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THE
Asian Development Bank (ADB) headquarters in Manila is
quite “green,” having an environmental friendliness that
is “most impressive,” but which ironically has funded a
lot of projects in Asia that have proven to be
considerable carbon emitters.
In this
wise, NGO Forum on ADB executive director Renato
Redentor Constantino said the bank may have left a
bigger carbon footprint than it expected with its funded
projects, significantly contributing to the increase in
greenhouse-gas emissions in the region.
This is
according to results of a study recently conducted by an
umbrella organization of civil-society groups.
Constantino said in a briefing these projects, such as
those in the transportation sector, place on the ADB the
responsibility for their “harmful role” in increasing
carbon emissions in the region.
“The ADB
has no right to talk about carbon footprints. The
picture is much, much worse,” said Constantino.
The
study based on available figures from the ADB, presented
by Angela Don of the NGO Forum on the ADB Research,
showed that from 1968 to March 2008, the multilateral
bank had issued around $35.84 billion in loans,
technical assistance, grants, and private-sector
financing for transport sector projects.
Don said
that when broken down, loans from September 1968 to
March 2008 amounted to $34.25 billion; technical
assistance, $284.40 million; regional technical
assistance, $36.5 million; grants, $530.41 million; and
private sector financing from November 1990 to December
2007, $734.5 million.
In terms
of project types, Don said the data showed these funds
were spent on 726 roads and highway projects, 98 railway
projects, 161 port and waterway projects, and 67 airport
projects all over Asia.
The
biggest chunk of the total funds poured in by the bank
on the transport sector was in roads and highways,
amounting to $27.46 billion. This was followed by
railways worth $4.76 billion, ports and waterways with
$2.5 billion, and airports, $1.12 billion.
“Recent
pronouncements by the ADB are consistent with its
promises and pledges of addressing climate change. But
the focus and discourse is more on high-profile, widely
known culprits—the burning of fossil fuels such as coal,
oil, and gas. [What is] seemingly unnoticed [is] the
ADB’s transport sector lending,” she said.
These
make “ADB’s pronouncements…inherently conflicted—cut gas
emissions, primarily carbon dioxide, and yet at the same
time directly support global emissions through more
roads and highway projects,” she added.
To be
truly effective in its campaign for clean energy,
Constantino said the bank must look for other ways to
help countries prosper. This may include simple road
projects that instead of encouraging the use of cars
[encourage the] construction of more bicycle lanes or
pedestrian lanes. |
