ADB and Infrastructure Asia signed deal to meet $210 billion annual green infrastructure investments needs

The Asian Development Bank has signed an agreement with Singapore’s Infrastructure Asia to mobilise the much-needed funding for sustainable infrastructure across Southeast Asia.

The two will help governments in the region to develop sustainable finance models as well as identify and develop bankable infrastructure projects. ADB and Infrastructure Asia will target state-owned enterprises and regional and municipal governments.

The annual sustainable infrastructure investment needs for Southeast Asia is expected to reach $210 billion until 2030.

The agreement allows the development of the Innovative Finance Lab for Sustainable Infrastructure, a virtual space supported by a biannual event in Singapore.

The event will focus on stakeholder knowledge sharing, improvements in governments’ policy-making capacities as well as serve as a capacity-building platform for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) Catalytic Green Finance Facility (ACGF).

The ACGF was launched in April 2019 to boost the development of green infrastructure projects across ASEAN by catalyzing public and private capital and technologies and is part of the Green and Inclusive Infrastructure Window, launched by Southeast Asian governments, ADB, and major development financiers under the ASEAN Infrastructure Fund.

ADB Director General for Southeast Asia Mr. Ramesh Subramaniam, said: “Southeast Asia faces significant financing gaps in meeting its infrastructure needs, including for climate change mitigation and adaptation costs. “We need innovative financing approaches to mitigate risks in projects and better leverage public funds to catalyse more financing from private and institutional partners, support greener and cleaner development, and help solve critical development challenges.”

Re-disseminated by The Wealth and Society