The Asian Development Bank
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is responsible for financing climate change in Asia and its policies are contributing to the displacement of communities and the destruction of ecosystems in the region.
What's so bad about that?
The words sound nice, but the reality is much different. In the past the ADB has funded projects that have lead to disastrous environmental and social consequences. And the ADB has not learned from its mistakes- it continues to back climate-damaging projects like coal-fired power plants. Ironically, the very people the ADB claims to protect, the poor, are the ones who suffer the brunt of the harmful effects. ??The ADB is a publicly-funded institution but is not held accountable to the public. Both taxpayers in donor countries and citizens of developing countries have no say in which projects get funded. So how are the decisions made? Money talks, and those who get to speak the m
ost are lobbyists representing powerful fossil fuel interests.
The overwhelming majority of financing is geared towards fossil fuel power projects such as the Masinloc coal plant in the Philippines and Southeast Asia's largest and most notorious coal plant in Mae Moh, Thailand.
What can be done?
Clean alternatives to fossil fuel power in Asia are widely available. In the Chinese province of Guangdong there exists sufficient wind power potential to meet the equivalent of the current energy supply in Hong Kong. ??In the Philippines, enough wind power potential exists to produce 7 times over the country's current energy demand. Organizations like the ADB need to stop fuelling the problem of climate change and start financing cleaner, safer solutions.