A Race Behind 1.5!

Forum network and allies' challenges

ADB's climate narrative with symbolic protest run

As the Asian Development Bank (ADB) celebrates two decades of hosting the Asia Clean Energy Forum (ACEF), civil society organizations are stepping forward with a different message: the Bank is running in the wrong direction.

On the sidelines of ACEF 2025, the NGO Forum on ADB, together with members and allies from across Asia, will stage a creative protest action titled “ACEF 2025: A Race Behind 1.5!” – a symbolic run exposing ADB’s dangerous drift away from the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C climate target.

While ADB brands itself as the “Climate Bank of Asia and the Pacific,” it continues to finance fossil gas infrastructure, waste-to-energy incinerators, large hydropower, and other high-risk projects under the guise of "clean energy." These practices contradict its climate rhetoric and endanger both people and the planet.

Racing Toward Real Solutions

Set to take place near Guadix Drive, the action will bring together over 40 participants from grassroots movements and advocacy groups. Dressed as runners, participants will wear race bibs printed with real climate solutions: community-owned renewable energy, coal decommissioning, just transition plans, and a time-bound fossil gas phase-out.

In a dramatized skit, runners representing these genuine solutions are obstructed by an ADB figure that pushes to the front—capturing the false narrative of ADB leading the climate race. Despite claiming victory, the ADB is awarded a “Trophy of Shame”, a large effigy symbolizing its climate hypocrisy and failure to uphold its own commitments.

Voices from the Frontlines

Following the run, a short program will feature speakers from grassroots organizations and regional CSOs, sharing testimonies on how ADB’s flawed energy investments have harmed communities and delayed the urgent shift away from fossil fuels. Key issues include the greenwashing of the Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM), the expansion of fossil gas, the rebranding of mining as “climate-smart,” and the exclusion of frontline voices from decision-making.

Participnating organizations include -

• Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC)

• Center for Energy, Ecology and Development

• Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ)

• NGO Forum on ADB

• Asian Peoples' Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD)

• 350.org Asia

• 350.org Pilipinas

• Recourse

• Coalition for Human Rights in Development

• Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA)

• Big Shift

Core Demands to the ADB

• No backsliding on the 2021 Energy Policy

• Phase out fossil gas and reject its labeling as ‘low carbon’

• Drop false solutions like large geothermal, incinerators, and carbon offset schemes

• Reject mining-for-climate justifications

• Redirect public finance toward decentralized, people-centered renewable energy

This year’s ACEF comes at a pivotal moment, as the ADB begins consultations on its Energy Policy Review. Civil society groups are demanding that the Bank stop hiding behind green narratives and instead deliver real action consistent with 1.5°C—and justice for affected communities.

Because when it comes to climate, ADB is not leading the race—it’s falling behind.