Civil society groups slam ADB’s support for fossil fuel projects

Civil society groups held a protest rally anew on Friday at the gates of Asian Development Bank (ADB), calling for the financial institution to rethink its fossil fuel energy policies and strategies, which they likened to dirty energy policy.”

The lightning rally was staged as the ADB conducts its 51st Annual Board of Governors’ Meeting in Ortigas business district.

In a joint statement, the groups said they have handed over a letter—signed by nearly 150 Asian organizations and networks and endorsed and supported by organizations from other parts of the globe—to the ADB president and Board of Governors.

Lidy Nacpil, Asian People’s Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD) coordinator, claimed the ADB responded to their calls with a “non-committal lip service” during an “unfruitful” engagement with the bank on its energy policy.

Mae Buenaventura, APMDD deputy coordinator, said their appeal for ADB to review its “old and continuously fossil-fuel-supportive 2009 Energy Policy” was met by ADB President Takehiko Nakao with “lukewarm response.”

“ADB has merely claimed to have instituted restrictions in its 2009 Energy Policy, but these are grossly inadequate in the face of the intensifying climate crisis,” Buenaventura said.

The multilateral lender had sought the civil society’s inputs for the 2030 Strategy, but adopted none of the changes urged by the groups.

Buenaventura further claimed that ADB’s Strategy for 2030 and its energy policy show no alignment with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

Sreedhar Ramamurthi of Environics Trust India said that “Strategy 2030 makes no new commitments that address civil society concerns.”

Meanwhile, Philippine Movement for Climate Justice National Coordinator Ian Rivera reiterated his criticism of ADB’s record of financing coal projects that reached $10.735 billion from 2009-2017.

“We challenge ADB, an institution which claims to be for Asian people’s development, to stop being an obstacle to this process of energy transformation and to align itself with the agenda of the Asian people—individuals and communities on the ground that have been impacted most by ADB’s policies and strategies,” Rivera noted.

The four-day ADB annual meeting runs from May 3 to 6. —Jamil Santos/VDS, GMA News