39 Sustainability Report 2021 Climate Transition | Meeting the Net Zero Challenge in Asia Meeting the Net Zero Challenge in Asia As part of a special miniseries on Exchanges at Goldman Sachs, Accelerating Transition , Goldman Sachs Global Head of Climate Strategy Kara Mangone spoke with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Vice President Ahmed Saeed about a unique effort that connects public and private sectors to leverage capital to accelerate the transition to a net zero future in Asia. What are the key priorities for the Asian Development Bank? What are your top strategic priorities today? We’re working with governments to provide them with the financing they need to do the things they must around building sustainable infrastructure and around mitigation and adaptation planning in a number of different ways. But those sums will simply not be achievable through the public sector alone, and we need the private sector to step up in a big way. Our role as we see it in that process is to become a better collaborator and partner. What does this partnership look like for you? Firstly, the fact that the private sector needs to act doesn’t mean that the private sector has all the tools it needs at its disposal. In particular, the interface with government is absolutely critical. And so multilateral development banks have a very unique role to play in helping the private sector engage government. ... The Climate Innovation and Development Fund with Bloomberg and Goldman Sachs is one example of a very high-impact collaborative model. KM: KM: KM: AS: AS: AS: One of the solutions is going to be pulling together different sources of capital — how do you see this playing out in markets? Decarbonization is development. The single greatest opportunity that countries in Asia and elsewhere in the world will find to mobilize capital — and capital married to skills and technology to come into their countries — is going to be around decarbonization agendas. I really think the biggest opportunity in emerging markets is to pivot from a conversation that this is a price to be paid to a dialogue that says, “Wow, this is an unbelievable opportunity to improve the livelihoods of people.” And I think it happens to be true. “Our role as we see it in that process is to become a better collaborator and partner.” AHMED SAEED Vice President for East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific, Asian Development Bank CLIMATE TRANSITION 39