ADB executive calls for private sector action on climate change

By Alex Villafania INQUIRER.net AN EXECUTIVE from the Asian Development Bank said that an Asia-wide action to alleviate the effects of climate change is not only an obligation but also a moral imperative. Speaking at the Carbon Forum Asia in Singapore, ADB vice president Ursula Schäfer-Preuss said the private sector should cooperate in reducing the effects of global climate change. She noted in her speech that Asia today accounts for 27 percent of the world’s energy-related greenhouse emission, compared to just about 10 percent in the 1970s. Schäfer-Preuss said the ADB is already putting its efforts on reducing the amount of carbon emission in Asia, through the Asia Pacific Carbon Fund. It is also pushing its Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) program that encourages developed countries to come up with carbon-reducing energy projects in developing countries. The CDM is a program under the Kyoto Protocol, a treaty agreed upon by 169 countries, including the Philippines, to reduce carbon emission from fuel consumption of cars, power plants and other industries. Schäfer-Preuss said that ADB is focusing primarily on increasing its investment in clean energy, renewable energy and energy efficiency, particularly in the transport sector. Direct investment by ADB in these areas is around $1 billion a year. ADB’s current initiatives include helping identify innovative investments under the Kyoto Protocol for renewable energy sources, identifying measures to support the development of the carbon market beyond 2012 and creating “knowledge hubs” in cooperation with leading Asian universities and research institutes.