"Promoting Environmental Sustainability in Asia and the Pacific"
Speech by
Haruhiko Kuroda
President, Asian Development Bank
At the Asian Development Bank Celebration of World Environment Day
5 June 2008
ADB Headquarters, Mandaluyong City
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I am pleased to be with you this morning to help celebrate World Environment Day.
As highlighted during this week's Asia Clean Energy Forum, ADB takes the threat of climate change seriously. We are working closely with our developing member countries to help them find low-carbon paths to economic growth, and to adapt to the already unavoidable impacts of climate change.
We all recognize that climate change places Asia's development achievements and future prospects at risk. At the UN Climate Change Conference last December, global attention turned to implementing the "Bali Roadmap" - which should lead to a new global agreement in late 2009 to address climate change. We hope for a productive and comprehensive outcome to the negotiations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. But we cannot wait until 2009; Asia must act now.
In the 1970s, the developing countries of Asia and the Pacific accounted for less than 10% of the world's energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. Today, these growing economies account for about 27% of the global total. Developing Asia has a heavy appetite for energy, and by 2030 its use is projected to increase by 112% - accounting by then for 36% of the world's energy consumption and 42% of its greenhouse gas emissions.
Shifting to a lower-carbon economy will help mitigate the causes of climate change, and will also enhance regional and global energy security. With the price of oil topping $130 a barrel, energy issues are again - and will continue to be - in the limelight. Improvements in energy efficiency and the expansion of alternative energy sources will contribute to improved energy security while at the same time reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Even if greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced significantly, however, the world is already locked into a significant degree of climate change that threatens to undermine many of Asia's hard won gains in poverty reduction. The Stern Review estimated that under the best-case scenarios, the need to adapt will still cost developing countries at least $10 billion annually just for the necessary infrastructure adjustments.
Furthermore, adaptation to climate change will become a part of our everyday business. Hydropower, water supply, irrigation, flood protection, roads and even sanitation projects will need to be climate proofed to ensure that they are resilient to future change. While concessional financing will remain central to adaptation actions, particularly in low-income countries, we also must act to unleash private sector capital and the insurance markets.
Our new long term strategic framework - Strategy 2020 - focuses on responding to climate change as part of the wider promotion of environmentally sustainable economic growth in our region. It is commonly acknowledged that economic growth has come at the expense of the region's natural resources and environmental quality. Strategy 2020 recognizes this and lays out a plan to substantially increase our attention to the environmental consequences of growth - including climate change.
Within the next four years, work on the environment and climate change will grow to represent a significant share of ADB's total lending and technical assistance. We are committed to taking a leadership role in helping our developing member countries respond to environmental degradation and climate change to create a more sustainable future for us all.
Such efforts are already well underway. We are mainstreaming climate change considerations into our operations in key sectors such as energy, transport, urban development and agriculture. Three years ago, we launched an Energy Efficiency Initiative and set a target of increasing our investments in this area to $1 billion per year by 2008. This week we met that $1 billion target with our Board's approval of the $200 million Municipal District Heating and Combined Heat and Power Development Project for the People's Republic of China.
We have also established several funds to help finance climate change activities. And we are working with the World Bank to establish a new set of Climate Investment Funds. These funds will support the expanded use of clean technologies, help build climate resilient societies, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and other land use changes. Taken together, these new funds will make billions of dollars of new concessional financing available to Asian and Pacific countries.
Here at ADB, we also recognize the importance of leading by example. We have been taking steps for some time to ensure that, as an organization, we practice what we preach with respect to energy efficiency and resource conservation.
Our headquarters building has already won several energy efficiency awards. In 2003, we became the first multilateral development bank to receive the globally recognized ISO-14001 certification for our environmental management systems.
I am proud of the work done by our Environmental Health and Safety Management team here in our Manila headquarters. The ADB Sustainability Report published last year documented those efforts and showed how they relate to our work across the region.
I am also pleased with the production of our first inventory of greenhouse gas emissions from our headquarters. This inventory will help us to prioritize further our emissions reductions. This program will also be extended to our resident missions.
These actions are vital to maintaining ADB's credibility as a regional leader promoting the conditions needed for environmentally sustainable economic growth across the region. Such change and commitment starts at home, and we all need to do our part to kick the CO2 habit - a responsibility we are reminded of this year on World Environment Day.
Thank you.
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