Chuck Baclagon is the Asia regional finance campaigner for 350.org.
Our continent is on fire. Not figuratively – literally. From record-breaking heatwaves across Central Asia to parched lands and collapsing harvests in Southeast and South Asia, the climate crisis is not some distant threat. It’s already here, carving deep scars across our communities. And if we’re honest, it’s not a disaster of nature – it’s a disaster of decisions.
That’s why this year’s Asian Development Bank (ADB) Annual General Meeting – taking place in Milan this week – matters. As the region’s second-biggest source of development finance, the ADB holds enormous sway over how Asia and the Pacific will transition away from fossil fuels – or whether they will at all.
To its credit, the ADB has formally excluded direct investments in coal – a long-overdue response to years of sustained pressure from communities and advocates. But in practice, this shift amounts to a half-measure that leaves the door open to continued fossil fuel dependency.
While the ADB distances itself from coal, it quietly endorses fossil gas as a transitional fuel, with its current energy policy allowing for gas financing under certain conditions. From 2016 to 2020, over 96% of the bank’s fossil fuel financing – amounting to $4.7 billion – went to gas projects. Independent monitoring services like Energy Policy Tracker confirm ongoing support for oil and gas.
Swapping coal for gas
This shift isn’t abstract – it’s unfolding in real places, with real consequences. In the Philippines, the ADB’s Energy Transition Mechanism may be retiring coal plants, but it has done nothing to stop the surge of LNG terminals and gas-fired power stations threatening the fragile Verde Island Passage. Entire coastal communities now face displacement and destruction of their livelihoods.
In Bangladesh, cancelled coal projects are simply being replaced by gas infrastructure on Maheshkhali Island, uprooting islanders and deepening the country’s debt burden. In Indonesia, the bank boasts of early coal retirement, while backing fossil gas expansion. Projects like the Tangguh LNG development in Papua violate Indigenous lands and endanger ecosystems.
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This is not a transition. Rather, cloaking fossil gas in deceptive language like “transition” or “bridge” fuel is clever word-play to justify continued harm. You don’t build a bridge to a burning house. Fossil gas is mostly methane – a greenhouse gas that traps more than 80 times the heat of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. Investing in gas today locks countries into climate chaos tomorrow.
The science is unequivocal. To keep global warming below 1.5°C, global carbon emissions must fall by 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. That means coal, oil and gas must stay in the ground: with no exceptions, no new excuses. But a real energy transition is not just about meeting Paris Agreement targets. It’s about changing development pathways so that our communities can thrive, not merely endure, in a world shaped by climate change.
Invest in decentralised renewables
The ADB has a critical role to play. Its investments can either entrench fossil fuel dependence – or help communities build truly just and low-carbon energy systems. To do that, the ADB must stop backing ‘false’ solutions – not just fossil gas, but also mega-dams, nuclear power, and waste-to-energy incinerators that do more harm than good, especially to communities exposed to their risks. It should instead invest in decentralised, renewable, and community-led energy: solar microgrids, wind cooperatives, battery storage, and local infrastructure that puts power into the hands of the people.
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For this, transparency is key. The ADB must adopt open, accountable investment frameworks that disclose where its money is going, who it’s benefiting, and what social and ecological costs come with it. People have the right to know how their futures are being financed, and whether those futures are being sacrificed for someone else’s return on investment.
It’s also time to stop asking frontline communities to take on more debt for a crisis they didn’t cause. When financing adaptation, energy access, and loss and damage in the most climate-vulnerable places, the ADB must shift from loans to grants. Anything less is a continuation of climate injustice.
Community ownership is key
We need to rethink how the energy transition in Asia is being shaped and led. Communities are not simply “stakeholders” but key decision-makers with the insight and agency to guide solutions that work for them. Strong community ownership isn’t a bonus feature of a successful transition; it’s the foundation.
This May, the ADB has a choice: continue propping up fossil fuels under the guise of a ‘transition’ – or start investing in the real work of transformation. The clock may be running down, but we still have choices that can reshape the arc of what comes next.
The future is not something that just happens to us: it’s something we build, piece by piece, decision by decision. At this crossroads, the ADB has a chance to listen – to the science, to the communities, to the moment – and choose a path that leads not just away from crisis, but toward possibility.
