ADB, China Everbright Environment form Strategic Partnership for Ocean Health in Asia
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and China Everbright Environment Group Limited (CEEGL) today signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to cooperate on efforts to promote the circular economy and protect ocean health in Asia.
Under the agreement, ADB and CEEGL will jointly promote the development of enhanced solid waste management systems in Asia to encourage public-private partnerships (PPP) in waste collection, transportation, and recycling, and to reduce land-based sources of marine debris and related impacts to marine life, coastal livelihoods, and human health.
“The ocean ecosystem faces severe threats from pollution and climate change, demanding urgent and sustainable solutions,” said ADB Private Sector Operations Department Deputy Director General Christopher Thieme. “By leveraging ADB and CEEGL’s complementary expertise and resources, our partnership will spur advocacy for the circular economy and healthy oceans and disseminate crucial knowledge needed to develop blue economies.”
“We look forward to cooperating with ADB in reducing marine debris, fostering blue economy collaboration, and promoting the circular economy in the future, as well as taking this opportunity to improve the company’s strategic vision for business development,” said CEEGL Chairman of the Board Wang Tianyi. “Meanwhile, the company will take the reduction of pollution and carbon intensity in the ocean as a starting point to better support the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) pledge to achieve carbon emissions peak and carbon neutrality.”
The cooperation will focus on raising awareness on the critical role of solid waste management to ensure ocean health and will document a case study of marine debris reduction through relevant projects. ADB and CEEGL will also collaborate to enhance PPP project preparation templates, to promote PPPs in solid waste management in ADB’s developing member countries.
CEEGL is the first one-stop integrated environmental solution provider in the PRC with a business presence in more than 200 locations across the PRC as well as overseas markets such as Viet Nam, Germany, and Poland. At the end of 2020, CEEGL secured 458 environmental protection projects, including 161 waste-to-energy projects with a total designed annual household waste processing capacity of 51 million tons and expected on-grid power generation of approximately 16,912 GWh.
In 2019, ADB launched the Action Plan for Healthy Oceans and Sustainable Blue Economies to expand financial and technical assistance for ocean health and marine economy projects.
ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members—49 from the region.