Page 9 - AsiaElec Week 28 2021

AsiaElec RENEWABLES AsiaElec

ADB commits to full alignment

with Paris agreement

ASIA THE Asian Development Bank (ADB) has com- safeguarding “just transitions” away from fossil
mitted itself to aligning its operations with the fuel-dependent industries.
goals of the Paris Agreement. New ADB operations will be screened using
The bank said in a statement that it would a framework of methodologies developed jointly
achieve full alignment of its sovereign opera- with other multilateral development banks to
tions by 1 July, 2023, while the alignment of its help ensure projects meet low-carbon and cli-
non-sovereign operations would reach 85% by 1 mate-resilient standards consistent with the
July, 2023 and 100% by 1 July, 2025. Paris Agreement.
The alignment of its operations with the Paris “ADB recognises that the implementation of
Agreement and an expanded focus on adapta- the Paris Agreement is critical in the global fight
tion and resilience will complement ADB’s ambi- against climate change,” said ADB President
tious climate targets of ensuring 75% of the total Masatsugu Asakawa.
number of ADB’s operations support climate “By fully aligning our operations to the goals
action and ADB’s own climate finance resources of the Paris Agreement and expanding our
reach $80bn by 2030. investments in resilience and adaptation, ADB
These actions will help ADB’s DMCs achieve, will lower the carbon footprint across Asia and
and even increase, their Paris Agreement com- the Pacific and help our developing member
mitments while charting a fair and equitable path countries to move their economies toward a
to net-zero and climate-resilient development. more sustainable, resilient and inclusive future.”
As Asia and the Pacific is expected to recover Asakawa made the announcement at the
from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pan- first V20 Climate Vulnerables Finance Summit,
demic, ADB has also announced plans to scale hosted by the government of Bangladesh.
up investments in adaptation and resilience, The V20 comprises 48 countries, most of
resulting in cumulative financing of $9bn in which have relatively small gross domestic prod-
2019-2024. ucts (GDPs) and are uniquely vulnerable to the
The Paris Agreement aims to keep the rise in impacts of climate change.
global temperatures to well below 2°C, preferably Nineteen of the V20 member countries are
to 1.5°C, compared to pre-industrial levels. ADB DMCs: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan,
To align its operations to the goals of the Cambodia, Fiji, Kiribati, Maldives, the Mar-
Paris Agreement, ADB will support the devel- shall Islands, Mongolia, Nepal, Palau, Papua
opment and implementation of its developing New Guinea, the Philippines, Samoa, Sri Lanka,
member countries’ (DMCs) ambitious climate Timor-Leste, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Vietnam. ™
plans by addressing physical climate risk and

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