2 February 2012: The President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Haruhiko Kuroda, highlighted the potential of the green economy to stimulate change and drive a new generation of green jobs, which in turn would enable a higher quality of life.In a keynote address at the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS), held in New Delhi, India, from 2-4 February 2012, Kuroda also outlined some of the steps that countries in the Asia and the Pacific region are taking to protect shared natural resources, and called for increased private sector involvement in the building of green infrastructure.

He noted that the role of institutions like ADB is to use limited public sector funds to leverage the private capital needed to achieve green growth. He highlighted the opportunities in Asia and the Pacific for green investments. Kuroda also noted the importance of clean growth, underlining that, “around the region, leaders are recognizing that a better quality of economic growth is possible – one that can simultaneously meet aspirations for greater economic prosperity and provide a cleaner and greener future.” [ADB Press Release]