ADB says it will double clean energy investment by 2013

Yahoo News 17 Jun 09;

MANILA (AFP) – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will boost its investments in "clean energy" to two billion dollars a year by 2013, doubling its current contribution, the bank's president said Wednesday.

Haruhiko Kuroda said he hoped the target could even be achieved before 2013 and noted the multilateral institution had provided a billion dollars last year.

Speaking on the sidelines of an environment conference at the ADB headquarters in Manila, Kuroda said the two billion dollars was "a fraction of the region's financing needs" to fight climate change and cut greenhouse gases.

But he expressed hope the bank's contribution would have a "catalysing" effect and leverage additional resources from the private sector.

Kuroda warned that many Asia-Pacific countries, particularly in Southeast Asia, would be the most affected if sea levels rose as a result of global warming.

At the same forum, Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said such a problem meant Asia-Pacific nations should be ahead of other regions in alleviating climate change.

The officials cited the Maldives, Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia as countries that could suffer seriously.

Also at the forum, Yvo de Boer, the Executive Secretary of UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said in a statement that climate change was threatening the economic growth achieved by Asia in recent decades.

"Climate change impacts will be overwhelmingly severe for Asia. They will exacerbate existing vulnerabilities and they have the potential to throw countries back into the poverty trap," he said.