Asian Development Bank

Mandaluyong City, Philippines – 14 August 2025 – Today, environmental advocates and community members gathered outside the Asian Development Bank (ADB) headquarters to oppose the Bank’s proposed revisions to its Energy Policy. The changes are being introduced in a railroaded process and could lead to increased funding for waste incineration, mining, and nuclear power development, and other contentious energy projects across Asia.

The ADB is in the final stages of its midterm Energy Policy review, with the Board expected to vote on the updated policy in October 2025. Apart from failing to prioritize waste reduction, reuse, and recycling before burning waste for energy development as committed in the Bank’s Energy Policy, it is even expanding waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration. The Bank proposes to burn a fraction of waste in power plants called co-firing biofuels. GAIA says it delays the much-needed termination of coal plants, generates more greenhouse gases (GHG) and other toxic emissions, and disincentivizes efforts towards environmentally preferred methods in the waste hierarchy.

“We looked to the ADB to set an example in climate leadership and clean energy investment — not take us backward,” said Brex Arevalo, GAIA Asia Pacific’s Climate and Anti-incineration Campaigner. “The Bank’s willingness to support these false solutions shows a shocking disregard for resource conservation, health, and climate change. How many more resources will the ADB burn on a dying planet?”

The Bank also proposes repurposing coal plants into municipal WTE incineration facilities or to burn fully with biomass materials. “Given that even problematic waste streams with toxic content like processed plastic wastes and spent tires are now being considered as biomass, the Bank is wasting scarce public funds on prolonging the agony of coal-impacted communities by turning them into WTE plants ”, Arevalo said.

Attaching carbon capture storage facilities to WTE plants is also being proposed by the Bank. Another expensive and untested technology that only delays much-needed closure of high carbon-emitting technologies, according to Zero Waste Europe.

Community concerns aren’t just unfounded fears— they are supported by hard evidence. A recent citizen-led air quality study in Surabaya, Indonesia, Ogijo, Nigeria, and Dumaguete, Philippines, found particulate matter pollution near waste-burning plants reaching up to eight times above WHO safety limits. In Dumaguete, experts estimate shutting down a local pyrolysis-gasification plant could prevent nearly 180 premature deaths annually.

“These numbers represent people’s lives—children with breathing difficulties, farmers exposed to dangerous air, waste workers in the facility, and elders living in unsafe conditions,” said Merci Ferrer, Co-convenor of War on Waste-Break Free From Plastic (WoW-BFFP) Negros Oriental. “Communities have been ignored for too long, and the time for empty promises is over.” As a result of the study of WoW-BFFP Negros Oriental, the newly elected Dumaguete Mayor, Manuel Sagarbarria, has ordered the facility to stop its operations.

And, beyond air pollution, the health risks of waste incineration extend into the escalating climate crisis. Heatwaves — periods of unusually high temperatures — are becoming more frequent and deadly, especially in densely populated areas like Delhi, India. Between 2013 and 2022, over 10,600 deaths in India were attributed to heat-related causes, disproportionately affecting vulnerable groups such as the elderly, children, and outdoor workers. WTE incinerators themselves contribute to this problem by releasing large amounts of heat during their high-temperature processes.

Protesters demanded that the ADB immediately phase out its support for WTE incineration and other false solutions and instead back proven, community-centered approaches: reducing waste before it’s created, composting organic waste to cut methane emissions, and investing in clean, renewable energy that protects both people and the environment.

In the past year alone, other international financial institutions like the World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) had terminated several proposed WTE incineration projects due to their high risks from community resistance to lack of financial viability.

“Energy Policy Review for this year, rushed by the ADB, only shows how corporate interests are being put on the pedestal over people and the planet,” said Nazareth Del Pilar of NGO Forum on ADB. “Instead of closing gaps in its policy, the Bank is slipping in dangerous provisions that deepen debt, sideline human rights, and abandon justice-centered solutions.”

PHOTOS HERE

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Media Contacts:

Brex Arevalo, Climate and Anti-incineration Campaigner, GAIA Asia Pacific | albrecht@no-burn.org | +639983510912Dan Abril, Communications Associate, GAIA Asia Pacific | dan@no-burn.org | +639174194426

MANILA, June 6, 2024 — A hundred activists gathered in front of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) headquarters here urging the bank to “flip the switch to renewables”, towards a fast and equitable clean energy transition that prioritizes people and the environment.

The creative action was staged by civil society groups and affected communities to challenge the ADB to not only fast-track the shift to renewable energy but also ensure transparent and equitable investments, prioritize community consultation, provide grants over loans in financing energy transition projects, and reject harmful energy solutions as the bank is holding its annual Asia Clean Energy Forum (ACEF) this week.

Activists from 350 Pilipinas, NGO Forum on ADB, GAIA Asia Pacific, Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center, and Freedom from Debt Coalition carried a globe effigy that showed dirty energy projects and climate impacts on one side and renewable energy and its benefits on the other. A switch in the middle made the globe spin, highlighting the role of ADB in the global switch to renewable energy.

The ACEF plays a crucial role towards transitioning from fossil fuels to renewables in the Asia-Pacific to combat climate change and ensure energy security. It convenes policymakers, industry leaders, and civil society to devise sustainable energy strategies and advocate for the shift to renewables.

However, affected communities and civil society groups have stressed that prioritizing corporate interests and technological fixes exacerbates environmental and social crises. Meanwhile, existing mechanisms promoted by the ADB at ACEF often fail to provide real energy solutions, including what many experts consider false solutions, such as carbon capture and storage, waste-to-energy, hydropower, and fossil fuel mixes.

“Real energy solutions must prioritize community needs, uphold environmental and human rights, and ensure a just transition from fossil fuels. The Asian Development Bank must uphold not only the Paris climate agreement but also the long-term development plans of ADB member countries.

Yet the current agenda of its Asia Clean Energy Forum falls short, which is why we call on the bank to reevaluate its strategies and commit to sustainable energy practices,” said the activists.

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“As climate change impacts intensify, ADB and other global financial institutions must be held accountable for past and ongoing environmental and social harms. Forum networks and allies demand a complete overhaul of key policy initiatives at ACEF 2024. With the upcoming ADB Mid Term Energy Policy Review, the NGO Forum on ADB and its allies call for an end to ADB’s false solutions for a Just Transition and demand a full phase-out of fossil fuels, especially gas, and all forms of coal financing.”- Rayyan Hassan, Executive Director, NGO Forum on ADB

“As 2030 approaches, balancing equity, urgency, and ambition in energy transformation is crucial. We must exclude harmful energy solutions, prioritize equitable renewable energy investment, and ensure transparency, accountability, and community consultation. Climate action isn’t just about hitting Paris Agreement targets—it’s about transforming our development pathway to thrive amid climate change. This journey demands that climate and development progress be mutually reinforcing, with robust community ownership at its core.” – Chuck Baclagon, Finance Campaigner, 350.org Asia

“Addressing the climate crisis requires reimagining energy production and distribution to prioritize people and the environment. We need a rapid and fair shift to a clean energy economy that empowers communities and curbs profit-driven decisions that harm the planet. The Asian Development Bank’s commitment to sustainable development and renewable energy is crucial for reshaping Asia and the Pacific’s energy landscape and driving us towards a fossil-free future.” – Fread De Mesa, Coordinator, 350 Pilipinas

“We are urging ADB to stop supporting the institutionalization in regional and national climate policies and financing of the same dirty industries including waste-to-energy incineration which communities around the world have averted from entering and operating because of their environmental and social consequences. At the same light, we reject the use of new technologies such as carbon capture utilization storage and failed mechanisms such as carbon credits which merely delay and derail real climate action..We urge ADB to funnel much needed resources to proven and empowering community solutions to ensure that scarce resources work for people and the environment and not climate perpetrators” – Mayang Azurin, Deputy Director for Campaigns, GAIA Asia Pacific

“ADB must urgently strengthen its community consultation and consent mechanisms in regulating its growing clean energy transition portfolio. With an anticipated 500% increase in global renewable energy and energy transition mineral production by 2050, communities facing these projects bear immense risks of resource grabbing, displacement, and violence if no sufficient guardrails are implemented.

The right to free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) of Indigenous peoples must especially be guaranteed, as an estimated 42% of global spatial conflicts with Indigenous territories involve renewable energy, and 60%of global mineral deposits are situated within Indigenous territories.”- Leon Dulce, Campaigns Support and Linkages Coordinator, Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC)

“We from the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) believe that it is completely unacceptable that the organizers of the ACEF 2024 led by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) continue to promote financing mechanisms that not only distract us from our goal of transitioning to fully renewable energy but also add to the country’s already mounting debt burden. Schemes like the Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM) can leverage blended finance, including public funds, to allow coal investments to “re-purpose” operations, shifting from one fossil fuel to another. This will, in effect, delay, rather than accelerate the shift to RE systems and lead us away from the pathway to keeping global temperature changes within the goal of 1.5 C.” – Rovik Obanil, Secretary General, Freedom From Debt Coalition

Manila, 3 June 2024 – The Asia Clean Energy Forum (ACEF) 2024 hosted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is underway amid escalating climate challenges and economic pressures across low- and middle-income countries in the region. This year’s forum, however, is drawing significant criticism from NGO Forum on ADB, Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM), Asian Peoples Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD), Center for Energy, Ecology and Development (CEED), Coalition for Human Rights in Development (CHRD), EcoWaste Coalition, Freedom from Debt Coalition, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC-KSK), Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development, Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ), Recourse, 350.org, and together with other organizations of the Philippine Working Group, argue that the event is more focused on advancing corporate interests than addressing the urgent need for equitable and sustainable climate solutions.

The Asia Pacific region has faced unprecedented heat waves and severe economic strain in 2024, exacerbated by the lingering effects of the pandemic and ongoing geopolitical conflicts. Communities, respected leaders, and advocates from various sectors have been steadfastly opposing the expansion of fossil gas infrastructure, the damming of rivers, destructive geothermal drilling, and waste incineration. They emphasize the intergenerational harms and losses these projects entail.

Despite the critical need for climate responsibility and affordable renewable energy access, the ACEF 2024 program appears to prioritize the interests of private companies historically responsible for greenhouse gas emissions and environmental damage. Notably, the forum’s opening plenary will feature senior management from Japan’s Marubeni and representatives from Keppel, both known for their support of fossil fuel projects.

ADB’s call for “quick win” solutions seems designed to benefit corporations rather than addressing the realities of planetary boundaries and the needs of marginalized communities. The absence of discussions on environmental and social governance further highlights the neglect of human and environmental rights in ADB’s energy investments, particularly in authoritarian and restrictive regimes.

ACEF 2024’s promotion of carbon removal technologies such as Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) and emerging fuel mixes like green hydrogen has raised alarms. These technologies, often touted as solutions, have failed to deliver substantial reductions in carbon emissions and pose significant risks to local communities and ecosystems.

The forum also spotlights large hydropower projects and waste-to-energy incineration, both of which have been criticized for their environmental impact and unsustainable nature. Civil society groups argue that these approaches divert attention from genuinely sustainable solutions like decentralized, non-fossil fuel energy.

Concerns extend to ADB’s policy-based loans and sessions promoting reliance on liquefied natural gas (LNG), ammonia, hydrogen, and CCUS. These sessions, in partnership with Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and the Korea Energy Agency, are seen as further entrenching dirty energy futures in Asia.

For the first time, ACEF 2024 will spotlight the critical minerals sector. Rather than addressing the human and environmental rights violations associated with mining, the forum paints an overly positive picture of countries like the Philippines, Indonesia, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan as key players in global value chains. Civil society groups warn against expanding mining operations that threaten local communities’ survival.

For nearly two decades, ACEF has facilitated a contentious consensus-building among private sector entities in the regional energy landscape. The promises of clean and affordable energy often mask the challenges of achieving a robust, just, equitable, and rights-based energy transition. Civil society groups urge ADB and other financial institutions to shift focus towards genuinely sustainable renewable energy solutions, rather than profit-driven technofixes.

As the impacts of climate change intensify, it is imperative that ADB and other global financial institutions are held accountable for historical and ongoing environmental and social harms. Forum network and allies call for an overhaul of the key policy initiatives discussed at ACEF 2024. With the upcoming Mid Term Energy Policy Review of the ADB, the CSOs call for an end to ADBs false solutions towards Just Transition and demand a full phase out from fossil fuels especially gas, and all forms of financing for coal.

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Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM)

We maintain that the ADB’s “climate-smart mining” ignores the negative impacts in mining-affected communities and that supply chains are not properly assessed. For instance, while the Green Climate Fund is investing heavily in e-mobility, sources of EV batteries are causing widespread destruction. On a more practical level, there is an urgent need to develop and implement a robust and expanded cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of mining projects. These should incorporate the social and environmental costs as well as the impact to health and human rights brought about by the extractives industry. Unless these are determined and the impacts to the communities are considered more than the interests of profiteering corporations, there will only be more false solutions to the climate crisis. We ask the public to join us in rejecting ADB’s techno fixes and their attempts to greenwash destructive mining operations. – Jaybee Garganera, National Coordinator, Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM)

We call on ACEF delegates to push for the implementation of policies for rapid, equitable, and just transition to 100% renewable sources of power by 2050 and do away with false solutions and technologies. Fossil fuel corporations and other ACEF participants are still putting false solutions on the table, such as hydrogen, carbon capture utilization and storage, ammonia, and promoting gas as a transition fuel. These are dirty sources of energy that only serve to entrench fossil fuels and continue to profit from them, ultimately delaying the clean energy transition. – Lidy Nacpil, Coordinator, Asian Peoples Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD)

It is deeply disturbing that the organizers of the ACEF 2024 led by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) continue to promote energy sector investments that will not only delay our transition to renewable energy systems, but also mire our countries even deeper into debt. At this point, the idea of leveraging public funds to support continued investment in projects that only sidetrack us from our goal of a full transition away from fossil fuels is completely unacceptable. In a country such as the Philippines, which is at the frontlines of climate change impacts, while also suffering from record levels of debt, to have these concerns completely ignored by a gathering that is held here every year, is nothing less than a slap in the face. – Rovik Obanil, Secretary General, Freedom from Debt Coalition

The clean energy transition must not be justice-blind to the impacts of dirty technologies to people and the environment. We call on the ADB, international financial institutions, government agencies, and all energy investors to stop funding waste-to-energy incineration, refuse-derived fuel, carbon capture utilization and storage, coal co-firing, and other false solutions to waste and climate change. The fact that affected communities, informal sector workers, public transport workers, and civil society organizations are not identified as target participants in the ACEF is very telling of where investment priorities lie. A true clean and just energy transition must be inclusive, and recognize the solutions led by people and communities that are already producing positive impacts. – Miriam Azurin, Asia Pacific Deputy Director, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) Asia Pacific

The current corporate-led approach to clean energy may exacerbate inequalities, as Indigenous communities often suffer the most from environmental damage, such as the exploitation of ancestral land, natural resources and water and lack of access to clean energy solutions.It is crucial to ensure fair access to clean energy for a smooth transition. Decision- making process should involve Indigenous peoples’ more. Empowering IPs can result in more inclusive and sustainable energy solutions. A comprehensive approach that combines technology, social and policy measures is crucial. There is a need for a comprehensive strategy that tackles the root causes of climate change and promotes sustainable development. – Indira Shreesh, Founding member and Chairperson, Indigenous Women Legal Awareness Group (INWOLAG)

Clean energy could very well leave a huge negative environmental and social footprint. Renewable energy projects must always have a sustainability dimension, so as to avoid further harms to the environment and communities. Crucially, where these projects can be found in ancestral lands, the right to self-determination of indigenous peoples must be upheld and not be sacrificed to the transition. We are sounding off the exponential demand for energy transition minerals, half of which reserves are projected to be mined in ancestral lands. It will be the supreme irony that the energy transition shall also result in unabated mining, which often has irreversible deleterious effects on people and nature. –Maya Quirino, Advocacy Coordinator, Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC-KSK)

As the impacts of climate change intensify, it is imperative that ADB and other global financial institutions are held accountable for historical and ongoing environmental and social harms. Forum network and allies call for an overhaul of the key policy initiatives discussed at ACEF 2024. With the upcoming Mid Term Energy Policy Review of the ADB, the NGO Forum on ADB and its allies call for an end to ADBs false solutions towards Just Transition and demand a full phase out from fossil fuels especially gas and all forms of financing for coal. – Rayyan Hassan, Executive Director, NGO Forum on ADB

We don’t have any more time for false solutions that tie us to fossil fuels. We call on the ADB to withdraw financing of all fossil fuel projects, and instead invest in a just–not only clean–transition to renewable energy. We need enough resources to ensure that people and the environment can recover, and will be put front and center as we shift to renewables. This means that polluter countries also need to pay climate reparations to countries bearing the brunt of the climate crisis, like us. ADB is accountable for this, too, for funding coal projects in the Philippines. We need concrete solutions now, starting with the payment of this huge historical debt. – Erwin Puhawan, Luzon Coordinator, Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ)

There is no room for false solutions such as carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) and co-firing of power stations which further extends the use of fossil fuels if we are to keep global temperature rise within the 1.5C trajectory. Extreme caution must be exercised by MDBs in supporting green hydrogen as its production can lead to displacement of communities from their lands and livelihoods, and can compete with freshwater needs.The energy transition should be designed with and aim to benefit the communities who had done least to cause climate change, including women and indigenous peoples. – Alison Doig, Senior Advisor, Recourse

Heading into 2030, balancing equity, urgency, and ambition in our energy transformation is essential. It’s time to ditch harmful energy, invest in renewables, and ensure transparency and community involvement. This isn’t just about hitting Paris Agreement targets—it’s about redefining our development pathway for a thriving future. The climate movement must lead the charge, using bold actions to expose the myth that fossil fuels are necessary for progress. Decarbonization is not only possible; it’s the key to justice and sustainability. Let’s redirect resources towards a clean energy economy that empowers communities and prioritizes the planet over profits. The Asian Development Bank’s commitment to renewables is crucial for reshaping Asia’s energy landscape and driving us towards a fossil-free future. – Chuck Baclagon, Finance Campaigner 350.org Asia

a group of people holding a banner with the text that says, "Reject ADB's Dismantling of Safeguards". — CSOs unfurl banner during the session on safeguards *(Photo courtesy of NGO Forum on ADB)*

Tbilisi, Georgia – On Sunday (May 5), civil society groups from different regions collectively raised their objections over the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) regressive safeguards policy which aims to avoid, protect, and mitigate environmental and social harms from its operations. As soon as the banner was unfurled at the end of the Safeguards Session on May 5, other civil society groups and representatives of affected communities stood with their protest shirts stating “Protect people and planet over profits”.

The Bank prepared the draft Environmental and Social Framework with 10 standards for public consultation in light of the ongoing review and update of ADB’s 2009 Safeguard Policy Statement . GAIA has participated in the process of raising their recommendations and critical analysis on the proposed safeguards policy.

Since the beginning of the consultations last year, GAIA and other civil society movements have objected to the weakening of the safeguards by failing to recognize international environmental and social conventions and the minimum standards for protecting people and the environment. From the beginning of the review process, GAIA has raised that persistent organic pollutants known to be a byproduct of incinerators and hazardous waste are already being governed for bans and phaseouts but ADB has omitted these sparsely mentioned conventions from the 2009 Safeguards Policy in the draft.

“The Basel, Rotterdam, Stockholm, and Minamata Conventions need to be in the draft policy to guide both the Bank and borrowers on how to ensure that no harm will be done from its project. ADB must show that it is a responsible international development actor upholding the highest standards of environmental and social protection and not an institution playing above international law”, Mayang Azurin, GAIA Asia Pacific Deputy Director said.

Groups also dissented over the lack of guidance for meaningful consultations and guidance on addressing reprisals given that ADB’s high-risk projects are often invested in countries with limited safe spaces for civic participation.

GAIA also objected to the use of pollution and carbon offsets in the draft as a license for polluters to continue with its harmful projects while on the other hand, has not given priority and the right of communities to say no to harmful projects.

“A weakened safeguards mean more harm to the community and the environment. Local communities, indigenous peoples, and local civil society organizations have raised evidence of the harms of burn technologies on waste. ADB’s safeguards are unable to avoid these impacts because it has just been paperwork without truly consulting the grievances of impacted communities. The triple planetary crisis of biodiversity loss, pollution, and climate change must push the ADB to avoid delays in global commitments in addressing these issues.”, stated Abdul Ghofar, Pollution and Urban Justice Campaigner from WALHI Indonesia, during a session organized by the ADB’s Accountability Mechanism

Safeguards policy has been a critical tool for communities to hold the ADB accountable for its harmful projects. GAIA has monitored billions of dollars invested by the Bank through loans, technical assistance, and grants on waste-to-energy (WtE) incinerators, refuse-derived fuel (RDF), co-firing coal with wastes, carbon capture storage (CSC) technologies, harmful and exclusionary waste management projects in the Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Maldives, Vietnam, Myanmar, Uzbekistan, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, and China. The application and implementation of safeguards in these projects have been unsatisfactory.

Azurin, who spoke in a panel on community voices on just energy transition, stressed that ADB proposals to use either biomass or plastic waste to co-fire with plants perpetuate the use of coal as fuel while creating new problems. “These technologies create new problems and require government support and subsidies which are better spent for real renewable energy and zero waste solutions,” she said.

We, the undersigned members of the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives – Asia Pacific and its allies, call on the ADB’s Board of Directors to reject the diluted, regressive, and dangerous draft ADB Environmental and Social Framework (“draft ESF”), which is currently being presented without meaningful consultations with affected communities and civil society organizations.

What has been set in 2009 as a forward-looking safeguard policy for people and the planet is turning into an unbreakable shield of protection for industry polluters in a time of deep and intersecting crises of biodiversity, climate, pollution, and social inequalities.

While science, community experiences, and global policy agenda point to bans, phase-outs, and restrictions on the manufacturing, trade, transport, and use of globally known hazardous substances and materials such as persistent organic pollutants and mercury which are known to have adverse impacts on human health, ecosystem, or have potential for depletion of the ozone layer – ADB’s draft ESF has glaringly dropped key multilateral environmental agreements (MEA) governing these harmful and toxic substances and materials.

Instead of keeping at pace with the recent amendments of these MEAs on the standards and targets to curb the most harmful pollutants to guide the Bank and its borrowers, the draft ESF has omitted previous references in the 2009 Safeguards Policy on the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Waste and their Disposal. Moreover, it also has ignored the Minamata Convention that governs mercury which is a known byproduct of waste-to-energy incinerators.

In the heart of ignoring global consensus on the need for international standards, targets and cross-border cooperation on the management of hazardous wastes is ADB’s direction towards continued support for industries known to be using toxic wastes as inputs or producing hazardous emissions such as waste-to-energy incinerators, co-incineration of waste with coal and cement plants, refuse-derived fuel, fly ash “recycling”, among others.

Not only does the draft ESF enable the Bank and its borrowers to circumvent obligations to these MEAs, but it also encourages the use of poor or non-existent national mechanisms to under-capacitated developing countries in governing hazardous wastes or rely on the World Bank’s equally inadequate environment and health standards (EHS) instead of supporting developing member-states in the region achieve the objectives of international law.

The undermining of MEAs poses risks to significant long-term impacts on communities in developing countries that are already challenged with shrinking civic spaces, democratic backsliding, and being unjustly blamed for causing pollution and destroying ecosystems.

Moreover, the draft ESF allows continued pollution through offsetting mechanisms that have been repeatedly offered as a default option in the draft ESF for borrowers should their projects create “unavoidable” pollution instead of avoiding damage in the first place. The truth is, that MEAs are telling us that hazardous waste must be restricted and ultimately eliminated in the immediate horizon.

Real safeguarding of the Earth’s resources and preventing pollution starts with redesigning production systems and goods, reducing unwanted extraction, and developing safe and just reuse of waste materials. However, it is alarming that the draft ESF has not placed the proper safeguards to ensure that circular economy activities achieve a just and safe future for everyone, especially the most marginalized players in the conservation of material resources.

Despite the critical roles of informal workers in material resource recovery, the draft ESF has not recognized and protected their rights as provided for by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Recommendations 193, 204, and 205 which guide member-states on ensuring a just transition.

If adopted, the current draft ESF risks reversing global efforts in addressing pollution and conserving material resources in a just and safe manner.

We reject the draft ESF until the ADB moves toward upward harmonization with international consensus, including in emerging processes like the Global Plastics Treaty.

We demand a progressive ESF policy with avoidance to harm and human rights at the center that empowers communities to say no to rights-violating, climate and debt-inducing projects, and toxic technologies that keep the region as markets for false solutions.

Read: Comments on the draft ADB Environmental and Social Framework

SIGN-ON FORM

GAIA Asia Pacific calls for stronger safeguards

The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) Asia Pacific, a network of 120 grassroots alliances in the region, said that the recently released Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) draft Environmental and Social Framework (ESF) for public commenting is failing to protect people and the environment in a world where six out of nine planetary boundaries are already breached. This raises the risk of large-scale, abrupt, and potentially irreversible environmental changes that further worsen social inequalities in the region.

Brex Arevalo, GAIA Asia Pacific’s Climate and Anti-Incineration Campaigner commented, “While the draft does express commitment to a circular economy and a just transition, there is a significant lack of operational clarity regarding these principles including clear commitments to multilateral environmental agreements and rights instruments signed by states, leaving us to question whether the Bank is protecting industry polluters instead of people and the environment.”

The ESF is a policy instrument that aims to avoid, minimize, and mitigate environmental and social harm from ADB’s development projects. It lays down the environmental and social safeguards requirements and principles for the public and private sector borrowers. It is a tool to enhance development outcomes and improve accountability. The draft ESF is undergoing a policy review process 14 years after its implementation.

Arevalo stresses that a safe and just circular economy should primarily set a principle upon lesser use of material resources in the economy, eliminating toxic and hazardous chemicals, ecosystem regeneration, and stamping out false solutions to circularity.

Arevalo also points out another significant omission in the draft, stating, “Yet another glaring oversight is the absence of safeguards concerning air pollution and the repeated default to offsetting or compensating for their pollution by doing other projects as an option for polluters.”

These proposals are particularly troubling, considering that the energy sector is one of ADB’s biggest portfolios that includes expensive and dirty technofixes such as waste-to-energy (WtE) incineration, refuse-derived fuel (RDF), cement kilns, and carbon capture utilization storage projects across Asia; undermining various environmental and human rights objectives adopted and signed by governments since 2009. These endeavors additionally result in higher emissions than coal-fired power plants, obstructing progress in the decarbonization of the energy sector, and exacerbating the climate crisis.

GAIA Asia Pacific also points out that the draft ESF does not address the whole range of toxic and hazardous chemicals of global concern that are found in the production and deployment of false solutions on waste. These include persistent organic pollutants (POPs), lead, cadmium, and mercury that are already being eliminated and regulated in various multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs).

Moreover, the draft ESF does not provide protection for the rights of informal workers such as wastepickers and recyclers even as it expresses commitment to just transition. These sectors, according to GAIA Asia Pacific, contribute largely to the recovery of materials crucial for an inclusive circular economy.

GAIA Asia Pacific’s statement was submitted in time for the ADB’s October 27 Board meeting where its members will discuss the working paper of the ESF draft. This forms part of Phase 3 of the consultation process that will proceed until March 2024.

Manila, Philippines – June 16, 2023 – In an online forum with the National Press Club of the Philippines, the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives – Asia Pacific stated that the amount of climate finance and complex facilities are on the rise but may end up fuelling the poly-crises shaping the majority of poor people in the region.

GAIA Asia Pacific said that the region is still suffering from a continuing pandemic, an energy and food crisis stemming from a war in Europe, and heavy debt burdens in which environmental risks are at the top of the crises. “Talks on clean energy and just transition are bereft of this regional context. We are merely being offered more loans for expensive and dirty techno-fixes in developing countries”, Miriam Azurin, Deputy Director of GAIA Asia Pacific said.

The group said that the continued financial and policy support of international financial institutions (IFIs) for Waste-to-Energy (WtE) incinerators will deepen the multiple crises as these projects pose complex environmental and social risks, Since 2009, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) alone has invested more than US $700 million of public money on WtE incinerators and has since convinced the public that it is a source of clean energy and cost-efficient waste disposal system.

“A plan for a just transition should include payments for compensation for the communities as a result of investing in this harmful technology. We are merely being offered an energy plan without provisions on how to recognize, protect and fullfil human rights including the right to a clean and healthy environment”, Azurin said.

Yobel Novian Putra, GAIA Asia Pacific’s Climate and Clean Energy Campaigner, said that numerous longitudinal studies have shown that WtE is an environmentally hazardous method for both energy generation and waste disposal. “Incinerators with or without energy recovery release harmful pollutants such as dioxins, heavy metals, microplastics, greenhouse gases, and other toxic residues.

“Many of these pollutants are poorly regulated or not regulated at all, posing risks to environmental protection and public health. Additionally, incineration is a carbon-intensive and energy-intensive process that heavily depends on plastic waste which is a fossil fuel-derived material, studies show incinerators are four times more carbon-intensive than coal,” he added.

GAIA Asia Pacific also warns the public of increased interest in policy lending by ADB saying this could pose permanent harm when it proposes and lends for false solutions like WtE incinerators. “ADB wants to provide security for the private sector when they participate in energy projects. A critical component is by creating laws that would ensure the sustainability of the operation of WtE plants which include a subsidy for capital outlay and operational costs thereby creating the policy and investment infrastructure for permanent damage from this technology”, Putra said.

In the Philippines, the ADB was instrumental in providing policy advice in favor of WtE which undermines the national ban on incinerators as stated in the Clean Air Act. It also provided support for marketing and assisting local government units to accept and review bids through various technical assistance projects. “Today, there are already four proposed WtE plants in the pipelines set to be constructed in protected environmental areas and near marginalized communities”. Teody Navea, Ecowaste Coalition Cebu said. He added there were no meaningful consultations to integrate communities and local experts’ insights on risks associated with the projects and examine practical alternatives.

Sonia Mendoza, Chairperson of the Ecowaste Coalition said the WtE facilities will be a financial burden to Filipinos and will only turn the garbage problem into a more persistent environmental problem. A WtE bill is being proposed in the Senate and Congress despite the European Union’s shift away from technology.

The European Union (EU), despite its advanced technology and monitoring systems, has excluded burning waste as part of the transition towards a circular economy, highlighting that it does significant harm to its environmental objectives of waste prevention and recycling.

Afrah Ismali, Zero Waste Maldives co-founder said that a lot of communities and non-profit organizations are working on zero waste systems. He appealed to IFIs to withdraw their financing for the WTE plant. “We do not need more debts and dirty technologies”, he added.

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Media Contacts:

Sonia Astudillo, GAIA Asia Pacific Senior Communications Officer | sonia@no-burn.org | +63 917 596 9286

Mayang Azurin, GAIA Asia Pacific Deputy Director | miriam@no-burn.org | +63 945 319 0186

Yobel Novian Putra, GAIA Asia Pacific Climate and Clean Energy Officer | yobel@no-burn.org | +62 821 2818 4440

Communities hold a Day of Action Against Incineration as the Asia Clean Energy Forum goes underway

Manila, Philippines – June 10, 2023 – The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) in Asia Pacific will hold a Day of Action Against Incineration during the Asian Clean Energy Forum (ACEF) happening from June 13 to 16, 2023 at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Headquarters in Manila. Seeing this year’s ACEF as another venue for promoting false solutions such as waste-to-energy (WtE) incineration, the event aims to bring attention to the urgent need to stop WtE incinerators and raise awareness on its impact on people’s health, livelihood, and the environment.

GAIA Asia Pacific Climate and Clean Energy Campaigner, Yobel Novian Putra, stresses, “Incineration is a dirty and dangerous way both to generate energy and dispose of waste. Incinerators emit harmful pollutants such as dioxins, heavy metals, microplastics, greenhouse gases, and other toxic residues. Many of these pollutants are under-regulated or not regulated at all, placing the protection of the environment and public health at risk. It is also a highly carbon-intensive and energy-intensive process that heavily relies on fossil fuels to function.”

Recognizing the detrimental effects of WtE incineration, the European Union (EU), despite its advanced technology and monitoring systems has excluded burning waste as part of the transition towards a circular economy, highlighting that it does significant harm to its environmental objectives of waste prevention and recycling.

However, in the Asia Pacific region, international financing institutions (IFIs) such as the ADB continue to put forward WtE incineration as a single solution to waste and energy issues. Mayang Azurin, GAIA Asia Pacific’s Deputy Director states, “IFIs including the ADB should stop investing in technologies that are not only harmful to the environment but are also against people’s fundamental rights to health and livelihood. Support for waste incineration is against the goal of a just energy transition that the bank proudly claims it champions.”

She adds,” WtE incinerators not only create debt traps for cities as maintenance and other operational costs are too costly to sustain but WtE incinerators also displace waste pickers and workers from the waste supply chain both physically and economically. Waste-burning facilities are often built at landfills and in so doing, uproot waste pickers from their communities and deprive them of their source of livelihood. This will happen for at least two decades once a plant is operational and will suck public funds away from improving their livelihood.”

In the Philippines, ADB was instrumental in providing policy advice in favor of WtE, marketing and assisting local government units to accept and review bids despite a standing ban on incinerators through various technical assistance projects. Cebu City was one of the city recipients of technical assistance from ADB which results in an increasing number of WtE incinerator proposals in the City endangering protected areas and communities.

“The ADB is the largest development investor on WtE incinerators and we strongly recommend the cessation of their support. They are burning the planet, our money, and our lives.” Azurin asserts.

This week, it’s time for action and to stand against waste incinerators, GAIA Asia Pacific and allies are calling out governments and businesses, the ADB in particular, to phase out incineration and invest in clean energy solutions. Incineration is a false solution to the waste problem. It is dirty, dangerous, and too expensive for developing countries to afford. We need to move forward to a Zero Waste future.

GAIA is calling on to immediately:

Have a moratorium and retirement of all existing incinerators;
Cancel all planned incinerator projects; and
Stop all support for new incinerators.

The Day of Action Against Incineration will feature a variety of events and here are some ways you can participate in the Day of Action Against Incineration:

Write to your elected officials and tell them to stop funding incinerators.
Contact financial institutions and tell them to stop investing in incinerators.
Spread the word about the dangers of incinerators on social media and in your community by joining us using these hashtags: using the hashtags #FalseSolutionsExposed, #Burnt, and #DayofActionAgainstIncineration

Together, we can create a better future without incinerators.

For photos and videos of the Day of Action Media Briefing at the Saturday News Forum, click here.

Media Contacts:

Sonia Astudillo, GAIA Asia Pacific Senior Communications Officer | sonia@no-burn.org | +63 917 596 9286

Mayang Azurin, GAIA Asia Pacific Deputy Director | miriam@no-burn.org | +63 945 319 0186

Yobel Novian Putra, GAIA Asia Pacific Climate and Clean Energy Officer | yobel@no-burn.org | +62 821 2818 4440

No More Excuses, ADB! Prioritize Sustainable Solutions and Stop Funding Harmful Waste-to-Energy (WtE) Incinerators

02 May 2023 – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is increasingly promoting waste-to-energy (WtE) projects in its energy and urban development portfolios as a way to achieve low-carbon economies and sustainable cities. However, according to GAIA Asia Pacific, this approach will have negative consequences for the environment and informal workers in the waste sector in the region. They are likely to be the hardest hit by the Bank’s preference for WtE incinerators as a waste and climate solution.

After months of civil society campaigning on the environmental and social risks of WtE, ADB has approved its Energy Policy aimed at supporting low-carbon transition in the region still identifying WtE as a priority investment but emphasizing that priority goes to reducing waste generation, then exploiting the options for reusing and recycling materials, then using waste to recover energy or usable materials and securing livelihoods . However, ADB approved a 20 million USD loan for a WtE project in Binh Duong Province, Vietnam without clearly following the order of priority. This is very disappointing because ADB’s previous 100 million loan WtE project in Can Tho (Vietnam) has failed to comply with its safeguards policy, particularly on dioxins monitoring — a highly toxic substance acknowledged by the Stockholm Convention and the World Health Organization (WHO). WtE incinerators also figure as a replacement fuel in ADB’s Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM) for repurposing of early-retired coal-fired power plants.

WtE incinerators displace waste pickers that provide important roles in the segregation, collection, transport, storage, and recycling of waste. WtE plants are designed to operate and burn resources for at least 20 years. They are highly dependent on dry, mostly recyclables, especially plastic — which is derived from fossil fuels. They rely on income from selling recyclables and as a result, divert waste from landfills causing environmental pollution and methane emissions. “In some cases, the establishment of WtE incinerators can also lead to the displacement of waste pickers from their homes and communities, exacerbating their already precarious economic situation,” said Yobel Novian Putra, GAIA Asia Pacific’s Climate and Clean Energy Campaigner.

The ADB must prioritize sustainable waste management solutions such as composting, recycling, and waste reduction programs. These solutions not only reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills or incinerators, but they also create local job opportunities and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, prioritizing sustainable solutions empowers communities to manage their waste and supports the informal waste sector, creating a more equitable and just transition.

“Financing for WtE incinerators works against waste pickers. ADB must recognize the rights of waste pickers including their historical, social, and economic contributions they provide to society. To date, ADB’s WtE incinerator and waste management projects have not considered the impacts of their interventions on waste pickers’ livelihoods,” said Kabir Arora, National Coordinator of the Alliance of Indian Waste Pickers. “Instead, they must support communities’ efforts towards recognition of waste pickers and a full range of programs to ensure that interventions are fair for waste pickers.

AIW stressed that ADB’s just transition program must emphasize supporting waste pickers and other workers who are most vulnerable to occupation disruption from waste management investments and climate change. It must build and improve upon systems that waste pickers have already established while guaranteeing, better and decent work, social protection, more training opportunities, appropriate technology transfer, support for infrastructure and organizing of workers, and greater job security for workers at all stages of the waste sector. Arora further added that waste pickers groups must be part of the design, monitoring, and evaluation of projects.

Putra stressed, “WtE incinerators are not a solution to the pressing issues of waste and energy. They release nearly 1.1 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) into the atmosphere for every tonne of waste burnt. In many studies, an incinerator emits more greenhouse gas than a coal-fired power plant.”

These emissions also pose serious health risks to nearby communities, emitting harmful pollutants such as dioxins, furans, and heavy metals, which can cause respiratory problems, cancer, and developmental disorders. Moreover, the toxic ash and other waste products generated by such facilities pose a significant challenge to safe disposal.

Investing in WtE incinerators comes at a significant financial cost, increasing waste management expenses, and posing a significant financial risk to cities and municipalities. Taxpayers bear the burden of these costs through false subsidies taken from national and local government budgets to sustain the operation of incinerators for 20-25 years.

Further, Deputy Director of GAIA Asia Pacific Mayang Azurin argued for the urgent need to redirect funding towards sustainable solutions. “Continued financing of WtE incinerators, carbon storage, and other false solutions is not the path to decarbonization and Asia’s recovery and energy transition,” she said. “There is no time to waste. It is urgent that we prioritize the health of our planet and communities over corporate interests.”

GAIA AP urges ADB to reaffirm its commitment to sustainable development and shift funding towards proven zero waste solutions. GAIA calls ADB to cease funding harmful waste-to-energy incinerators and prioritize sustainable waste management solutions that empower communities and protect the health of the environment and communities.

SOURCES:

Arora, K. (2022 October 4). Global Plastics-Treaty: Waste Pickers Ready to Talk. WIEGO

Coca, N. (2022 October 24). Why informal workers are opposing waste-to-energy technology in South-East Asia. Equal Times. Last accessed 2023 April 24.

GAIA (ND) The Hidden Climate Polluter: Plastic Incineration. GAIA. Last accessed 2023 April 24

GAIA (2012 February). Incinerators: Myths and Facts About Waste-to-Energy Incinerators [Fact Sheet]

GAIA (2018 Nov). ADB & Waste Incineration: Bankrolling Pollution, Blocking Solutions.

GAIA (2022). Zero Waste to Zero Emissions.

IJgosse, J. (2019 August). Waste Incineration and Informal Livelihoods: A Technical Guide on Waste-to-Energy Initiatives. WIEGO.

IPEN (2017 April 200) Toxic Ash Poisons Our Food Chain. Last Accessed 2023 April 24.

Muffet, C., Bernhardt, C., Kelso (2019 May 15). The Hidden Cost of Plastic. CIEL

NGO Forum on ADB. (2021 October 18). NGO Forum on ADB’s Critique of the ADB’s 2021 Energy Policy Working Paper. Last accessed 2023 April 24.

Robb. E., (2020 September 2020) No Time To Waste: The Climate Impacts of Incineration and Waste-to-Energy. Zero Waste Europe. Last accessed 2023 April 24

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Zero Waste Asia Newsroom: #ADBIncheon Updates #2

Zero Waste Asia Newsroom: #ADBIncheon Updates #3

NGO Forum on ADB: Civil Society Groups Speak Out at ADB Annual Meeting

The Reality of AID Network: More than a hundred CSOs demand people-centered solutions over intersecting economic, development and climate challenges

Relief Web: CSO Collective Statement for the 56th ADB Annual Meeting

Asian Development Bank

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