facebook-page-view
Advertisement

ADB Targets $2B Clean Energy Investment By 2013

By Reuters

  • 17 Jun 2009

The Asian Development Bank will double its investments on clean energy initiatives to $2 billion a year by 2013 to significantly dampen carbon growth and cut greenhouse gas emissions in the region, it said on Wednesday.

The Manila-based development lender said the spending was part of an energy efficiency initiative adopted four years ago when it set a target of $1 billion in annual investments.

The ADB hit its $1 billion annual investment target in 2008, the bank said in a statement.

Advertisement

"While $2 billion annually is a significant commitment, this represents only a fraction of the region's financing needs in the area of clean energy," ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda told a news conference.

"But we expect that this contribution will catalyse additional resources from the private sector carbon markets and other sources."

Developing Asia now accounts for about a third of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Advertisement

"Unless urgent measures are taken to alter development patterns, the region's share could easily increase to 40 percent or higher by 2030," Kuroda said.

The bank said it had funded wind power projects in China and India, a biomass power facility in Thailand, hydropower initiatives in Bhutan, China and Vietnam, and a shift to energy-efficient lighting for low-income Philippine homes.

The ADB is also pushing projects to improve and expand energy-efficient mass transport systems, with such projects expected to cut Asia's fast-growing energy demand and trim its reliance on expensive fuel imports.

Advertisement

Share article on

Advertisement
Advertisement