ADB, IEA renew pact to scale up collaboration on energy sector sustainability and resilience

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) has renewed a memorandum of understanding to scale up collaboration and advance progress on sustainability along with an increased focus on energy sector resilience in Asia and the Pacific.

ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa stated that we are happy to renew our agreement with IEA, which has been build on our successful collaboration to date. He added that the global bank also looks forward to advancing the shared objective of achieving sustainable and resilient energy future in Asia and the Pacific.

The renewal agreement was signed on IEA’s Clean Energy Transitions Summit on July 9 where ADB President also gave a speech at a plenary session to an audience of over 50 energy sector leaders and energy ministers.

Key Highlights:

• In June 2020, Faith Birol, IEA Executive Director had delivered the keynote address at ADB’s 15^th Asia Clean Energy Forum 2020. It is a leading partner of ADB’s leading annual energy forum.

• ADB has invested more than 23 billion dollars in clean energy, which includes both sovereign and non-sovereign initiatives from 2008-2019.

• In 2019, ADB’s climate financing had reached a record 6.5 billion dollars, which met its target of doubling its annual climate investment from 2014 one year ahead of schedule.

• ADB under strategy 2030 is targeting 80 billion dollars in cumulative climate financing from its own resources by 2030 and for at least 75% of its country operations to feature mitigation initiatives and climate adaptation.

Significance of the agreement renewal between ADB and IEA:

The renewal of the agreement between ADB and IEA will help to overcome experience gaps and critical knowledge that blocks the development of sustainable energy systems in ADB’s developing member countries. It will also enhance IEA’s capacity building and data collection efforts in Asia and the Pacific.

Under the renewed agreement of three years, both the organisations will share the best practices and knowledge in energy sector data and analysis, capacity building, on-the-ground engagement, technology, and innovation among other areas.

As per ADB President, the energy sector is a key driver of human development and growth, especially during the recovery from the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic.

Background:

In March 2017, ADB had signed a three year MoU with IEA for the first time to facilitate analytical work and knowledge that will help in advancing clean energy development in ADB’s developing member countries.

As part of the agreement, ADB has also worked with IEA to study power system flexibility in India to integrate more solar and wind energy in the grids.