NGOs say ADB climate financing targets not ambitious enough
by Angelica Y. Yang | October 17, 2021 | Published by BusinessWorld | READ THE STORY HERE A network of civil society groups said the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) updated climate financing target of $100 billion is “un-ambitious,” adding that the eligibility requirements for projects to be funded are vague. The banks’ new financing target is an upgrade from its previous goal of $80 billion. The new target covers the years 2019 to 2030. “A commitment of $10 billion per year with ambiguous benchmarking standards can hardly be called ambitious,” NGO Forum on ADB Energy Policy and Campaigns Strategist [...]
Asian Development Bank to end coal, oil and gas financing
Published by Nikkei Asia | May 8, 2021 | READ THE STORY HERE Environmental groups welcome move, but criticize it as a decade overdue SINGAPORE (Reuters) -- The Asian Development Bank will no longer finance coal mining or oil and natural gas production and exploration, it announced in a draft policy statement on Friday, a move welcomed by environmental groups, which said it was a decade overdue. The multilateral development bank, which focuses on eradicating poverty in Asia, provided no timeline for its commitment. It also laid out conditions under which fossil fuel projects would continue to receive funding, [...]
ICSC welcomes ADB push to end coal financing, but wary on gas stand
MANILA, 7 May 2021 — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) released today their draft energy policy, which aims to stop the bank’s financing of new coal power plants and support a rapid phaseout of coal among its developing member countries in the Asia Pacific region. The draft policy also calls for a “strong and flexible grid”, which would allow for an increasing share of variable renewable energy such as solar and wind, and allows for the expansion of natural gas projects. Reacting to this, Atty. Pedro H. Maniego Jr., senior policy advisor of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable [...]
In policy tweak, ADB says to help DMCs cut coal use
Reposting from BusinessMirror By Cai Ordinario November 13, 2020 THE Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced that it will be revising its energy policy to help its developing member countries (DMCs) reduce their dependence on coal. ADB’s Energy Sector Group Chief Yongping Zhai said part of the reason for the revision of ADB’s energy policy is the recent findings of the Independent Evaluation Department (IED) of the bank’s energy investments. Zhai: “The low-carbon energy transition will be a big challenge in Asia because most countries have depended on fossil fuels for a long time—and coal in particular.” The IED [...]
Cash, political will: Coessential tools vs catastrophic impact of climate change
Reposted from BusinessMirror By Cai Ordinario - May 9, 2019 NADI, Fiji—The greenback may lead to greening the earth, so some believe. However, for experts at a conference here last week, money is just one of the weapons in this perennial contradiction of man against nature as the latter appears to have the upper hand. At the 52nd Asian Development Bank (ADB) Annual Governors’ Meeting on this Pacific island, a panel of experts organized by the ADB Independent Evaluation Department (IED) raised the urgency in addressing climate change. The experts said Asia and the Pacific has a high exposure to [...]