4 May 2009: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has established an Advisory Group of seven eminent persons to advise the Bank on how to strengthen its programmes to meet the global challenge of climate change. The Advisory Group on Climate Change and Sustainable Development will help ADB management consider ways to assist ADB’s developing member countries move their economies onto low-carbon development paths and address the social impacts of climate change.

The Advisory Group will be chaired by Rajendra Pachauri, Director General of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). The Group also includes: Hironori Hamanaka, Chair, Board of Directors, Institute of Global Environmental Strategies; Huguette Labelle, Chair, Transparency International; Jeffrey Sachs, Director, The Earth Institute at Columbia University; Emil Salim, adviser to Indonesia’s President on environment and sustainable development issues; Klaus Toepfer, Founding Director, Institute for Advanced Studies Climate, Earth System and Sustainability Sciences; and Dadi Zhou, Director General (Emeritus) of the Energy Research Institute.
In other ADB news, the Bank released its second Sustainability Report presenting information on the promotion of environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive growth, and on the minimization of its corporate environmental footprint. [ADB sustainability report] [ADB press release]