collaborative Convening of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) on Just Energy Transition was participated by about 50 CSOs in June 2025 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo from Fair Finance Asia and Oxfam Pilipinas.
The Global North must #PayUp: Obligation, not a donation. As primary contributors to the climate crisis, the Global North and super-rich must pay up a hefty sum commensurate with the injustices and damages they have caused to the people and the planet.
At AEBF-24, Oxfam joined the call of civil society organizations in urging ASEAN leaders for more ambitious targets on RE and to implement a fast transition to these sources.
Oxfam analyzed the largest climate adaptation projects of the Asian Development Bank in the region and discovered that the actual adaptation finance could be off by 44 percent—$0.9 billion instead of the reported $1.7 billion.