ADB offers pro-enviroment facility to developing nations

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has introduced a pro-environment facility for its developing member-countries (DMCs) which could be converted into new income-generating projects.

By tapping the clean development mechanism (CDM), countries can invest in low-cost emission options designed to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs), ADB president Tadao Chino said.

"In recent years, we have seen a number of innovative initiatives and approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions on a global scale, and we need to build upon this momentum in order to address both the causes and effects of global warming," Chino said during a forum on greenhouse mitigation and sustainable development..

"The market for CDM projects in Asia is very promising due to a huge potential for investments in low-cost emission abatement options," he added.

ADB’s CDM facility aims to ensure a fair return to DMCs for their initiatives to cut back on greenhouse gases by bridging the gap between buyers and sellers of emission reduction (ER) credits.

A project in a developing country that reduces GHG emissions relative to a baseline can generate an ER credit. Under the CDM, the project owner can then sell the ER credits, once they are certified, to an interested buyer.

"Although compliance with the Kyoto Protocol is a government responsibility, the private sector, both in developed and developing countries, is an integral participant in the market for emission credits, as well as in the development of new technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," the ADB chief added.

Since 1997, ADB has been working with many of its DMCs on initiatives to address climate change and strengthen their capacities in the area of GHG abatement, he pointed out.

Rolf Zelius, chief compliance officer and deputy director general of ADB’s Regional and Sustainable Development Department said that as climate change relates to the well being - possibly to the very

survival - of large groups of people worldwide, "there is no escaping the difficult task of making multilateral agreements work.

"Policy on climate change cannot exist without close cooperation between governments, non-government organizations, academe, and multinational corporations from both industrialized and developing countries, to create a positive climate for transfer of information, knowledge as well as capacity building," he added.