Asian Development Bank to tap $700 million to combat climate change

Siddique Islam in My Town Talks, via AHN: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is planning to combat climate change by channeling around $700 million from two new investment funds for its developing member countries. The Strategic Climate Fund will support pilot programs on climate resilience, forest investment and scaling up renewable energy use in low-income countries. The fund hopes to develop programs that demonstrate effective climate mitigation and adaptation interventions that can be expanded and replicated.

Donor countries, including Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States, pledged over $6.1 billion in 2008 for the Clean Technology Fund and Strategic Climate Fund, the ABD said Thursday. The climate investment funds (CIF) are being made available to multilateral development banks, including ADB, for climate change-related investments, according to the bank.

The Clean Technology Fund will support the deployment of low carbon energy technologies, such as wind, solar, hydro and geothermal power, as well as energy efficiency measures for industry, commercial buildings and municipalities.

“The two funds are designed to be interim financing tools and will be discontinued once the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change completes deliberations on a new global program for addressing climate change, and the new financial mechanisms needed to support it,” the bank said in a statement.

Money from the Strategic Climate Fund will be released as grants. The Clean Technology Fund will issue concessional loans with interest on the loans as low at 0.25 percent for up to 40 years. Risk mitigation instruments such as guarantees and equity will also be available. The money can be tapped for both public and private sector initiatives, the bank said….

A rice paddy in Indonesia, shot by Dohduhdah, Wikimedia Commons