COP27: ADB approves $15 million assistance for green projects in Southeast Asia

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $15 million technical assistance programme to develop projects that promote climate change adaptation and mitigation in the southeast Asian region.

The new programme, which was announced at the ongoing COP27 in Egypt, will help countries mobilise financing for nationally determined contributions by improving investment planning, identifying and developing projects, and building country capacity to accelerate a pipeline of green projects for the region, it said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Accelerating climate transitions through green finance in the southeast Asia programme will generate much-needed pipelines of climate investments in southeast Asia," said ADB Director General for southeast Asia Ramesh Subramaniam.

"It applies a large-scale, holistic approach — planning frameworks, innovative project ideas, and knowledge sharing —to help the region's governments deliver on ambitious climate commitments," Subramaniam added.

The statement said that the ADB planned to scale up the programme by increasing funding and incorporating lessons learned by southeast Asian countries in transitioning to climate-resilient development.

To take it ahead, ADB recently raised its ambition for 2019-2030 cumulative climate financing to $100 billion and is committed to ensuring that at least 75 per cent of its projects will address climate change mitigation and adaptation.

In conclusion, the lending authority said it is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty.

The 27th session of the Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (known as COP27) is on at Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt from November 6 to 18, in an effort to build on previous successes and pave the way for effectively tackling global climate change.

This year's COP27 summit is even more crucial in the backdrop of several extreme weather events — typhoons in Bangladesh, unprecedented floods in Pakistan, dry rivers in China, and droughts in Africa, among many others.

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