MANILA, PHILIPPINES: Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Mr. Takehiko Nakao met with Green Climate Fund (GCF) Executive Director Mr. Howard Bamsey and members of his senior management team. Concluding GCF’s 2-day visit to ADB headquarters in Manila, Mr. Nakao and Mr. Bamsey agreed to the importance of concessional climate finance to ADB’s developing member countries through strengthening strategic cooperation between ADB and GCF.
Mr. Nakao appreciated GCF’s progress in project approvals over the past 2.5 years while building up the organization and its policy frameworks. GCF is on its way to becoming an important source of climate finance for developing countries, with 76 projects and $3.7 billion in commitments with accredited entities including MDBs, UN agencies, direct access (national agencies), and private sector entities. ADB was the first among multilateral development banks (MDBs) to be accredited by GCF.
ADB currently has six approved projects totaling $265 million in cofinancing from GCF. Three projects receiving a total of $75 million in GCF grants are located in the Pacific, including an Urban Water Supply and Wastewater Management Project in Fiji and Sustainable and Climate Resilient Connectivity for Nauru—both adaptation projects—as well as the Pacific Islands Renewable Energy Investment Program with its first sub-project in Cooks Islands. The Ulaanbaatar Green Affordable Housing and Resilient Urban Renewal Project supports adaptation and mitigation actions in Mongolia, with $145 million in GCF grant and loan financing. In Cambodia, GCF supports ADB’s Climate-Friendly Agribusiness Value Chains Sector Project ($40 million in grants and loans), which has both adaptation and mitigation aspects. In Tajikistan, the $5 million GCF grant for the Institutional Development of the State Agency for Hydrometeorology will enable adaptation.
Two additional ADB projects will be considered by GCF at its board meeting in July 2018—the South Tarawa Water Supply Project in Kiribati and the Tonga Renewable Energy Project, with a total of $60 million in grants proposed to GCF.
During the meeting, Mr. Nakao and Mr. Bamsey discussed how ADB and GCF can work together to further streamline the approval and implementation processes based on the accreditation master agreement between ADB and GCF.
The GCF’s visit took place days after the release of MDBs’ latest joint report on climate financing, which showed a 7-year high of $35.2 billion in 2017, up 28% from the previous year. ADB’s climate investments from its own resources reached $4.5 billion ($3.6 billion in mitigation and $930 million in adaptation) last year, a 21% increase from 2016. This is in line with ADB’s commitment to double annual climate financing to $6 billion by 2020. In addition, ADB raised a total of $696 million in climate finance from external sources, bringing the total to $5.2 billion in 2017.
Tackling climate change, building climate and disaster resilience, and enhancing environmental sustainability is one of ADB’s seven priorities under its proposed new Strategy 2030, scheduled to be approved in July 2018.
ADB’s climate work is now guided by the Climate Change Operational Framework 2017–2030. The framework provides broad direction and guidance for enhancing resilience and strengthening climate actions in ADB’s operations and business processes, including scaling up finance for its developing member countries.
ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members—48 from the region. In 2017, ADB operations totaled $32.2 billion, including $11.9 billion in cofinancing.
Source: adb.org
