Clean Energy Program

Clean energy has become one of ADB's highest priorities, with over one fourth, or 27%, of the total approved loans in 2008 supporting projects with clean energy components.

ADB's Clean Energy Program is multi-pronged. It seeks to increase regional energy efficiency in energy, transport and urban sectors; to adopt renewable energy sources; and to improve access to energy for the poor and remote regions - avoiding the use of traditional biomass. The clean energy program seeks to meet energy security needs, facilitate a transition to a low-carbon economy, universal access to energy, and achieve ADB's vision of a region free of poverty.
With high levels of confidence for clean energy investments, ADB's Energy Policy targets the annual lending for related programs to $2 billion by 2013.

Energy efficiency and renewable energy

  • DS-EE (Demand Side Energy Efficiency) - changing user behavior to lower energy consumption within the urban sector and industrial sector
  • SS-EE (Supply Side Energy Efficiency) - improving transmission and distribution systems to minimize energy lost as it flows from generators to end-users.
  • Biomass - energy from biological matter, including animal waste and biofuels that do not conflict with food security
  • Hydro - energy generated by the action of flowing water, whether it is from a mighty river or a local creek
  • Solar - power drawn from the sun, tapped through photovoltaic panels or concentrated solar thermal systems
  • Wind - turbines that convert wind energy into electrical power

Carbon capture and storage (CCS)

ADB has partnered with the Global CCS Institute-Australia to assist in preparing demonstration projects that will lead to commercial-scale deployment of CCS.

Other initiatives

  • Energy for All Initiative - ADB aims to maximize access to clean, affordable, modern energy for all, especially the rural poor who remain unserved by national power grids.
  • Asia Solar Energy Initiative - Aimed at identifying, developing, and implementing 3,000 MW of solar electricity generation by 2013.
  • Quantum Leap in Wind - Develops country-specific road maps for the large scale deployment of wind power, leading to an additional 1 gigawatt of installed wind by 2015.
  • Small Wind Initiative - Explores effective ways to utilize indigenous renewable energy resources to improve the living standards of poor communities in remote areas.
  • Low Carbon Technology Exchange - ADB is proposing an assisted broker model that will proactively identify partnerships between willing buyers and sellers of low-carbon technologies in order to facilitate their rapid transfer and diffusion in Asia and the Pacific.
  • Asia Climate Change and Clean Energy Venture Capital Initiative - Supported an equity infusion to several venture capital funds to accelerate private sector-based innovation, transfer, and diffusion of climate change technologies.

Key resources