The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has declared that it will no longer finance coal-fired power and energy projects in the future, preferring to lend to the renewable energy sector instead.
ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa made the statement on Tuesday at a news conference held as part of the regional development bank’s 56th annual meeting in Incheon, South Korea.
He spoke about many aspects of the event and answered questions from journalists.
In addition, the ADB president unveiled a new loan program, the Innovative Finance Facility for Climate in Asia and the Pacific (IF-CAP), to address the region’s climate change challenge.
According to Asakawa, Asia and the Pacific are the regions most affected by the climate change catastrophe, and they will either win or lose the global war on climate change.
He stated that if no action is made to address the negative consequences of climate change, the damage will outweigh overall growth, and that climate change will inflict damage worth USD 67 billion in 2022.
He went on to note that since 2000, over 40% of climate change-related disasters have occurred in Asia and the Pacific region, affecting more than 3.5 billion people and resulting in nearly 1 million deaths.
Another billion people living in cities are predicted to be exposed to severe air pollution and heat by 2050.
As part of the ADB’s efforts to fight climate-related challenges in the area, the president announced that the regional bank has launched a program to grant USD 100 billion in loans to Asian and Pacific countries by 2030.
