Philippines, Manila

The Asia Pacific Carbon Fund, managed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), has raised $151.8 million to help develop clean energy projects in the Asia Pacific region. The seven European countries involved – including Belgium, on behalf of the Flemish region, Finland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland – also expect this investment will help them achieve their carbon emission reduction commitments under the Kyoto Protocol.

The Fund co-finances Clean Development Mechanism projects in return for Certified Emission Reductions. The Clean Development Mechanism allows industrialized countries to invest in projects that reduce emissions in developing countries as an alternative to more expensive emission reductions in their own countries.

The main difference between the Asia Pacific Carbon Fund and other carbon funds is that it pays its invested capital upfront. As a result, the Fund helps projects close their financing gap and increases the number of clean energy and energy efficiency projects in Asia.

The Asia Pacific Carbon Fund is part of ADB’s Carbon Market Initiative , launched in November 2006, which also includes a Technical Support Facility to provide capacity building, due diligence, documentation, and implementation support to Clean Development Mechanism projects, and a Credit Marketing Facility that will assist project developers in marketing the additional carbon credits generated, beyond those that have been sold upfront to the Fund.

“We have been working for several months to identify suitable projects and developing their Clean Development Mechanism component,” says WooChong Um, Director of the Energy, Water and Transport Division, at ADB's Regional and Sustainable Development Department. “As a result, we now have a number of projects with good potential in terms of emission reductions that we expect to move forward in the near future”.

“The Asia Pacific Carbon Fund is targeting energy efficiency, clean energy and methane capture and utilization projects with strong development and environmental benefits and we are looking forward to using the Carbon Market Initiative in as many ADB projects”, Mr. Um adds.