The Asian Development Bank President Takehiko Nakao announced recently ADB plans to double its current annual climate financing from $3billion to $6billion. By the decade’s end, ADB spending on climate change should also rise to around 30% of its overall financing.
The realities of climate change is that poorer nations are suffering more than developed nations, even though developed nations are the ones who caused most of the damages being absorbed by poorer countries.
However, developed countries are planning on changing this outlook with their announcement of committing to mobilize $100 billion in climate finance per year by 2020 to support climate adaptation and mitigation in developing countries.
The ADB President’s announcement also followed on this promise by developed nations to counter climate change in developing nations.
President Nakao addressed the importance of tackling climate change in the Asia-Pacific Region and reiterated that no-where is it more critical than in this region,“where rising sea levels, melting glaciers, and weather extremes like floods and droughts are damaging livelihoods and taking far too many lives”.
ADB revealed that out of the $6billion, $4billion will be dedicated to mitigation through scaling up support for renewable energy, energy efficiency, sustainable transport, and building smart cities.
While the other $2 billion will be for adaptation through more resilient infrastructure, climate-smart agriculture, and better preparation for climate-related disasters.
ADB based in Manilla is owned by 67 members, 48 of those members are from the Asia-Pacific Region.
