According to a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA), Southeast Asia must ramp up its clean energy investments to $190 billion by 2035—about five times the current level—to meet its climate objectives.
The report emphasizes that boosting energy investments must go hand in hand with strategies to reduce emissions from the region’s relatively young fleet of coal-fired power plants.
The IEA warns that rapid economic growth in the region poses significant challenges to both energy security and climate goals.
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Despite calls for a shift away from coal power in emerging markets, efforts supported by wealthy Western nations have faced setbacks, particularly following a missed July deadline for the early closure of a pilot project in Indonesia.
Electricity demand in Southeast Asia is projected to grow at an annual rate of 4% in the coming years.
The IEA forecasts that renewable sources, including wind, solar, modern bioenergy, and geothermal power, will supply more than a third of the anticipated growth in energy demand by 2035.
However, even with this growth, the region’s energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are expected to rise by 35% by mid-century.
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Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director, highlighted the insufficient pace of clean energy technology deployment and the heavy dependence on fossil fuel imports, which exposes countries to future risks, according to a Reuters report.
The report indicates that Southeast Asia attracts only 2% of global clean energy investments, despite representing 6% of global GDP, 5% of energy demand, and housing 9% of the world’s population.
The region will need to modernize its power grids to support the integration of more variable renewable energy. This will require annual investments to nearly double to $30 billion by 2035.