“Climate change threatens the future of all development. 2023 was the hottest year on record and saw a swath of extreme, deadly climate impacts in our region,” said ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa.

“This crisis threatens energy and food security and creates fiscal challenges. As the climate bank for Asia and the Pacific, ADB is deeply committed to helping our developing members de-fossilize their economies, progress along their climate transition pathways, and achieve their net-zero
goals. We must act together, with urgency and at scale,” he added.

According to the ADB, Asia and the Pacific originates more than half of global carbon dioxide emissions while also being acutely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

The region needs to invest an estimated US$3.1 trillion per year in energy and transport assets alone to meet net zero by 2050- around 50 percent more than current levels.

As Asia and the Pacific’s climate bank, ADB aims to provide US$100 billion in climate financing from its own resources from 2019 to 2030, the release said, adding: “In 2022, ADB committed US$6.7 billion of climate finance from its own resources, including US$4 billion for mitigation and US$2.7 billion for adaptation.”

ADB’s flagship climate projects in 2023 include a US$400 million policy-based loan to help Bangladesh implement its national adaptation plan and pursue climate-focused development, a US$1 billion loan to help deploy the Philippines’ first large-scale electric bus system in Davao City and an US$18 million grant from the Asian Development Fund (ADF) to improve the resilience, inclusiveness and sustainability of water supply and sanitation services in the Federated States of Micronesia.