A - Adaptation
Communities in many of Kiribati’s most remote areas are receiving support for climate resilience as part of a $20 million climate change adaptation project funded by the World Bank in 2022. The Kiribati Outer Islands Resilience and Adaptation Project supports an estimated 14,000 people (12 percent of the country’s population). The project provides communities with improved access to fresh water, drainage improvements, coastal protection, upgrades to public buildings and critical facilities, maintenance equipment, and reduction of flooding risk.
These projects are part of the World Bank's broader efforts to support climate adaptation in the East Asia and Pacific region by working with countries to identify risks, develop strategies, and strengthen resilience to climate change impacts. The World Bank is committed to ensuring that about 45 percent of lending has climate co-benefits, of which half is for adapatation. Climate co-benefits refers to financing that supports climate action while also furthering development objectives.
B – Biodiversity
The Lao People’s Democratic Republic is home to internationally significant biodiversity in its wet evergreen forests, karst landscapes, and montane forests. The country’s four ecologically diverse regions support diverse production systems for food, fiber, medicines, and jobs in tourism. The goods and ecosystem services the natural endowment provide are essential to reducing poverty, securing livelihoods, and driving a greener economy. A World Bank report provided recommendations for protecting this valuable resources.
C- Carbon pricing
The World Bank is actively promoting the implementation of carbon pricing mechanisms in East Asia and Pacific to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Putting a price on carbon emissions, through carbon taxes or emission trading systems, creates economic incentives for businesses and individuals to reduce their carbon footprint. The World Bank is working in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand,and Viet Nam to help design and implement carbon pricing policies.
C – Country Climate and Development Reports
Country Climate and Development Reports (CCDRs) are the World Bank’s core diagnostic reports integrating climate change and development considerations. They help countries prioritize the most impactful actions that can boost adaptation and reduce greenhouse gas emissions while delivering on broader development goals. CCDRs build on data and rigorous research to identify ways to reduce climate vulnerabilities and greenhouse gas emissions, identifying the costs and challenges and the benefits and opportunities. The reports suggest concrete, priority actions to support a low-carbon, resilient energy transition. In East Asia and Pacific, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Viet Nam have published CCDRs.
D – Deforestation
In 2020, Viet Nam signed a landmark agreement with the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), unlocking up to $51.5 million with which to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. As part of the Emission Reductions Payment Agreement (ERPA) it signed with the World Bank in 2022, Viet Nam agreed to reduce 10.3 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
Indonesia received payment under ERPA for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in East Kalimantan province. The payment facilitated the start of the East Kalimantan program’s benefit-sharing plan, developed by the government of Indonesia through a consultative, transparent, and participatory process to ensure that all stakeholders can access the benefits from the payments.
D - Disaster Risk Management
The World Bank approved the Tuvalu First Climate and Disaster Resilience Development Policy Financing with a Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option (Cat DDO) in 2023. It will support improved assessment of Tuvalu’s climate and disaster risks, including monitoring and reporting, and will help the government fast-track the flow of critical goods and supplies during emergencies and disasters. This project will provide access to funds quickly to help the government respond to disasters and reduce the impact on lives and the economy. At the same time, the project supports government actions to reduce risk and be better able to deal with disasters when they happen, through monitoring and reporting.
The World Bank is also broadening the scope of its Climate Resilient Debt Clauses, extending a new lifeline to small islands and other small states struck by earthquakes and tropical storms. This will allow governments to focus on disaster recovery instead of debt repayment when catastrophes occur. The debt pause clauses will now cover all existing loans in eligible countries—not only new loans. In addition to principal payments, the updated initiative will now allow borrowers to defer interest payments on new and existing loans. In addition, fees associated with the Climate Resilient Debt Clauses will now be eligible to be covered by concessional resources.
E – Energy transition
Strong growth in EAP has driven up energy demand, which will continue to rise as incomes and prosperity increase, making energy transition crucial.
- Renewable energy: The World Bank is supporting efforts by Indonesia to increase access to sustainable and lower-cost electricity in the eastern part of the country. The Indonesia Sustainable Least-cost Electrification-1 (ISLE-1) Program, approved in 2023, aims to strengthen infrastructure resilience and support communities’ ability to adapt to climate change. It will connect 500,000 new customers (about 2 million people) to the electrical grid; scale up solar power investments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; lower the cost of power generation by 20 percent; and enhance the capacity of Indonesia’s electrical power company, PT PLN Persero, to manage the energy transition. The program supports Indonesia’s shift to low-emission development through affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy. Indonesia has committed to reducing emissions by almost 32 percent by 2030.
- Energey efficiency: The Viet Nam Scaling up Energy Efficiency Project, approved by the World Bank’s Board in 2019, establishes a first loss facility, funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), that provides support local banks that risk potential defaults on loans for energy efficiency projects. By reducing lending risks, the facility is expected to mobilize around $250 million of commercial financing, to be provided to industrial enterprises and energy service companies at competitive terms and with low collateral requirements.
F – Forests and nature
In 2021, Fiji signed a landmark agreement with the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), a global partnership housed at the World Bank, that will unlock up to $12.5 million in results-based payments for increasing carbon sequestration and reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. Fiji is the first Small Island Developing State to sign an Emission Reductions Payment Agreement (ERPA) with the FCPF. The five-year agreement will reward efforts to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation under Fiji’s ambitious emission reductions program.
The FCPF has supported pilot programs to establish efficient systems for carbon-crediting initiatives since 2018. Supporting five countries in 2024, the World Bank will work with governments and local communities to access carbon markets. By 2028, 15 FCPF countries—including Fiji, Indonesia, Lao PDR, and Viet Nam—will be able to interact with carbon markets.
G – Green, resilient, and inclusive development
The Philippines Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) analyzes how climate change will affect the country’s ability to meet its development goals and pursue green, resilient, and inclusive development. It shows that climate change poses major risks to development in the Philippines. Current annual losses from typhoons are estimated to reach 1.2 percent of GDP and as much as 4.6 percent of GDP in extreme cases. Temperatures will continue to increase by about 1-2°C by the end of 21st centur, the variability and intensity of rainfall is likely to increase, and extreme events will become stronger and more frequent. If nothing is done climate change will impose substantial economic and human costs, reducing GDP by as much as 13.6 percent of GDP by 2040, with the poorest households most affected. Adapting to the risks of climate change—including extreme events and slow-onset problems—is critical for the Philippines. The report identifies opportunities and priorities for climate action. These include improving water resource management, increasing climate resilience in agriculture, and transitioning toward a renewable energy dominated power system, among others.
For more than 25 years, Thailand and the World Bank have partnered to help industry reduce ozone-depleting substances used in refrigeration, air-conditioning, foam manufacturing, aerosol production, and fire suppression. Through this partnership, Thailand has made great strides in phasing out ozone-depleting substances.
H - Hydropower
The World Bank promotes the development of sustainable hydroelectric power projects in East Asia and Pacific to support clean energy generation and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Since becoming operational in 2017, the new 260-megawatt Trung Son hydropower plant in Viet Nam—built with World Bank financing—has been supplying an average of 1 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually at a lower unit cost than power generated by other renewable sources or coal. The plant reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 1 million metric tons a year more than a thermal plant supplying the same volume of electricity. Most of the 3,400 households directly affected by the project enjoy improved standards of living thanks to better access to electricity, road connectivity, and improved livelihoods.
I – Innovative financing
In February 2023, the World Bank priced a five-year, $50 million, principal-protected emission reduction–linked bond that provides investors a return linked to the issuance of Verified Carbon Units (VCUs) expected to be produced by a project in Viet Nam. The project is expected to make clean water available to around 2 million children and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by almost 3 million tons of carbon dioxide over five years. The bond is an outcome-based financial instrument that mobilizes private capital to support the financing of a project with positive climate and development impacts. Through the transaction, investors are supporting the upfront financing required to manufacture and distribute water purifiers for use in schools and other community service institutions, which will reduce the burning of biomass traditionally used to boil water. In addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the purifiers help improve air quality, reduce associated health impacts, lower fuel costs, make it easier to purify water, and help reduce deforestation.
I – Island countries
Long-term stresses such as climate change and shocks—including the COVID-19 pandemics, cyclones, and other disasters—are affecting lives across the Pacific Islands. These stresses underscore the need to preserve and protect ocean resources, fisheries, coastal and marine habitats, and the people whose livelihoods depend on them. The World Bank’s $74 million Pacific Islands Regional Oceanscape Program, approved in 2022, is working with seven countries and one regional organization to improve sustainable ocean-based livelihoods.
J - Just transition
The World Bank is committed to a just transition to a low-carbon economy in the East Asia and Pacific region. It seeks to ensure that the transition to clean energy and sustainable practices is fair and equitable, taking into account the social and economic impacts on communities and workers.
The World Bank offers analytical and advisory services for policy development, gender improvement, legal and regulatory reform, and financial viability of the renewable energy sector. In collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), it supports both public and private investments in grid capacity enhancement and renewable energy projects.
K – Knowledge
Through programs and partnerships, the World Bank promotes the exchange of knowledge, expertise, and best practices to support countries in their climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts. The World Bank has supported knowledge transfer through the Climate Change Knowledge Portal, a web-based platform that provides access to climate data, information, and tools for policy makers and practitioners in EAP and around the world. Knowledge-sharing initiatives enable countries in the region to make informed decisions, develop effective climate policies, and implement sustainable solutions.
L – Low-lying coastal areas
The World Bank supports low lying coastal areas, including Viet Nam’s Mekong Delta, in combatting climate threats like salinity intrusion, sea-level rise and increased floolding. It has been working closely with local and national governments and other stakeholders to enhance resilience and promote sustainable development, including through the Mekong Delta Integrated Climate Resilience and Sustainable Livelihoods Project. The World Bank has also emphasized the importance of strengthening institutions and mobilizing community participation alongside infrastructure investments to enhance adaptive capacity and promote sustainable livelihoods in these areas.
M - Marine plastic
Southeast Asia has emerged as a hot spot for plastic pollution because of rapid urbanization and rising living standards. The economic costs are significant, with direct damage to key blue economy sectors such as fisheries,tourism, shipping, and drainage in ASEAN members alone estimated at $2.1 billion in 2015. To address the problem, the World Bank is supporting efforts by ASEAN members to reduce marine plastic pollution with a $20 million grant for the Southeast Asia Regional Program on Combating Marine Plastics (SEA-MaP), approved in 2022. The project aims to reduce plastic consumption, increase recycling, and minimize leakage into the environment. It also supports coastal and blue economies, which are particularly affected by marine litter.
M – Methane emissions
Methane is 80 times more dangerous than carbon dioxide when it comes to warming the planet, making it a major driver of climate change. The World Bank is taking action to slow the rise in methane emission. In December 2023, it announced its intent to launch at least 15 country-led programs in the next 18 months to cut up to 10 million tons of methane.
In Viet Nam, the World Bank is supporting government efforts to scale the approaches and technologies tested under the Sustainable Agriculture Transformation Project on 1 million hectares of the Mekong Delta area. In Indonesia, the World Bank is engaging with the government to scale up of the Climate-Resilient and Low-Carbon Agriculture Development Project, which has introduced a series of solutions that have transformed rice production and livestock management for 33.5 million small-scale farmers, about 30 percent of them women-led rice producers.
N – Nature-based solutions
The World Bank promotes nature-based solutions to climate change in the East Asia and Pacific region, including initiatives that using mangroves and wetlands to protect coastlines and sequester carbon. Forests and landscapes in Indonesia are significantly exposed to deforestation and land degradation driven by unsustainable management of natural resources. The Sustainable Landscapes Management Program, provides technical assistance, analysis, and investments to address the drivers of unsustainable natural resources management, particularly deforestation. The program works with a wide range of stakeholders on issues including food and livelihoods, finance, land rights, and restoration and supports progress toward climate and development goals.
O – Oceans
Ocean conservation is key to successful climate action. The World Bank supports initiatives that promote sustainable fisheries, protect marine ecosystems, and address the impacts of climate change on coastal communities. Indonesia’s Sustainable Oceans Program (ISOP), financed by the World Bank, works with the Indonesian government, local communities, academics, nongovernmental organizations, and donors to develop knowledge; build capacity; and finance investments to support sustainable fisheries and coastal livelihoods, build healthy coastal and marine ecosystems, reduce marine pollution, and strengthen policy and institutions.
The World Bank is also supporting Indonesia in managing marine resources and improving the livelihoods of coastal communities through the Oceans for Prosperity Project (LAUTRA). This project aims to strengthen the management of Indonesia’s marine biodiversity, including coral reefs and associated ecosystems, and ensure a sustainable transition to a blue economy by improving the management of Marine Protected Areas (MAPs) and priority fisheries. The project is also designed to develop diversified and sustainable livelihoods for coastal communities living around selected MAPs. LAUTRA is expected to contribute to poverty reduction in Indonesia’s coastal regions and increase resilience to flooding and sea level rise.
P – Pumped-hydro projects
The World Bank has been actively involved in supporting pumped-hydro projects in the East Asia and Pacific region. It has partnered with China to finance and provide technical assistance for pumped-hydro projects, which play a crucial role in integrating renewable energy sources into the power grid and reducing carbon emissions.
Q – Air quality
The Innovative Financing for Air Pollution Control in Jing-Jin-Ji (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei) project helped fight air pollution in what had been one of the smoggiest areas of China. There are strong climate co-benefits - financing that supports climate action while also further development objectives - between reducing air pollution and action on climate change. The World Bank worked with a government-designated commercial bank to provide financing for enterprises to reduce air pollutants and carbon emissions by increasing energy efficiency, investing in clean energy, and tightening air pollution control.
R – Recovery and response efforts
The World Bank disbursed a $9.5 million grant in 2023 to support Vanuatu’s response to severe tropical cyclones Judy and Kevin and a 6.5 magnitude earthquake. The emergency funding provided vital support to the government’s recovery and response efforts following the disasters. The ability to respond swiftly and the working relationship between the Bank and the government are the result of over a decade of close collaboration on disaster risk reduction issues.
R – Resilience
The World Bank is supporting Pacific countries like Tonga through the Pacific Climate Resilient Transport Program. The program is helping six Pacific countries share knowledge and reduce the impact of climate change on vital infrastructure. In Tonga, the program is upgrading ports, roads, and airports to be more resilient to storm surges, floods and high winds. The program has already helped reconstruct the ‘Eua island’s main port, a vital connection to Tonga’s biggest city and port, Nuku’alofa.
R – Rice
Rice cultivation is the largest source of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions in East Asia and Pacific. Resource-efficient rice cultivation can contribute to emissions reduction, resilience, higher yields, and better quality rice. Moving to low emissions rice production offers the greatest potential for Viet Nam to meet its goal of cutting methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030 while boosting the competitiveness of a strategic export item, according to a 2022 World Bank report, Spearheading Viet Nam’s Green Agricultural Transformation: Moving to Low-Carbon Rice.
In China’s Hunan province, the country’s largest rice producer with 4.2 million hectares of rice harvested areas, the World Bank is supporting a transition to innovative production methods that lower methane emissions and strengthen climate resilience. The program contributes to the global public goods of reducing methane emissions, promoting knowledge for global development, and enhancing food security. It is expected to reduce an estimated 2.4 million metric tons carbon dioxide equivalent of methane.
T – Transition to sustainable long-term growth
Indonesia has made important commitments to climate adaptation and mitigation. One of the challenges it faces is maintaining a balance between reducing its greenhouse gas emissions and ensuring its economic growth trajectory. The Indonesia Country Climate and Development Report shows that both objectives can be achieved by implementing reforms that combine near-term environmental and development impacts, thereby supporting the transition to sustainable long-term growth.
V – Vulnerability
The World Bank’s Cambodia Country Climate and Development Report shows that Cambodia, one of the poorest countries in East Asia, can achieve its development goals and address climate change with actions summarized by the “three Rs”: reducing significant exposure and vulnerability to climate change, realigning its emissions trajectory, and reorienting its economy to seize new opportunities afforded by a global green transition.
W – Water
The World Bank and Viet Nam's three-decade partnership on water security has evolved toward a focus on building resilience and mitigating the impacts of a changing climate. Progress has been notable in urban areas, where nearly all residents now enjoy access to reliable water services. Improvement is needed in rural areas, where only about 44 percent of the rural population can access water from centralized supply systems. Ensuring water security is critical if Viet Nam hopes to achieve its goal of becoming an upper-middle-income country by 2030 and a high-income economy by 2045.
X – Expanding climate finance
Filling the significant financing gap for climate change necessitates scaling up public and private financing, including through developing innovative financing instuments to catalyze new financing.
Unlinking Sustainable Finance in Southeast Asia, a World Bank report released in 2022, describes the need for countries in the region—particularly the ASEAN-5 economies (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam)—to undergo a costly but necessary economic transformation toward low-carbon and climate-resilient economies and the role the financial sector can play in helping them do so. Policymakers can mobilize the financial sector with reforms that de-risk investments with environmental benefits, improve local financial market infrastructure, and ensuring high-quality and timely data is accessible to a broad range of stakeholders.
Y – Youth engagement
The World Bank recognizes the importance of youth engagement in addressing climate change and has been actively involved in initiatives to empower and involve young people in the East Asia and Pacific region. One example is its support for the Youth Climate Action Network (YouthCAN) in Indonesia, which brings together young people to raise awareness about climate change, advocate for climate action, and implement community-based projects. Indonesia hosted the World Bank Group Youth Summit on climate change in 2022 and on sustainability in 2023. The World Bank provides funding and technical assistance to YouthCAN, enabling young people to develop leadership skills, access resources, and contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts in their communities. By engaging youth in climate action, the World Bank aims to harness their creativity, energy, and ideas to drive positive change and build a sustainable future in the region.
Z – Net-zero emissions
Indonesia has mapped out emissions trajectories toward a net-zero target by 2060 or earlier. The World Bank’s Indonesia Country Climate and Development Report proposes a decarbonization scenario that adopts an expansion plan to achieve nearly 80 percent of the emissions reduction that would enable Indonesia to reach its goal.