ADB sets up carbon market trust fund

Manila, November 22:

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said today it would set up a ‘carbon market’ trust fund to encourage more clean energy projects in the Asia-Pacific region.

Manila-based ADB said it has “has already received several expressions of interest,” from member countries to finance the $150 million fund. The Asia Pacific Carbon Fund will be part of ADB’s broader Carbon Market Initiative which is already under development, the multilateral institution said in a statement.

The carbon fund will help provide capital for clean energy projects — those involving renewable energy or energy efficiency — by paying for Certified Emission Reductions that are expected to be generated by these projects. Under the Kyoto Protocol, intended to cut greenhouse gases, developed countries can meet their obligations to reduce carbon emissions by buying these certificates, also called ‘carbon credits,’ from developing countries.

However, payments for the credits up to now have been made predominantly to those projects that have sufficient capital on their own. Under the new scheme, upfront payments from the ADB’s carbon fund would help cover the financing of the proposed projects and will hopefully “result in an increase in viable environment friendly ADB projects in its developing member countries.”

ADB lends $600m to Pakistan

MANILA: The ADB is to lend Pakistan $600 million to encourage more private sector participation in infrastructure development, the lender said in a statement. The loan is intended to attract private investment in the power, transport and water sectors. “The ADB programme will support the government in creating an environment that encourages and supports private participation in infrastructure, rather than building the needed infrastructure exclusively with public funds,” the Manila-based bank’s senior economist Jurgen Conrad said. “Given the scarcity of financial resources, this is the only feasible approach for addressing the mismatch between limited supply and increasing demand for infrastructure,” he added. The first part of the programme, estimated to cost $400 million and to last three years, will involve some 40 projects, the ADB said. When this phase is completed, reforms will be further pursued under the second phase, estimated to cost $200 million and to last till 2013. — AFP