Pakistan received the lowest share of climate financing with respect to total lending from the Asian Development Bank among 10 countries from 2011 to 2020.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) Support for Action on Climate Change 2011-2020 report showed that Pakistan received a 5 percent share of climate finance to total lending among 10 countries. The Maldives received the highest share of climate finance at 39 percent.
The results were based on an evaluation study analyzing climate finance in the case studies of 10 countries. The list of countries included China, Fiji, India, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Maldives, Mongolia, and Pakistan.
The countries’ climate finance represented 15.2 percent of their total borrowing from the bank.
In terms of the number of projects, the share of climate-tagged projects to total projects was the highest in India, which almost reached the ADB’s 75 percent target, followed by China at 65 percent and Bangladesh at 64 percent. Overall, 55 percent of the total projects in the 10 countries were climate-tagged.
Additionally, the Asian Development Bank today announced it is raising its climate financing target for developing member countries to $100 billion from 2019–2030.
“The battle against climate change will be won or lost in Asia and the Pacific,” said the ADB President, Masatsugu Asakawa. “The climate crisis is worsening daily, prompting many to call for increased climate finance. We are taking action to meet this call by elevating our ambition to $100 billion in cumulative climate finance from our own resources by 2030.”
In 2018, ADB made the commitment to direct at least $80 billion to climate financing by 2030 and to ensure that 75 percent of the total number of its operations support climate action. This new proposal adds $20 billion to the initial target.
Meanwhile, the bank projects its cumulative financing in 2019–2021 will reach about $17 billion.
The ADB is a regional development bank established in 1966 and aims to finance economic and social development in Asia. It is owned by 68 member countries, including Pakistan.
Last week, according to a report published by the World Bank, Pakistan had the highest climate co-benefits in the world and has made the highest percentage of climate change commitments in South Asia.
