Skip to main content

The world is facing existential threats of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. In the face of this triple planetary crisis, climate and environmental rule of law is fundamental to inclusive and sustainable development. Legal frameworks need to be modernized to tackle 21st century challenges including by improving the scientific soundness and technical adequacy of laws and reflecting appropriate governance arrangements that take into account multiple stakeholders. Furthermore, the implementation and enforcement of laws need to be strengthened through capacity building programs.
 

 

Our Impact

ADB's Law and Policy Reform Program has been prioritizing its work with legal and judicial systems and other stakeholders to help support low carbon transition, promote and invest in nature and environmental sustainability, and increase disaster resilience. We do this by:

Mobilizing Finance for Climate and Nature-Positive Investments

  • Addressing legal barriers to attracting private finance to tackle climate change and support nature-positive investments
  • Increasing the capacity of the private sector on climate and nature risks and opportunities
  • Increasing knowledge about different types of sustainable finance instruments and carbon markets
  • Assisting with drafting national legal and regulatory framework for carbon markets
  • Development of a model forest act to serve as a legal blueprint for policymakers, legislators, and other stakeholders in the design or updating of national forest laws
     

Strengthening Climate and Environmental Legal Education

  • Mainstreaming climate change and environmental legal education at the national and institutional levels across Asia and the Pacific
  • Developing model syllabi and innovative teaching methodologies for teaching climate change and environmental laws
  • Strengthening the capacity and networks of climate and environmental legal educators and institutions
  • Producing e-learning courses and supporting hybrid and online education
  • Building the next generation of leaders and workforce to support the green economy

Drafting Transformative Climate Change and Disaster Management Laws 

  • Framework climate change law applying to the whole of economy and providing clear policy direction and net zero targets and setting out clear governance arrangements
  • Disaster management law setting out coordination mechanisms among national and sub-national entities involved in disaster response and recovery efforts
  • Sectoral laws and regulations, for example, in energy, transportation and building

Supporting Green Courts and Benches and Judicial Networks

  • Establishing and operationalizing green courts and benches and drafting environmental rules of procedures
  • Creating judicial certification programs on climate change and environmental laws
  • Supporting the Asia and the Pacific Judges Network on the Environment and Global Judicial Institute on the Environment

"If you want to change mindsets, you have to start with the law students, the science students, because they will become politicians someday, they will become officials of government. This [Developing Climate and Environmental Law Champions] technical assistance program is critical."

Gerthie Mayo-Anda
Executive Director, Environmental Legal Assistance Center

"As the first publication of its kind, with a focus on judges...I offer my effusive congratulations to ADB’s extraordinary team and the distinguished co-authors of this innovative report series."

Justice Antonio Benjamin

Honorable Chief Justice Antonio Herman Benjamin, National High Court of Brazil (STJ) and President of the Federal Justice Council; President of the Global Judicial Institute on the Environment

Environment and Climate Change Law Judicial Training in Cambodia Phnom Penh, Cambodia, September 2023

Environment and Climate Change Law Judicial Training in Cambodia Phnom Penh, Cambodia, September 2023

Judicial Capacity Building on Environment:

 

  • Supports judges to interpret and enforce environmental and climate change laws
  • Develops influential jurisprudence
  • Contributes to sustainable development goals

 

 

LPR In Action

Fiji is drafting a new forestry bill to replace its 1992 Forest Act—modernizing the law to provide more holistic protection to forests. With ADB’s Law and Policy Reform Program, Fijian officials are working to align the draft with domestic and international commitments, including the Climate Change Act 2021 and the Paris Agreement, and with stakeholders’ needs. In May 2025, the Ministry of Forestry and ADB held stakeholders' consultations, allowing affected communities, traditional landowners, and others to inform the final version before it reaches Parliament.
On 3 July 2025, the Office of the General Counsel’s Law and Policy Reform Program and the ADB Institute hosted a webinar entitled "Strengthening Legal Frameworks for Equitable and Sustainable Carbon Credit Implementation," the second workshop in the 3-part Carbon Markets Webinar Series.
At COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, ADB's Law and Policy Reform Program co-organized key side events on climate change, forest conservation, and judicial action. Highlights included discussions on forest finance, the Model Forest Act Initiative, and judicial perspectives on climate litigation.
On 3 September 2024, on the sidelines of the Annual Meeting of IFI General Counsels in Montevideo, Uruguay, the Asian Development Bank General Counsel Thomas M. Clark and the International Fund for Agricultural Development General Counsel Katherine Meighan signed a memorandum of understanding to enhance collaboration in legal and policy development in the forestry, food, and agriculture sectors, as well as their shared interest in advancing environmental rule of law
 

Knowledge Resources