The Hindu Business Line : ‘Create right sops for use of low-carbon technologies’

New Delhi, Oct. 16 Mr Haruhiko Kuroda, President, Asian Development Bank (ADB), has underlined the need for policy makers in Asia to create the right incentives for development and use of low-carbon technologies, address market failures and barriers, and attract financing.

Addressing a meeting on ‘Technology and Finance for Clean Development’ under the Asia Pacific Partnership (APP) on Clean Development and Climate recently, Mr Kuroda said it was important to put a cost on the external impacts of carbon emitting activities and to develop innovative mechanisms to finance the additional cost of new technologies.

The ADB President said effective mechanisms for cooperation, technology transfer and knowledge sharing would be needed and as APP has demonstrated, private-public sector partnership would play a crucial role.

Mr Kuroda said ADB’s commitment to supporting Asia’s transition to a low carbon economy would be demonstrated in an updated energy strategy to be finalised soon.

Mr James L. Connaughton, Chairman for Council on Environmental Quality of the White House, said, that as per the estimates of the International Energy Agency, between 2005 and 2030, $20 trillion will be spent in energy-supply infrastructure, much of which will be invested in the APP countries.

Almost 85 per cent of this investment would have to come from the private sector. There is thus a dire need to harness the projected investment to advance clean and sustainable energy, as the demand for energy is expected to rise by 50 per cent in the coming decades.

Ms Meena Gupta, Secretary, Environment and Forests said, “We need to look at the issue of financing of technology as well as providing resources for R&D into critical and affordable technologies.”