Quezon City, Philippines – The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) Asia Pacific joined civil society allies in a press briefing on the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Climate Scorecard to raise concern over the bank’s continued support for harmful waste-to-energy (WtE) incineration. Groups called out the Bank for failing to align its energy policy with real climate solutions and community needs.
In GAIA’s monitoring, ADB remains the biggest backer of incineration in the region. Since the Paris Agreement in 2015, the Bank has financed 49 projects with incineration or co-incineration components. These projects amount to USD 15.3 billion. Climate Policy Initiative also reports that more than 94 percent of climate finance for methane abatement in the waste sector still goes to incineration. This reflects a troubling pattern. Money intended for climate action is being diverted to technologies that worsen pollution and drain public resources.
Brex Arevalo, Climate and Anti-Incineration Campaigner of GAIA Asia Pacific, underscored the urgency. “Incinerators remain polluters no matter the technology. While incineration reduces waste volume, the remaining ash, wastewater, and emissions are hazardous and must still be disposed of in landfills. This exposes the myth that incineration eliminates the need for dumpsites. It does not. It creates even more toxic byproducts. WtE is also a poor choice for energy generation. It is among the most expensive technologies today, and it is more polluting than coal per unit of energy produced.”
Across the region, communities are already living with the consequences of ADB-backed incineration. Thilafushi in the Maldives is also being pushed toward an expensive incinerator. This concern was reinforced by Afrah Ismail of Zero Waste Maldives, who stressed, “ADB has backed waste-to-energy incineration through loans and grants for a major WtE plant in the Maldives, a climate-vulnerable archipelago whose public debt now exceeds 120% of GDP and which international financial institutions classify as being at high risk of debt distress.”
Chythenyen Kulasekaran of Centre for Financial Accountability further pointed to the broader regional failures. “The ADB should not be funding waste-to-energy incineration, which has a massive track record of failure across South Asia. All 21 waste-to-energy plants in India are highly polluting and do not comply with the environmental policy standards, as reported by the government itself.”
GAIA and its allies urged the ADB to shift course. The Bank must stop financing WtE incineration, refuse-derived fuel, chemical recycling, and co-incineration in any form. Its energy policy should uphold the waste hierarchy by supporting reduction, reuse, recycling, composting, and other proven zero waste systems.
This call was echoed by Mageswari Sangaralingam of Consumers’ Association of Penang (Malaysia), who emphasised, “By prioritising waste-to-energy incineration and critical minerals mining, the ADB’s Energy Policy thrusts clearly go against the tenets of circular economics and a real clean and just energy transition. These approaches have very high rates of material intensity use and rely heavily on resource extraction activities that result in permanent impacts to the environment and communities. No actions can offset or compensate for these damages.”
Wahyu Eka Setyawan of WALHI Jawa Timur closed with a warning drawn from Indonesia’s experience. “The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has significantly pushed waste-to-energy (WtE) incineration in Indonesia through policy influence and financing, yet evidence shows these projects harm communities and the environment. We urge the ADB to change course, as WTE incineration is not, and should not be, part of any country’s development and waste management plans.”
Press contacts:
Robi Kate Miranda, robi@no-burn.org, Communications Officer for Campaigns
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GAIA is a worldwide alliance of more than 1,000 grassroots groups, non-governmental organizations, and individuals in over 90 countries. With our work, we aim to catalyze a global shift towards environmental justice by strengthening grassroots social movements that advance solutions to waste and pollution. We envision a just, zero waste world built on respect for ecological limits and community rights, where people are free from the burden of toxic pollution, and resources are sustainably conserved, not burned or dumped.
