Environment

Responding to Climate Change in Asia

ADB Initiatives

With compelling scientific evidence that climate change is a serious and urgent issue, the international community is calling for drastic measures that would significantly reduce and stabilize the concentration of greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere.

ADB is responding to the urgent call by supporting the necessary transition towards a low-carbon economy across Asia and the Pacific through various measures.

It is reviewing its Energy Strategy which is expected to place greater focus on energy security and climate change mitigation through promotion of cleaner, more efficient and less polluting sources and technologies, and greater use of indigenous forms of renewable energy.

Under its Energy for All program, ADB is working to increase access to modern forms of energy to the poor.

ADB is also implementing its Clean Energy and Environment Program (CEEP). Its two major components are the Energy Efficiency Initiative, which is expanding ADB's operations in clean energy to $1 billion a year, and the Carbon Market Initiative, which is providing financial and technical support to developers and sponsors of projects with greenhouse gas mitigation benefits that can qualify as eligible Clean Development Mechanism projects under the Kyoto Protocol.

The CEEP also includes the Sustainable Transport Initiative which is developing an investment and development framework for effective and efficient transportation systems. A recent report describes the relationship between the transport sector and climate change.

This work is supported by the REACH program to address barriers facing renewable energy and energy efficiency, and develop government capacity and capability.

ADB has helped to establish regional knowledge hubs at The Energy Research Institute in New Delhi, India for clean energy, Tsinghua University in Beijing, PRC for climate change, and Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok, Thailand for 3Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle).

Moreover, ADB is helping its developing member countries adapt to the unavoidable impacts of climate change by providing support at three levels, through: regional and subregional cooperation and information exchange; national policy and strategy development; and project-level mainstreaming.

While ADB has been involved with climate change adaptation efforts for some time, including the development of the landmark project screening tool entitled Climate Proofing: A Risk-based Approach to Adaptation developed in the Pacific, a new regional technical assistance project on Promoting Adaptation to Climate Change in Asia and the Pacific [PDF] now serves as a key instrument for advancing ADB’s adaptation program.

ADB has also embarked on other programs, projects, and technical assistance aimed at mitigating and adapting to climate change.

As an international institution whose focus is on poverty reduction and is actively promoting environmentally sustainable economic growth in Asia and the Pacific, ADB is taking numerous measures to ensure that, as an organization, it practices what it preaches with respect to energy efficiency and conservation to minimize its corporate footprint.

Read more on climate change.