The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
This report shows how efficient carbon pricing instruments can enable countries in Asia and the Pacific region to accelerate their transition to affordable, secure low-carbon energy systems and help reach their ambitious climate targets. It outlines how mechanisms such as carbon taxes, emissions trading, and carbon crediting can be woven …
This book, explores the crucial role of subnational levels of government in accelerating progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals in Asia and the Pacific. Subnational governments implement public policies, facilitate partnerships among stakeholders, and act as interlocutors between communities and the state. Many national SDG targets will not be achievable …
This report shows how innovative finance solutions can bolster climate resilience in the fast-urbanizing Asia and the Pacific by helping microfinance institutions (MFIs) funnel emergency support to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Explaining why MFIs struggle to support vulnerable SMEs when climate or geophysical shocks hit, it explores how disaster …
Climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts are urgently needed across Southeast Asia. The financial sector can play a critical role in supporting countries in their journey toward greater resilience and sustainability, but it must adapt to do so effectively. This report shows that while sustainable finance has experienced widespread expansion, …
This roadmap aims to facilitate progress towards the 2030 targets, and was adopted in September 2022 at the Seventy-fifth Session of the WHO Regional Committee. It includes three strategic directions, applicable to all Member States, as well as an interactive tool designed to help countries accelerate context-specific actions. It aims …
Over the course of 2022, one hundred leaders of grassroots networks in 22 countries*—men, women, and youth among Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and Afro-descendant Peoples—were interviewed about their hopes, dreams, and fears for the future. The interviews, commissioned by the Rights and Resources Initiative and conducted anonymously, used a “blue-skies …
This scoping report synthesizes the authors’ initial work to understand the differentiated impacts of air pollution on workers in East and Southeast Asian countries and to identify evidence-based recommendations from regional case studies to help improve air quality and foster healthy employment in the context of just transitions towards a …
Pathways to Adaptation and Resilience in East and North-East Asia takes forward the analysis of the Asia Pacific Disaster Report 2021 and demonstrates how the subregion is being affected by various risk parameters, and where new hotspots of exposure and vulnerability to climate-induced, cascading multi-hazard scenarios are being created. The …
After the strong rebound of 6.5 percent posted in 2021, growth in Asia and Pacific is expected to moderate to 4.0 percent in 2022 amid an uncertain global environment and rise to 4.3 percent in 2023. Inflation has risen above most central bank targets, but is expected to peak in …
This report provides an overview of levels and trends in population ageing and the situation of older persons in Asia and the Pacific. It also provides an overview of policies and good practices on population ageing from across the region. The report is being published following the Asia-Pacific Intergovernmental Meeting …
The world is facing a series of multiple and interlinked crises; a perfect storm that is testing the limits of current development paradigms. As countries and cities across Asia and the Pacific struggle to recover from the socioeconomic crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis continues to ravage …
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the cracks in the current health sector. From 2019 to 2020, investment in the health-care sector dropped by 45 per cent and continued to decline in 2021 to 34 per cent in the first three quarters of 2022. Globally, greenfield investment in the health …
Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7) targets universal access to energy, an increased share of renewable energy in the global energy mix, and doubling the rate of energy efficiency improvement. While the Asia-Pacific region has made considerable progress in meeting SDG 7 targets, much more work needs to be done …
People in Asia and the Pacific were displaced more than 225 million times due to disasters triggered by natural hazards from 2010 to 2021, accounting for more than three-quarters of the global number, according to a report released by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre …
Pathways to Adaptation and Resilience in the South-east Asia takes forward analysis of the Asia Pacific Disaster Report 2021 and demonstrates how the subregion is being affected by various climatological risk parameters, and where new hotspots of exposure and vulnerability to climate-induced, cascading multi-hazard scenarios are being created. The report …
Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of death globally as well as in the South-East Asia Region. The Global Action Plan (GAP) for the prevention and control of NCDs 2013–2020, including a comprehensive monitoring framework with 25 indicators and 9 voluntary global targets, was endorsed by the Sixty-sixth World …
Decent work entails equality of opportunity and treatment at work, dignity and safety in the workplace, a fair income and the freedom for workers to organize and participate in decisions related to their work and lives. It provides workers with access to social protection and health care, thereby ensuring that …
This book examines clean energy financing and approaches in hydropower and demand-side energy efficiency projects, along with policies and strategies based on experiences in South Asia. It is the second of the two volumes of books on Financing Clean Energy in Developing Asia produced by ADB. The two volumes review …
The Southeast Asia region will see rapid economic growth in the coming decades and energy use is set to grow significantly. Today, the region stands at a crossroads. On the one hand, it can pursue a path of continued reliance on fossil fuels, most of which come from non-indigenous sources, …
In this report, ADB has lowered its forecasts for economic growth in developing Asia and the Pacific to 4.3% in 2022 and 4.9% in 2023, amid mounting challenges. Its theme chapter looks at how digital entrepreneurship spurs growth and innovation. The region’s economy is expected to grow 4.3% this year, …
