For the next four days, more than 4500 participants from across South Asia and Pacific region will be attending the four-day 56th Asian Development Bank (ADB) annual general meeting in Incheon, South Korea.
While delivering his keynote address during the opening of the meeting yesterday, ADB president Masatsugu Asakawa highlighted ADB’s support in tackling issues surrounding climate change in Asia and the Pacific.
He reiterated ADB’s mission towards taking bold action against climate change by delivering $100 billion in climate finance to developing member countries between 2019 and 2030.
With the theme “Rebounding Asia: Recover, Reconnect and Reform”, he said ADB as well multilateral development banks had a critical role to play and should be leaders in mobilizing, financing and expertise for climate change.
He said ADB would fully align all its operation with the Paris Agreement by no later than 2025 and expand its investments in renewable energy options and not invest in coal.
Mr Asakawa also announced the launching of the Innovative Finance Facility for the Climate in Asia and the Pacific (IF-CAP).
“We aim to bring in $3b for IF-CAP which can unlock up to $15b of new ADB climate project,” he said.
He said ADB had also experienced physical losses worth billions of dollars due to climate events.
In 2020 alone, Mr Asakawa said the region faced a loss of $67b which was why ADB was taking the bold step in the $100b climate finance.
“Since 2000, more than 40 per cent of climate related disasters occurred in Asia and the Pacific over 3.5billion have been affected with close to one million deaths.
“This (IF-CAP) will allow ADB to significantly accelerate climate action and achieve more ambitious results and IFCAP will change the way we address climate change.
“IF-CAP will support both infrastructure and reforms that address climate change issues and IF-CAP financing will support both the mitigation projects, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adaptation projects, to the impacts of climate change.”
He said ADB was in discussions with potential partners such as bilateral and multilateral sources, private sector philanthropies, including the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet to catalyse climate investment to ramp up support for the region in the batter against climate change.
The project will be launched on Thursday (May 4).
Also joining the meeting are finance Ministers, central bank governors, government officials from ADB and representatives from private sectors, development partners, youth, civil society academia and media from Asia, Pacific and around the world.
Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Biman Prasad as well as representatives from the Reserve Bank of Fiji are attending the meeting.
