The Asia Water Development Outlook – a flagship publication by the Asian Development Bank - monitors progress in water security in the Asia Pacific region. For the first time, the 2020 edition documents financing flows that contribute to – or that are needed to enhance – water security in...

Developing Asia is the driver of today's emissions intensive global economy. As the principle source of future emissions, the region is critical to the task of global climate change mitigation. Reflecting this global reality and a range of related domestic issues, the governments of the People's...

Digital transformation is increasingly recognised as a means to help unlocking the benefits of more inclusive and sustainable growth and enhanced social well-being. In the environmental context, digitalisation can contribute to decoupling economic activity from natural resource use and their...

Global materials use is expected to grow in the coming decades in the absence of new policies, bearing substantial negative impacts for the environment. This report analyses the mechanisms through which resource efficiency and circular economy policies can achieve a decoupling between economic...

As the growth of energy demand outstrips that of energy supply in Southeast Asia, it becomes imperative for ASEAN member states to seek energy efficiency improvements for sustained energy security. While green buildings have an overall low penetration rate in ASEAN, when compared to the rest of...

Lack of cooling and cold-chain access is a critical development challenge that has significant implications for people's livelihoods, productivity, health, food, and nutritional security. While business-as-usual demand projections suggest 19 new cooling appliances will be sold every second by...

Different approaches to making the economic case for improved management of natural capital in national planning are reviewed in this report. In many low-income countries natural resources sectors (agriculture, mining, forestry, fishery, nature-based tourism) are identified as the engines of...

A decade of sluggish economic growth, concluding with the sharpest recession since the Second World War, has underlined the need for Japan to develop a new growth model. Such a model should restore public finances and long-term growth while preserving environmental quality and ensuring a...

Sustainable Development Goal 15 deals with "Life on Land." Its nine targets and three means of implementation cover a vast array of environmentally sensitive issues related to land-based renewable natural resources. This paper explores the channels through which trade can address them....

The achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and implementation of the Paris Agreement will require significant new investment. New financial technologies ("fintech") offer the potential to unlock green finance technologies, such as blockchain, the Internet of Things and big data,...