New Report | Asia's Climate Finance Needs & Opportunities

WASHINGTON, DC; JUNE 27, 2024 — Asia’s Climate Finance Needs & Opportunities: Advancing a Shared Vision, a new report from the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI), takes stock of climate finance flows to developing countries in Asia, analyzes how reforms to the global financial architecture would impact flows, and provides recommendations for moving forward on reform efforts from an Asian perspective. The report was authored by Meera Gopal, Senior Program Officer, Climate, at ASPI and Kate Logan, Associate Director of Climate at ASPI.

“For Asia, estimated needs are projected to range from approximately $1 trillion to $2 trillion per year from now to 2030. Thus, a significant gap remains between current flows, which are in the hundreds of billions at most, and projected needs,” states the report. It underscores the urgent need to harmonize data reporting, enhance transparency, and accelerate reforms to the global financial architecture to provide targeted and equitable support for the region.

The report also looks at the role of China’s development finance within the region and how Chinese investments could accelerate climate progress. “Nearly 40% of China’s bilateral climate-related finance goes toward developing Asia. But greater transparency could enhance China’s positive impact,” says the report.

The analysis finds that the diversity of Asia’s climate finance needs and funding sources poses a challenge to expanding flows, but greater harmonization of data and standards could help address this challenge. It outlines a suite of recommendations for various stakeholders including governments, development partners, multilateral development banks, and the private sector, emphasizing five priorities for meeting Asia’s needs:

Harmonize data and standards for better comparability, consistency, and reliability; Undertake a “whole-of-economy” approach, rather than a project-by-project approach; Address transition risks in Asian emerging markets and developing economies, especially fossil fuel-dependent economies; Repurpose fossil fuel subsidies; And allocate more finance and resources to adaptation efforts, including by tapping into the private sector to expand funding.

As countries negotiate a new global finance goal in 2024 and prepare to update their climate targets known as “Nationally Determined Contributions” by early 2025, the report spotlights a pressing challenge for developing economies in Asia — estimating and securing adequate climate finance. Given that the scope and nature of needs varies immensely across Asia’s many subregions, the report consolidates a vast array of existing data to elevate relevant information to key decision-makers in this critical period.

The report was launched during a webinar on July 27th, featuring remarks from Chantale Yok-Min Wong, the United States Executive Director to the Asian Development Bank; Dr. Mari Elka Pangestu, Indonesian economist and former Managing Director of Development Policy and Partnerships and Minister of Trade in Indonesia; and Rachel Kyte, Professor of Practice in the Blatnavik School of Government and the University of Oxford. Deepali Khanna from Rockefeller Foundation, which supported the report, gave opening remarks.  

Members of the media interested in interviewing Kate Logan or Meera Gopal should contact [email protected]. Read the full report here.