The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has renewed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the International Energy Agency (IEA) to scale up collaboration and forward progress on sustainability with an increased focus on energy sector resilience in Asia and the Pacific region.
“The energy sector is a key driver of growth and human development, especially during recovery from the impacts of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic,” stated ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa. “We are pleased to renew our agreement with IEA, which builds on our successful collaboration to date, and we look forward to advancing our shared objective of achieving a more sustainable and resilient energy future in Asia and the Pacific.”
Under the 3-year agreement,ADB and IEA will distribute knowledge and best practice in energy sector data and analysis, on-the-ground engagement, capacity building, technology, and innovation, among other areas. This will support to overcome critical knowledge and experience gaps obstructing the development of sustainable energy systems in developing member nations of ADB and enhance IEA’s data collection and capacity building purposes in Asia and the Pacific.
The Asian Development Bank first signed a 3-year MOU with IEA in March 2017 to expedite knowledge and analytical effort to advance clean energy development in developing affiliate countries of ADB. As part of this, ADB worked with IEA to analyze power system flexibility in India to integrate more solar and wind energy in the grids.
The restoration agreement was signed on the occasion of IEA’s Clean Energy Transitions Summit, where Mr. Asakawa gave a speech at the plenary session to an audience of over 50 energy ministers and energy sector leaders. In June 2020, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol delivered the keynote address at ADB’s 15th Asia Clean Energy Forum 2020. IEA is a knowledge partner of ADB’s leading annual energy forum.
ADB invested more than $23 billion in clean energy, including both sovereign and nonsovereign initiatives from 2008 to 2019. Last year, ADB’s climate financing reached a record of $6.56 billion, meeting its target of doubling its annual climate investments from 2014 one year ahead of schedule.
