Abstract:
This Dissertation explores climate change mitigation as viewed through the lens of Asian Development Bank’s clean energy policy in Southeast Asia. The study has examined the theoretical assumptions of free market environmentalism and has posited a challenge to the neoliberal orthodoxy by exploring alternatives to the market solution. The study draws on the assessment of energy projects supported by Asian Development Bank between 2000 and 2007 in the countries of Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Viet Nam. The study reveals that until 2006, climate change tended to be a marginal consideration among the projects assessed. More than 30% of financing for the energy sector from 2000 to 2008 has not considered climate change at all. Only in 2007 that noteworthy improvement is observed in the extent to which climate change considerations are reflected in project documentation. The study, thus, aims to provide a contextual view of measures beyond the established metaphors of the markets to combat climate change, in this case, through the clean energy paradigm. In doing so, this study aims to establish a coherent framework for contrastive rhetoric research which moves beyond the mainstream efforts of the market into the context of technological development of renewable energy sources as a way of mitigating climate change.
