BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb.4. The Asian Development
Bank (ADB) has approved a regional technical assistance (TA)
project to support the decarbonization of hard-to-abate industrial
and maritime sectors, with participation from Azerbaijan, India,
Indonesia, the Philippines, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, Trend reports via the
ADB.


The knowledge and support TA will be financed through multiple
sources, including $500,000 from the Technical Assistance Special
Fund, $1 million from the Smart Energy Innovation Fund, and
$750,000 from the Spanish Cooperation Fund for Technical
Assistance.


The initiative aligns with ADB’s key operational priorities,
including accelerating progress in gender equality, tackling
climate change and strengthening climate and disaster resilience,
enhancing environmental sustainability, strengthening governance
and institutional capacity, and fostering regional cooperation and
integration.


The TA aims to support developing member countries (DMCs) in
accelerating the decarbonization of sectors that are difficult to
abate—such as cement, steel, fertilizers, petrochemicals, and
maritime transport—in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement.
While some countries have already begun this transition, ADB noted
that the pace of transformation needs to be significantly
accelerated across different development pathways. The transition
is expected to be just and inclusive, ensuring affordable,
reliable, and equitable access to energy services.







Specifically, the TA will support upstream analytical work and
project pipeline development across multiple countries, facilitate
knowledge and information sharing from more advanced economies to
less developed ones, and promote regional cooperation. ADB
emphasized that regional and global standards are particularly
important for hard-to-abate sectors, and that cooperation
agreements can help enable effective trade arrangements.


The technical assistance will provide a comprehensive package of
support, including sectoral and country-specific assessments,
development of new business models, pre-feasibility studies and
other technical analyses, organization of workshops and policy
dialogues, institutional capacity building on decarbonization
technologies, and the development of pilot projects and investment
pipelines to be financed by ADB and other development partners.