A safe pair of hands?

The report argues that MDBs fail to deliver genuine climate finance due to flawed accounting methodologies that allow fossil fuel-related projects, such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) and waste-to-energy incineration, to be counted as climate action. It highlights a systemic bias toward mitigation over adaptation and a preference for loans over grants, which exacerbates debt in the Global South. Specific analysis of the AIIB and ADB reveals transparency gaps, the inclusion of high-emitting projects in climate portfolios, and a failure to integrate gender equality and human rights into climate finance principles.

• MDB climate finance accounting is flawed, allowing high-emitting projects like fossil gas, waste-to-energy incineration, and airport expansions to be classified as climate finance.
• Despite the needs of vulnerable regions, Europe was the largest recipient of MDB climate finance in 2023, receiving 44% of the total, while Asia and the Pacific received 21% and Sub-Saharan Africa received 14%.
• The majority of MDB climate finance is delivered as loans rather than grants, with 70% of finance in 2023 being loans and only 4% being grants, contributing to the debt crisis in recipient countries.
• MDB climate finance principles are 'gender blind,' failing to mention gender or women in their mitigation and adaptation frameworks, which risks exacerbating gender inequalities.
• The AIIB's climate finance reporting is inconsistent; while the bank claimed 60% of approvals were climate finance in 2023, joint MDB reporting calculates this figure at 29% because the AIIB excludes certain operations from its own tally.
• The ADB has a history of financing coal and continues to hold investments in such projects, such as the Jamshoro coal power plant in Pakistan, while promoting 'Energy Transition Mechanisms' that critics argue prolong coal use.
• The 'granularity principle' allows MDBs to count small fractions of a project as climate finance even if the overall project increases emissions, exemplified by a greenfield gas power plant in Bangladesh.
• MDBs are increasingly using a 'private-sector first' approach, which prioritizes profitable, export-oriented projects over community-based renewable schemes and lacks transparency regarding financial intermediaries.
• Climate finance is often used to support 'false solutions' such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) and hydrogen produced from fossil gas, which are not yet proven at scale.

APA

Wright, P. K. (n.d.). A safe pair of hands? Trend Asia. https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/A-safe-pair-of-hands_.pdf

Chicago

Wright, Petra Kjell. A safe pair of hands? Trend Asia, n.d. https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/A-safe-pair-of-hands_.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Wright |first1=Petra Kjell |title=A safe pair of hands? |publisher=Trend Asia |url=https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/A-safe-pair-of-hands_.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{wrightndsafe, author = {Wright, Petra Kjell}, title = {{A safe pair of hands?}}, institution = {Trend Asia}, url = {https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/A-safe-pair-of-hands_.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }