Opening remarks by Masatsugu Asakawa, President, Asian Development Bank, at COP28, 5 December 2023, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Good morning and welcome.
Two years ago, we launched the Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM) program in Glasgow at COP26, alongside the Governments of Indonesia and the Philippines.
As we gather today, let me acknowledge Minister Arifin of Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, and Managing Director Menon of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. I thank you and our distinguished guests for the continued partnership.
We are seeing a growing list of partners who are supporting the just and affordable transition from coal and fossil fuel energy sources in Asia and the Pacific. As you have been hearing at this COP, the world needs to fast-track the energy transition and slash emissions. We also need to transform climate finance, and put people at the heart of climate action.
My friends, there is a broad range of actions that are needed to meet global climate goals.
ADB is increasing our available climate capital through the Innovative Finance Facility for Climate in Asia and the Pacific, or IF-CAP. Japan's $600 million contribution, just announced here in Dubai a few days ago, has increased IF-CAP's financing guarantees to over $1 billion, which also includes a $300 million contribution from the United Kingdom and $100 million from the Republic of Korea.
The Energy Transition Mechanism is also answering that call. Following the announcement of the Cirebon-1 ETM Framework Agreement on Sunday, our event today will showcase the significant progress we have made on ETM. We will also announce some exciting new developments.
The first is our MOU signing with the Monetary Authority of Singapore and Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet. It aims to raise up to $2 billion from concessional and commercial capital providers to support the energy transition. The second is an agreement that we will sign with the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources on Indonesia’s energy transition.
These announcements made during COP28 are a preview of major developments to come in 2024.
My friends, we are seeing what ETM can do to transform the energy sector in our region. As I have said before, once scaled up, ETM has the potential to serve as the largest carbon reduction model in the world. Let us continue our work together to make this happen.
Thank you very much.
Speaker
