Integration of climate change into country level work

Country level strategies and approach

The ADB orients its country level engagement through dedicated Country Partnership Strategies (CPSs), which are implemented over a four-year period. Since its first publication in 2009, the ADB has comprehensively revised its CPS guidance. This guidance aims to facilitate: (1) the alignment of the CPS cycle (development, implementation and review) with the country’s planning cycle; (2) streamlining of CPSs to focus on aligning the ADB’s institutional strategy with country priorities; and (3) consistency and effectiveness of results monitoring frameworks. Climate change, combined with environmental concerns, is identified as one of five core focus areas for CPSs to consider. A midterm review of the guidance conducted in 2015 further emphasised the importance of addressing “environment and climate change”, highlighting it as a significant challenge to achieving inclusive and sustainable growth.

Following this initial review, the ADB conducted another Country Partnership Strategy Results Framework Review in 2021, assessing the outcomes of the 2015 reforms and proposed further reforms, including:

• The alignment of CPSs with Strategy 2030.
• Enhancing the final reviews of CPSs by shifting the existing focus from sectors to the ADB’s operational priorities.
• Improving its Country Knowledge Plans (CKP) by updating them annually, and better integrate knowledge support with CPS strategic priorities.
• Introducing a new CPS Results Framework template, which would allow the CPSs to better align with Strategy 2030 and allow periodic updating and progress reporting during the CPS cycle.
• Strengthening the Country Operations Business Plan (COBP), which is part of the CPS process, by improving the integration of non-sovereign operations into the COBP process.

The integration of climate considerations in the ADB’s strategic approach to country level engagement is also mandated by the Bank’s core strategic documents. For example, the Bank’s Climate Change Action Plan 2023–2030 (CCAP) emphasises the importance of deepening the integration of climate considerations into all CPSs and regional strategies.[1] It commits the Bank to supporting the development of country capacity for the identification of climate action opportunities at all stages, including project design, financing and implementation. In line with this, the ADB has invested in upskilling its staff on the integration of climate in up-, mid-, and downstream support. The Bank has also deployed dedicated climate staff across both regional departments and resident country missions.[2] Moreover, as an action under the CCAP, the ADB’s updated Operations Manual and corresponding Staff Instructions also provide internal guidance for stronger integration of climate in the formulation of both CPSs and regional strategies.[3]

Based on its own diagnostics and engagement with governments and country stakeholders, the ADB has also developed a guiding framework for a CPS climate annex (Country Climate Plan). Such a plan is intended to provide a course of action for implementing climate initiatives and priorities under the strategic objectives of the CPS, ensuring alignment with NDCs and NAPs. This includes an emphasis on responsiveness to country climate priorities, strong diagnostics, and synergies across sectors and themes.[4]

In 2017, the ADB issued dedicated guidance on the integration of Disaster Risk Management into CPSs. The guidance recommends analysis of the likely country level consequences of climate change and climate-related hazards and suggests that CPSs should include a dedicated Disaster Risk Management assessment. This should consider “the impacts of climate change on natural hazards both over the typical expected life of infrastructure and also over more extended periods of 50–100 years”. It also provides examples of interventions for external practitioners (such as project developers and government officials) to include disaster risk management considerations into their institutional arrangements, CPSs, and sectoral work.

In addition, the ADB has, jointly with the World Bank, developed the Climate Risk Country Profiles, to offer in-depth analyses of changes in key climate parameters and evaluate their impacts on communities, livelihoods, and economies. The profiles aim to facilitate country diagnostics, strategic planning, and policy dialogue for Developing Member Countries (DMCs) and the private sector. To enhance investment pipelines for climate adaptation, the ADB also supports multi-hazard climate and disaster risk assessments in the Pacific. These assessments generate locally specific, geo-referenced data on projected climate change and disaster impacts, such as sea level rise and temperature changes. The risk assessments were developed and implemented in close coordination with national governments and provide information for governments on adaptation and resilience needs.

Recommendations: 

• The ADB should revise its Country Partnership Strategy guidelines to explicitly align with its Strategy 2030 objectives and prioritise supporting implementation (and where necessary ambition raising) of NDCs that meet the 1.5 °C target. In formulating CPSs, the Bank should therefore consider the current ambition level of country NDCs, to gauge whether they constitute a feasible pathway for achieving 1.5 °C alignment, or if there is scope for supporting with raising ambition in line with this goal.
• The ADB could further enhance its integration of climate in CPSs. This could involve collaborating with local research teams and international partners to support the development of long-term, cross-sectoral decarbonisation pathways for each country, which could in turn inform the CPS priorities and project selection, similar to the Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB) Deep Decarbonisation Pathways programme. Such an approach would strengthen the ADB’s alignment with countries’ climate goals and help identify key areas for transformative climate investments.

[1] For further coverage of the ADB’s support for NDCs, see the “Technical assistance for implementing Paris goals” metric.

[2] Information received directly from the ADB.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.