Phnom Penh: Asian Development Bank (ADB) President, Masatsugu Asakawa, has announced this Wednesday that it is realising its ambition to deliver climate financing to its developing member countries (DMCs), including Cambodia, to the tune of $100 billion from 2019-2030. The climate crisis is worsening daily, prompting many to call for increased climate finance. The ADB says it is committed to heeding this call.

In 2018, ADB committed to ensuring at least 75% of the total number of its operations support climate action and its own climate finance resources reach at least a cumulative $80 billion by 2030. Wednesday’s announcement elevates the ambition of this support. ADB expects the cumulative climate financing from its own resources in 2019–2021 to reach about $17 billion.

The target financial support budget is a key element of ADB’s efforts to support its DMCs. With the interconnected challenges of the pandemic and the climate crisis, many DMCs are taking bold action to promote a green, resilient and inclusive recovery. The additional $20 billion will provide support for the climate agenda in five main areas: setting up energy storage, energy efficiency, and low-carbon transport; projects in climate-sensitive sectors, such as urban, agriculture and water; creating more commercially viable projects for both ADB and private investors for the post-pandemic recovery; support for a green, resilient, and inclusive recovery from Covid-19 including through innovative financing platforms such as the ASEAN Catalytic Green Finance Facility and Green Recovery Platform; and lastly, to support to advance reforms to unlock actions through policy-based lending to support policies and institutions for enhanced climate resilience and climate mitigation.

In addition, the ADB will continue to expand access to new, climate-focused technologies and mobilise private capital toward climate finance. It says it is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient and sustainable Asia-Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty.