Remarks by Masatsugu Asakawa, President, Asian Development Bank, at the launch of the Nature Solutions Finance Hub, 4 December 2023, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Greetings, colleagues and friends.
I am delighted to join our partners from the OPEC Fund, Agence Francaise de Developpement, and Saudi Fund for Development to launch the new Nature Solutions Finance Hub.
Nature is often overlooked when talking about the causes and consequences of climate change. However, Nature is critical to solving the climate crisis and ensuring strong and lasting development. Investments in nature can strengthen the resilience of communities, preserve biodiversity, sequester carbon, and provide economic opportunities.
Large scale financing, from public and private sources, is needed for this. To scale up these flows, we need to improve capacity building, policy support, and incentivize finance and innovation.
ADB is committed to these efforts. Nature-based solutions will be central to many of the investments we are making under ADB’s ambition to provide $100 billion in cumulative climate financing by 2030. This new partnership will deploy several financing measures to reduce risks in nature-based solutions investment programs such as guarantees, impact linked payments, and blended finance options supported by a de-risking fund.
We believe the Nature Solutions Finance Hub for the Asia and the Pacific will help to achieve the needed scale. I am very grateful to our financing and conservation partners for working with us on this important initiative for nature and our region.
Thank you.
