More than 60 Asian CSOs call on ADB to clarify details of its coal retirement mechanism proposal before COP26 announcement
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) must delay soliciting financial support for its coal buy-out scheme in Southeast Asia at COP26 until it has addressed a number of practical concerns about this proposal, including the risk it could undermine an ambitious, swift, and just transition from coal in targeted areas, an alliance of non-governmental organizations from across Asia said on Monday.
Joint civil society statement for a robust, rights-based and just safeguards policy at the ADB
The Covid-19 pandemic coupled with the increasingly are widening inequality and reversing decades of poverty alleviation. We are witnessing the catastrophic impacts of non-inclusive disaster response and market-oriented planning which undermines environmental, economic and social well-being. The demand for stronger accountability and binding respect for international rights-based frameworks from public institutions in improving social and environmental governance while simultaneously achieving growth objectives should be at the heart of the development agenda.
Joint Submission by NGO Forum on ADB & Urgewald on the AIIB Environmental and Social Framework
The Forum network thinks that this newly approved AIIB ESF, in general, has some improvements from the draft released in September 2020 but still has limitations in prioritizing real protections for project-affected communities, whose rights should be at the center of project design, operation, and implementation. The network calls out the material weaknesses in provisions of this ESF and urges the bank to exercise due diligence on community and environmental protection in its implementation of this framework. The Forum will highlight some of the problematic sections in the critique below to help guide AIIB towards a more responsible and binding ESF that holds clients accountable to both environment and communities.