On 3 November, President Masa, Indonesia Finance Minister and ADB Governor Sri Mulyani Indrawati, and the Philippines Finance Secretary and ADB Governor Carlos Dominguez launched the Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM) at the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, UK. The ETM aims to decommission coal-fired power plants in Southeast Asia and replace them with renewable energy-based power generation.

Initial numbers show total lending approved in the energy sector in 2020 reached $4.2 billion, up by 73% from 2019 volume of $2.41 billion.  Climate finance maintains its 50% share to total lending. Climate finance in the energy sector is estimated to have reached $2.3 billion consisting of about $2.2 billion for mitigation and around $101 million for adaptation.

President Masa on 23 July appointed Priyantha Wijayatunga, as the new Energy Committee Chait following Ashok Bhargava’s retirement in June. Priyantha is currently Director of the Energy Division, South Asia Department (SAEN), a position he assumed in 2017.

At what has become an annual briefing with the ADB President, on behalf of the Energy Committee, Chief of Energy Sector Group Yongping Zhai made a presentation to President Masatsugu Asakawa on 29 May 2020. Yongping started with a brief overview of the shape of things to come in energy: the progress made, and the remaining challenges and opportunities that are being presented both by global and regional trends.

Energy sector lending for the year looks to surpass investments done in 2019 by a billion dollars with the additional three projects approved in recent days. The ADB Board approved on 3 December a loan of $150 million for the Air Quality Improvement of the Greater Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) Region. This is the 6th intervention that ADB provided for the curtailment air pollution in this region in the People’s Republic of China.

Three sovereign projects in the energy sector were approved during the past week helping increase the overall energy portfolio for the year despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

On 18 November, Toru Kubo assumed the position of Director, Energy Division at the Southeast Asia Department. Toru has been leading initiatives in energy access, clean energy, and climate change and has successfully represented SEEN in-country programming missions and other government dialogues and developed innovative projects and studies in the energy sector that are consistent with the strategic objectives of ADB.

The Board will discuss today the working paper of the proposed new Energy Policy. After conducting a series of pre-Board meetings, we hope this Board meeting will facilitate a consensus around the spirit and direction of the new Energy Policy which will guide energy sector operations in addressing the needs of ADB developing member countries (DMC) and supporting their clean energy transition in particular.

In a memorandum of understanding the ADB signed with HSBC, Temasek, and Clifford Capital Holdings, a debt financing platform has been established to boost the commercial development of sustainable infrastructure projects in Asia. It will initially start with activities in Southeast Asia.

The 15th Asia Clean Energy Forum (ACEF) kicks off today with deep-dive workshops in the afternoon. ACEF’s Week-at-a-Glance presents varied topics that are consistent with this year’s theme, Cross-sectoral Innovations for a Sustainable Future. You may have already enlisted in your preferred tracks and sessions through the ACEF Newsletter. There are also side events organized by ADB and our partners that run after the main forum.