Environment Services

ADB is helping countries shift to environmentally sustainable growth paths to ensure poverty reduction gains and improved quality of life in the long term

Challenge	How can ADB continue to promote environmentally sustainable growth in a region confronted with climate change and the environmental effects of rapid economic growth and pervasive poverty?
Strategy	ADB's long-term strategic framework 2008–2020 (Strategy 2020) reaffirms the importance of environmentally sustainable growth to achieve our mission to help countries reduce poverty and improve the quality of life of their people.
Response	ADB promotes investments in sound environmental and natural resource management while promoting low-carbon growth and adaptation to climate change impacts. We help countries mainstream environmental considerations into their policies and programs, and strengthen their legal and regulatory frameworks and enforcement capacities. We support regional cooperation on shared environmental public goods, and facilitate knowledge transfer on environmental management and new sustainable technologies. And we require that environmental safeguards are integrated into our projects.

Developing Asia's rapid growth has markedly reduced poverty. The number of people living in extreme poverty (based on $1.25 per day criterion) decreased from 1,416 million in 1990 to 903 million by 2005. These gains and future growth may be at risk, however, because much of the development occurring in the region is environmentally unsustainable.

Natural resources are being degraded and depleted, while cities and towns are increasingly polluted. Impacts from global climate change threaten the productivity and integrity of natural systems. The poor, who depend on these resources for their livelihood, will suffer most.

To help our developing member countries achieve environmentally sustainable growth, ADB is taking wide-ranging actions.

Promoting environmental interventions to help reduce poverty

ADB continues to support projects with environmental sustainability as a theme. Our lending has expanded significantly. Compared with the 3-year rolling average of 14% during 1996–1998, the proportion of ADB-financed projects with environmental sustainability as a theme reached 24% during 2006–2008.

Lending in 2008 alone reached $2.6 billion, equivalent to 25% of total lending, ADB's highest by far. Investments by our developing member countries in the energy; water supply, sanitation, and waste management; and agriculture and natural resource management sectors continued to make qualitative shifts toward improved environmental outcomes.

Supporting initiatives to address effects and consequences of climate change

ADB is already responding to climate change concerns. We promote the use of renewable energy, clean and energy-efficient technologies, waste-to-energy programs, sustainable transport systems, and sustainable land use and forestry.

Our clean energy initiatives have surpassed our $1 billion annual lending target set in 2005, and we are expanding access to new financing mechanisms and building institutional capacity to improve energy efficiency.

We also design climate risk management projects financed through the Climate Change Fund, and help countries implement climate adaptation interventions. Our support helps countries incorporate vulnerability risk management into national development strategies and actions, increase climate resilience of vulnerable sectors, climate proof projects, and address the social dimensions of climate change.

We also assist countries in preparing climate change implementation plans to incorporate mitigation and adaptation interventions into country partnership strategies.

Mainstreaming environment into country policies and programs

ADB helps developing countries integrate environmental objectives into their policies and programs. We engage in policy dialogue and assist in initiating institutional reform. We help strengthen a country's legal, institutional, and regulatory frameworks; support sector ministries needing new sustainability policy tools; and build the capacities of national and local environmental authorities as well as of other institutions.

Supporting regional environmental programs

ADB also supports regional environmental programs. For instance, we help manage land degradation in Central Asia; prevent the fragmentation of biodiversity corridors in the Greater Mekong Subregion; and mitigate the impacts of transboundary dust, sandstorms, and air pollution in Northeast Asia.

In partnership with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and by mobilizing partner resources, ADB leads a program to support marine and coastal resource conservation, policy development, and institutional strengthening under the Coral Triangle Initiative.

Forging partnerships

Responding to Asia's environmental challenges requires the full engagement of all development partners across the region, with each bringing its own unique mix of skills, interests, and objectives.

To complement our core competencies and ensure targeted results, ADB works with environmental nongovernment organizations such as the World Wide Fund for Nature and the World Conservation Union; civil society; other development institutions, including the United Nations and GEF; and the private sector. And we facilitate the sharing of experience and good practices, including those on environmental enforcement.

Integrating safeguards in projects

ADB integrates environmental safeguards into projects to avoid, minimize, or mitigate adverse environmental impacts. Our safeguard policies call for a structured process of impact assessment, planning, and mitigation to address the adverse impacts of projects.

In 2005, ADB initiated a Safeguard Policy Update to improve the relevance of safeguards and strengthen their effectiveness. The update is intended to improve Safeguard Policy clarity, coherence, and consistency; balance a front-loaded procedural approach with one also focused on results during implementation; adapt Safeguard Policy implementation to an evolving range of ADB products and services; harmonize safeguard practices with development partners and align safeguard approaches to client capacities; and improve internal safeguard processes and resource allocation. The policy paper is expected to be considered by the Board in June 2009.