ADB urged to back community renewables
Climate advocates and affected communities gathered outside the 21st Asia Clean Energy Forum (ACEF 2026) in Mandaluyong City on Wednesday to call on the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to accelerate a just and people-centered energy transition across Asia.
Led by NGO Forum on ADB, the groups noted the structural challenges facing the region’s energy systems, including fossil fuel dependence, rising debt, extractive industries, and unequal access to clean energy.
“This ACEF, it’s time to name the monster,” said Elle Bartolome of the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice. “For more than sixty years, the ADB has trapped communities in a dirty legacy of destructive business across Asia.”
The groups urged ADB to strengthen its energy transition agenda by ending direct and indirect support for fossil fuels, prioritizing renewable energy projects led by communities and the public sector, improving transparency in energy financing, and ensuring stronger safeguards for affected communities and indigenous peoples.
“The ADB continues to undermine a just energy transition in Asia by keeping pathways open for continued oil and gas expansion, preserving coal loopholes, and promoting false energy solutions,” said Lidy Nacpil of the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD). “Real energy security requires accelerating a rapid, equitable, and people-centered transition powered by renewable energy.”
The coalition also called on the Bank to exercise caution in financing critical minerals projects, nuclear energy, and other emerging technologies unless robust environmental, social, and human rights safeguards are in place.
“ADB is treading on a slippery slope if and when it proceeds in providing funds for more mining of nickel, copper, and other transition minerals in the region,” warned Jaybee Garganera of Alyansa Tigil Mina.
Among the recommendations presented were ending fossil fuel financing, strengthening transparency and accountability in private-sector partnerships, ensuring meaningful community participation, and directing greater investment toward affordable, community-led renewable energy systems.
The groups said these measures would help ADB align its development mandate with the region’s growing demand for energy security, climate resilience, and inclusive economic growth.
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