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BEIJING, PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA - ADB is partnering with Beijing's Tsinghua University in establishing a regional knowledge hub in China on climate change, under an agreement signed in Beijing.

The knowledge hub is to be established under an ADB grant and expertise that is setting up centers of excellence in the region to support and strengthen research and disseminate new and emerging concepts and technologies.

The launch took place on the sidelines of the opening day of the Carbon Expo Asia, an ADB supported trade fair and conference featuring more than 80 speakers that are taking part in 15 workshops and 5 plenary sessions.

Signing the Letter of Intent to set up the hub was Bindu Lohani, ADB Director General in its Regional and Sustainable Development Department, and Wu Zongxin, Director for Energy, Environment, Economic Institute at Tsinghua.

“We at ADB recognize the threat to the world posed by climate change and are working with our developing member countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and identify new approaches to energy efficiency and renewable energy, through both financial assistance and knowledge dissemination,” says Mr. Lohani.

“Tsinghua was chosen to host the regional knowledge hub on climate change because it has developed an integrated award-winning approach to addressing energy, environment, and economy, which provides it with a platform for international cooperation on the issue.”

The climate change knowledge hub will

• Undertake research and disseminate new concepts on climate change to ADB's developing member countries and other stakeholders within the region.
• Build research capacity to create knowledge on climate change
• Liaise with academic, research, and relevant scientific and technical institutions, private sector, civil society
• Design specific products and events that disseminate knowledge, such as a web site, workshops, and training courses.

The knowledge hub is the fourth to be set up with backing from the regional grant. In August, a hub was jointly established by ADB, AIT, UNEP, and UNESCAP in Bangkok on Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. This year has also seen agreements signed to establish a hub on clean energy at India’s Energy and Resources Institute and one on public finance at the Asia Institute of Management in Manila.

A wealth of knowledge is generated each year through ADB loans, grants, and economic, thematic, and sector work. Recognizing that knowledge generation and sharing are prerequisites to achieving its goal of poverty reduction, ADB is setting up a system of knowledge hubs to tap into the potential of vast yet largely unorganized knowledge throughout the region to promote information exchange, sharing, and networking among regional institutes, government agencies, and academic institutions.

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