the ADB as a keyclimate-and-development arena

Renato Redentor ConstantinoNGO Forum on the ADB

Airlie Center, Virginia, US, Feb. 24, 2010

Some backgroundADB:• Huge influence in region; catalyst• Flood of big infra projects is

coming – member countries recently agreed to triple ADB’s capital base from $55 billion to $165 billion.

• The 200% increase is ADB’s largest, and the first since ADB increased its capital by 100% in 1994. ADB has had five general capital increases in all.

• Growth-fixated, market-driven.

Forum:

• Plus 250 community groups and organizations mostly across developing Asia

• Full range of approaches• Reduce potential harm and

undermine marketization program

• Disempowerment of the institution

A bit of context

• ADB largely shunned climate issue before

• Renewables and energy efficiency were treated like happy bunnies for a long time.

• Growth-fixated, market-driven goals required/require large-scale, centralized energy options.

• Catalyst with large (very bad) policy footprint

Policy advancesNew Energy Policy:• Full-options review• Full-cost accounting• Greater attention to renewables

and energy efficiency• Retained position on captive-use• Sustainable transport• Retention of position not to

support nuclear projects.• Cautious approach to biofuels.• Still promotes fantasy of clean

coal; disdains decentralized options etc.

Related Policy devts:

• Inserted climate and carbon accounting in new Safeguards policy

• New Safeguards policy now covers all operations involving financial intermediaries

• Disclosure policy new battleground for inserting more climate-relevant provisions

$1 billion Clean Energy Program

• Coal and Large Hydro Included

ADB Clean Energy Allocation Per Country (2008)

48.02%

24.55%

0.59%

2.58%

0.44%

0.66%

4.72%

11.57% 5.90% India

China

Philippines

Pakistan

Uzbekistan

Azerbaijan

Bhutan

Vietnam

Regional

ADB Clean Energy Investments on Coal and Large Hydro (2008)

Rest Investments$1139M, 67%

Coal, $100M, 6%

Large Hydro, $454M, 27%

• China and India – 66.14% of total energy investment and 72.6% CE investment

• Minus coal and large hydro investments, $1B target for 2008 was reached. Subtract clean energy PEFs ($100M/yr), target not reached.

Thanks