Leaving behind ADB’s dirty energy legacy: Civil society critical reflections and recommendations research
In 2009, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) adopted an Energy Policy that has justified its carbon-intensive energy lending portfolio for the past decade. Ahead of the ADB’s 2020 Annual Governors Meeting, civil society organizations release their critical review of the Bank’s energy policy and portfolio, urging the bank to take on its catalytic role in Asia’s energy transformation by formally imposing a coal ban as the first step towards full decarbonization.
Statement to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Virtual Annual Meeting 2020
As the Asian Development Bank (ADB) celebrates its 53rd year of operation, CSOs around the world are deeply frustrated because of the forced exclusion by the Bank on the occasion of its virtual annual meeting. By being a financier of authoritarian regimes during this pandemic, the ADB has thrown away over a decade of the inclusive practice of open dialogue with civil society in its annual meetings. Corporate and State greed are the voices the ADB wants to hear in this 2020 annual meeting, it is not the voice of the people from the Asia Pacific, it is not the voice of the communities, which the Bank promised to help and alleviate from poverty.
Civil society reflections on AIIBs 5th annual meeting (virtual) 2020
In the opening statement at this year’s AIIB annual general meeting, President Jin Liqun stated- “We are supporting climate change commitments. We are cooperating across regions. We are discovering new ways to increase connectivity and strengthen economies. We are striving to build a world that is financially, socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable.” As civil society observers, we recognize this pledge and hope that AIIB will live up to this commitment. In terms of social sustainability, AIIB has struggled to meaningfully include critical voices from local communities and civil society into its planning and project design over the past 5 years of its operations.