13 November 2020
Mr. Masatsugu Asakawa
President
Asian Development Bank
Dear President Asakawa;
NGO Forum on ADB, an Asian led network of over 250 civil society around the World, has been monitoring Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded projects since 1992.
Our latest engagement is with the ADB Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department (SDCC) regarding the Energy Policy Review. The network is pleased with the ongoing fruitful discussion, and we deem that the Bank and our members are on the same page in pursuing ways to reduce the global temperature rise.
The network also recognizes that the ADB is a participant of COP21 as a key multilateral financial institution and partner agency[1]. The Bank is also a signatory of the ‘MDBs’ alignment approach to the objectives of the Paris Agreement: working together to catalyze low-emissions and climate-resilient development,’ a document proposing six building blocks that have been identified as the core areas for alignment with the objectives of the Paris Agreement [2].
However, with the recently concluded Finance in Common Summit, an event that seeks to contribute substantially to the success of the UNSG’s “Decade of Action,” the ADB did not sign the Joint declaration of all Public Development Banks in the World.
The Forum Network is alarmed with ADB’s decision not to commit to this critical and immediate declaration. Are management representatives of ADB autonomous in dictating energy investments in Asia bypassing climate commitments made by their respective donor and borrowing members?
We are witnessing a significant shift away in the appetite for fossil fuels, especially coal divestment, across lower and middle-income countries across Asia. The US election results are also ushering a revival of the Paris agreement in the international system. The network is demanding the ADB to reconsider and sign this significant declaration.
Respectfully,
Mr. Rayyan Hassan
Executive Director
NGO Forum on ADB
Endorsed by the following organizations:
Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM), Philippines
Asian Peoples' Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD)
Bangladesh Working Group on External Debt (BWGED), Bangladesh
Center for Environment and Participatory Research CEPR, Bangladesh
CLEAN (Coastal Livelihood and Environmental Action Network), Bangladesh
Community Empowerment and Social Justice Network (CEMSOJ), Nepal
E3G Third Generation Environmentalism
Environics Trust, India
Environmental Public Society, Armenia
Equitable Cambodia, Cambodia
Food first Information and Action Network - FIAN Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka
Friends of the Earth Japan, Japan
Growthwatch, India
Indian Social Action Forum, India
Initiative for Right View, Bangladesh
Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society (JACSES), Japan
Land lord bayanzurkh communally association, Mongolia
Mekong Watch, Japan
Nash Vek, Kyrgyzstan
Oyu Tolgoi Watch, Mongolia
Recourse, Netherlands
ResponsiBank Indonesia, Indonesia
Rivers without Boundaries International Coalition, Eurasia
Rivers. without Boundaries Coalition Mongolia, Mongolia
Sri Lanka Nature Group, Sri Lanka
VOICE, Bangladesh
WNGO, Mongolia
Youth For Environment Education And Development Foundation (YFEED Foundation),
Youth Group on Protection of Environment, Tajikistan, Nepal
[2]https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/related/133721/Joint%20Declaration%20MDBs%20Alignment%20Approach%20to%20Paris%20Agreement_COP24_Final.pdf
Download PDF here.