Focused Action: Priorities for Addressing Climate Change in Asia and the Pacific

Abbreviations

Preface

This report was first published as an Information Paper of the ADB Board of Directors in May 2010 under the title: Addressing Climate Change in Asia and the Pacific: Priorities for Action. This version of the report does not deviate form the original text, but it presents the information in a more accessible form.

The report was prepared by an interdepartmental team under the overall guidance of Ursula Schaefer-Preuss, Vice President for Sustainable Development and Knowledge Management. The ADB climate change program is anchored in its Regional and Sustainable Development Department (RSDD), led by Director General Xianbin Yao and Deputy Director General Woochong Um. The team that drafted the report was supervised by Robert Dobias, Senior Advisor and Head of the Climate Change Program Coordination Unit (RSDD-CC) within RSDD, with key support provided by David S. McCauley, Principal Climate Change Specialist. Additional valuable inputs were provided by team members Toru Kubo of RSDD-CC and Daniele Ponzi of the Environment and Safeguards Division in RSDD.

Lauren N. Sorkin

Climate Change Coordination Unit

Regional and Sustainable Development Department

Tel +63 2 632 6539

www.adb.org/Climate-Change

Executive Summary

Pursuing environmentally sustainable growth. Under its vision of Asia and the Pacific being free of poverty, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is actively supporting its developing member countries (DMCs) to reduce poverty and help the region achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Over the past two decades, rapid economic growth in Asia and the Pacific has helped to lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. However, this remarkable achievement has been undermined somewhat by a notable decline in environmental quality that may jeopardize continued poverty reduction and improved quality of life. In its Strategy 2020 plan for assistance to the region, ADB acknowledges the need to pursue poverty reduction through environmentally sustainable economic growth. While most of the adverse environmental consequences of current growth patterns are local in nature—such as urban air and water pollution or the degradation of natural resources—regional and global impacts include the loss of biological diversity and increasing emissions of climate-altering greenhouse gases.

The climate change challenge. The countries of Asia and the Pacific are highly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change, with more people at risk than any other region of the world. This places the need to address climate change firmly on the region’s economic development agenda. Continued poverty reduction in Asia and the Pacific will not be possible without proactive efforts to mitigate the causes of global warming and help the region—especially its most vulnerable citizens in both rural and urban settings, the poor, women, children, and the elderly—to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Because of the tremendous diversity of conditions across the region, differentiated responses will be required that are based on the degree and type of country vulnerabilities as well as contributions of greenhouse gas emissions. With the international community now responding to threats from climate change, the financing needs for adaptation and mitigation measures as well as knowledge innovations in a range of sectors and thematic areas will be enormous. Multilateral development banks such as ADB must play a key role in mobilizing and channeling the necessary resources through the pursuit of innovative financing and financing for innovation. ADB can succeed in helping the region in its transition to low-carbon and climate-resilient growth only by forging and maintaining strong partnerships with civil society, governments, private sector entities, and other development agencies.

Strategic priorities in Asia and the Pacific. Development patterns need to shift to simultaneously respond to the causes and consequences of climate change. Consequently, ADB will adopt an integrated approach— addressing climate change mitigation and adaptation, facilitated by financing, knowledge generation, and partnerships. ADB has identified five priority areas for support:

1.Expanding the use of clean energy. ADB will continue to expand its support for clean energy, including energy efficiency improvements and the development of renewable energy supplies, increasing the current $1 billion annual spending target to $2 billion per year by 2013. Enhanced attention will be given to removing barriers to the introduction of low-carbon technologies and to supporting the transfer, development, and dissemination of low-carbon and climate-resilient technologies.

2.Encouraging sustainable transport and urban development. ADB’s policy work and investments in the transport and urban sectors will increasingly shift from traditional road and highway projects to developing alternative means for low-carbon mobility, including modern mass transit systems, more efficient vehicles, cleaner fuels, and sound urban and intra-city transport planning. Transport infrastructure must be made resilient to the adverse impacts of climate change.

3.Managing land use and forests for carbon sequestration. The approach of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD-plus) advocated as part of a post-2012 climate change agreement promises new market partnership incentives for forest conservation. ADB will provide targeted support in collaboration with other development partners to mobilize resources for sustainable forest management and conservation initiatives, as well as other land use changes to enhance carbon sequestration.

4.Promoting climate-resilient development. ADB will support country-driven climate change adaptation programs by promoting the mainstreaming of adaptation and disaster risk reduction into national development plans. ADB will ensure that its operations help build the climate resilience of vulnerable sectors such as agriculture, energy, transport, and health, including preparation of climate-resilient sector road maps and the climate proofing of projects. Climate change is expected to have gender-specific impacts; therefore, ADB will help ensure that gender concerns are properly incorporated into development plans.

5.Strengthening policies, governance, and capacities. ADB will use its development policy and poverty reduction dialogue, as well as targeted policy and institutional interventions to support this process regionally, nationally, and locally.

Supporting modalities. Three primary modalities will be employed to support ADB work:

1.Mobilizing and innovating to meet financing needs. ADB can help mobilize and channel public concessional funds to its DMCs, significantly facilitating the increased flow of private capital into low-carbon and climate-resilient investments. The global carbon market is expected to expand, and ADB will continue and deepen its leadership in helping the DMCs in Asia and the Pacific region gain access to these resources.

2.Generating and disseminating knowledge. Strong programs of technical assistance in the sectors to be most affected by climate change will be used as platforms for developing and disseminating knowledge about effective responses to the climate change challenge.

3.Cultivating and fostering partnerships. ADB will continue to work closely with international and bilateral partners, government, private sector, and civil society to expand its capacities and outreach in achieving its climate change objectives. Mitigation and adaptation programs will function best if stakeholders, especially intended beneficiaries, are closely involved