This page is part of the E3G Public Bank Climate Tracker Matrix, our tool to help you assess the Paris alignment of public banks, MDBs and DFIs.
| Paris Alignment | Reasoning |
| Some progress | ADB is working to support implementation of Paris goals through the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) Advance Platform. However, it is also providing technical assistance in support of fossil fuels. |
| Climate-related technical assistance at policy-level | NDC ambition increase goal? | Non-NDC technical assistance |
| Yes – ADB has the NDC Advance Platform. | Stated intention of increasing ambition. | ADB technical assistance also supports fossil fuel development. |
Explanation
Nationally Determined Contributions
The Asian Development Bank has a running program for supporting NDCs. Under its Climate Change Operational Framework 2017–2030, ADB envisioned a “substantial role … in supporting both NDC quality and early implementation.”
Indeed, the ADB’s NDC Advance Platform, launched in 2018 at COP24, seeks to help support the NDCs of ADB’s recipient countries, particularly developing member countries, by:
- Assisting countries to refine and increase their NDC ambition and identify priority projects;
- Improving access to public and private funds; and
- Developing monitoring and reporting tools, tailored to NDCs.
It has a total budget of $4.5 million and the ADB is seeking to pilot it in a small number of countries in a first phase. Its aims are to help developing member countries translate NDCs into viable, bankable and actionable investment plans, develop innovative financing mechanisms to develop these plans and create monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) frameworks for NDCs.
The ADB has already begun to reflect NDCs in country dialogue and country partnership strategies and has published an assessment of how member country NDC priorities map across the ADB’s operations. Furthermore, it has done preliminary analysis on pathways for the low-carbon transition in Vietnam and the Philippines. Based on the new Climate Change Operational Framework, the NDC platform will also offer support to countries in designing deep decarbonisation pathways.
Recommendation: The ADB should consider expanding its NDC Advance Platform and using it to provide further analysis to support more ambitious commitments within country NDCs. This is particularly relevant moving toward moments in the NDC revision cycle.
Fossil fuel subsidy reform
The ADB has several examples of technical support for energy subsidy reform, including providing advice for policymakers in Thailand’s reform strategies as well as in Indonesia. The ADB has also done analysis on fossil fuel subsidy reform in several countries, demonstrating that the money freed up by subsidy reform could be used to compensate poor households and promote sustainable energy.
Other technical assistance
Despite the above, however, some of the ADB’s technical assistance has run counter to global climate goals by encouraging investment in fossil fuel expansion, upstream as well as downstream. One notable example is a programme on “Sustainable and Inclusive Energy” in Indonesia, which includes technical assistance on renewables and energy efficiency. However, this programme also promotes domestic gas exploration and production as well as increased domestic delivery (transmission and distribution) of gas, with the aim of growing investment in oil and gas in Indonesia.
Natural gas cannot credibly be considered low-carbon unless there is no viable climate-neutral technology alternative across the energy system, which is increasingly hard to demonstrate. Given that its expanded use endangers the Paris Agreement goals, natural gas should not receive support from public institutions, which should focus their technical assistance on climate-neutral energy alternatives.
Last Update: November 2020