The ASIAN INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT BANK is leveraging its minimal involvement in legacy fossil fuel financing to help drive Asia's climate finance push through its energy transition strategy and the establishment of a climate finance investment framework. As the youngest multilateral development bank, the AIIB has financed US$5.4bn in projects that address climate change from its inception in 2016 until the end of last year, or almost a quarter of its US$22.02bn in total approved financings during that period. Having started operations after the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, the AIIB stands apart from its peers, which have had to adjust their policies and commitments to incorporate the transition to low-carbon and climate-resilient economies through climate finance. By contrast, the AIIB has zero exposure to coal in the 142 projects amounting to US$28bn in financing it had approved as of September 28 this year. "We are helped by the fact that we are a post-Paris Agreement, new-age MDB - and to-date, AIIB has not financed any coal-fired power projects and does not have any coal projects in its pipeline," said Pramod Vijayasankar, principal investment officer for financial institutions and syndication at the AIIB.
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