Asia must continue to find resources to fight air pollution, climate change

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (12 November 2008) – Asia must continue to mobilize resources to cut air pollution and address climate change despite financing pressures caused by the global economic crisis, said Asia Development Bank (ADB) Vice-President Ursula Schäfer-Preuss.

Speaking at the Better Air Quality Workshop in Bangkok, Thailand, Ms Schäfer-Preuss warned that climate change, combined with a global economic slowdown which threatens jobs and investment, will hurt the extreme poor, first and hardest. In Asia and the Pacific, more than 600 million people struggle to survive on $1 a day or less.
 
“Unless action is taken now to address both global and local environmental challenges we face costly damages with even more troubling economic consequences,” she said.

The workshop, with the theme “Air Quality and Climate Change: Scaling up Win-win Solutions for Asia,” is being organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Thailand, the City of Bangkok and the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities. ADB is a co-organizer, along with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and the United Nations Environment Programme. About 1,000 people are attending, making it the largest ever gathering in Asia on air quality management in the region.

Air pollution remains a serious health problem for many Asian cities. At the same time the region is fast becoming a major source of global greenhouse gas emissions — the key cause of climate change.

As a result, Asia needs to coordinate local measures to improve air quality with global actions to cut greenhouse gases.

“Our efforts to improve air quality in cities across Asia can and should be linked with climate change mitigation. The Workshop offers concrete approaches to simultaneously achieve both local and global benefits,” said Ms Ursula Schäfer-Preuss.

The need to find cost-effective dual solutions, such as urban transport systems that both reduce local pollutants and help cut greenhouse gas emissions, will become increasingly important as a slowdown in the global economy puts a strain on financial resources.

For its part, ADB will continue initiatives that promote clean and efficient forms of energy and transport, and improved urban living conditions. This includes the Energy Efficiency Initiative, which has already met its target of at least $1 billion a year in clean energy investments by 2008, and the Cities Development Initiative which helps local governments identify new opportunities and investments to improve the quality of life in urban areas.

ADB will also continue to provide resources, in conjunction with development partners, for projects that help Asian economies move on to a low carbon path and which support climate change mitigation and adaptation activities.

Among these are the Carbon Market Initiative, which provides bridge financing for projects that qualify under the Clean Development Mechanism so they can tap the global carbon market, a Climate Change Fund, and a new Climate Investment Fund, that includes contributions from the World Bank and other Multilateral Development Banks.

ADB helped establish the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities in 2001 and has been the core sponsor of the Better Air Quality Workshops since 2002.