Southeast Asia Faces Urgent Need for Increased Clean Energy Funding, IEA Report Reveals
Sustainability Economics
E2E AUTOMATION AND LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT OF NET-ZERO TRANSITIONS
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.
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.