In an "unprecedented intergalactic" protest action, around twenty aliens carrying placards with the words "Live long and prosper. Stop Climate change!" picketed in front of the international funding institution and tried to gain entry into the ongoing meetings. In an ensuing press conference, the aliens, who came in peace, said that they wanted to determine the actions humans are taking to save their planet from climate change, and to confirm if indeed humans are actually set on supporting the fossil fuel coal, whose use is the single greatest cause of climate change.

The alien rally attended by volunteers in costumes was organized by Greenpeace Southeast Asia, NGO Forum on the ADB, and Oxfam to coincide with the bank's Climate and Clean Energy Week from June 15 to 19.  The organizations are calling for genuine climate change solutions.

"The message from this 'alien encounter' today is that human survival on planet Earth now depends on strong solutions to stop climate change. This commitment to solutions is missing from the ADB which up to now refuses to abandon coal use, and promotes scam fixes such as 'clean coal technology.' Greenpeace is demanding that the ADB phase out all support for fossil fuels starting with coal so that it can truly help developing countries deviate from business as usual and leapfrog into the sustainable low carbon development path toward the energy revolution," said Greenpeace Southeast Asia Climate and Energy Campaigner Amalie Obusan.

For too long, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been a proponent of large-scale, centralized, fossil fuel-based energy development. But while the bank has taken steps to create a Clean Energy Fund, its Energy Policy which is currently being drafted still includes funding for coal technologies, which ironically are being discussed as solutions in the bank's ongoing Clean Energy Forum.

 

The year 2009 is a crucial year for the climate when the intensive year-long round of international negotiations will culminate in the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit in December where governments must thresh out a robust deal to combat climate change. In the light of these government negotiations, the ADB's role must be to help developing countries redirect investments from fossil fuel to renewables, avoiding the climate destructive path of developed countries.

"Rich countries are holding progress in the UN climate negotiations hostage to two crunch issues: mid-term emissions cuts and financing for adaptation and mitigation action in developing countries. There is fear that the ADB, the bulk of funding of which comes from developed countries, might follow suit," said Oxfam International senior climate adviser Antonio Hill.