Green Climate Fund allocates $300 million for ADB’s first Green Recovery Program in Southeast Asia

On 19 March the GCF Board approved $300 million allocation for the Green Recovery Program under the ASEAN Catalytic Green Finance Facility Fund that is being managed by ADB to help Southeast Asia embark on a climate-resilient, environmentally sustainable economic recovery from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.The Program aims to leverage GCF and ADB funds to catalyze financing from development partners and private capital sources to support more than $4 billion worth of green infrastructure projects across the region. Southeast Asia has been estimated prior to the COVID-19 pandemic to require about $210 billion, of green infrastructure finance. This infusion of funds and the leverage provided by these facilities will help Southeast Asian countries bridge a major gap in financing green infrastructure. The gap is likely to have widened during the pandemic, as the region’s economy contracted by 4.4% in 2020, according to ADB. The Green Recovery Program will provide technical assistance and concessional loans to about 20 green infrastructure projects across Southeast Asia. Over a 30-year period, the projects are expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 119 million tons and create 340,000 green jobs in key sectors such as sustainable transport, renewable energy, and energy efficiency systems, as well as low-carbon agriculture and natural resources. ADB will prioritize the use of GCF funding under the program for investment projects in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and the Philippines.