In partnership with the Asian Development Bank, this private event was hosted at Bistro Bis Restaurant on Capitol Hill with the purpose of bringing Congressional staffers together to engage with ADB and its Southeast Asia leadership. The event took place on Tuesday, December 7 from 8:30-10:00 am EST at Bistro Bis with special guest Ramesh Subramaniam, Director General for Southeast Asia Regional Development at the Asian Development Bank, headquartered in Manila, who spoke to Congressional Staffers about ADB's current projects and financing to shift Southeast Asia toward clean energy development. Staffers had an opportunity to learn about ADB, specifically their current projects and financing to shift Southeast Asia toward clean energy development through the Energy Transition Mechanism, and speak directly with leaders spearheading this transition.

Ramesh Subramaniam, Director General, Southeast Asia, ADB gave a closed-door presentation to Congressional staff followed by a Q+A session concerning the Director General’s presentation and other related issues to energy in Southeast Asia.

Ramesh oversees ADB’s relationship and public sector work (including all technical assistance, knowledge generation and dissemination, and grant and loan projects) in all countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). He is also in-charge of ADB’s support for all sub-regional cooperation initiatives in the region, including ASEAN, Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area, Greater Mekong Subregion and Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle. With ADB for over 20 years, Ramesh has worked on several projects across the Asia-Pacific region. Infrastructure financing is among his primary areas of interest. He represents ADB on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on long term investment and infrastructure development. He has a Ph.D. in Economics from McMaster University (Canada), and has had post-doctoral fellowships in development economics and corporate finance and industry at Yale University (USA) and University of St. Andrews.

Overview of ADB and its Operations in Southeast Asia

The Southeast Asia Department (SERD) is responsible for delivering ADB assistance to Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Viet Nam under ADB's Strategy 2020.  Southeast Asia is among the fastest growing regions in Asia and globally and is of particular importance to the Asia and Pacific region as a major hub for global supply chains.

The ADB has been a strong partner supporting the region’s transformation over recent decades. For the past year, ADB committed a total of $11.6 billion for sovereign and nonsovereign projects in Southeast Asia in 2020, up 62% from 2019. Of the sovereign projects for Southeast Asia, 60% of financing supported pandemic response. Despite the shift in focus brought by COVID-19, ADB has remained committed to addressing climate change and disaster resilience in Southeast Asia with total climate financing amounting to $940 million, from ADB’s own resources.

The Energy Transition Mechanism

The ADB has been a strong partner supporting the region’s transformation over recent decades. For the past year, ADB committed a total of $11.6 billion for sovereign and nonsovereign projects in Southeast Asia in 2020, up 62% from 2019. Of the sovereign projects for Southeast Asia, 60% of financing supported pandemic response. Despite the shift in focus brought by COVID-19, ADB has remained committed to addressing climate change and disaster resilience in Southeast Asia with total climate financing amounting to $940 million, from ADB’s own resources.

Asia and the Pacific can only realize its climate goals if it pursues a transition away from coal-based energy in the near term. To accelerate this transition in the region—where coal remains a primary electricity source—the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is working with regional and international partners to support, study, and pilot a scalable Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). The Asian Development Bank recently launched a partnership with the Government of the Republic of Indonesia, and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines to design and establish an ETM to accelerate the transition from coal to clean energy in Southeast Asia, in a just and affordable manner. ETM is an innovative model which would use blended finance to accelerate the retirement of coal power plants and develop green, renewable energy to replace it.