Amid the current economic growth in Southeast Asia, the International Energy Agency (IEA) sees the need for the region to adopt on a wider scale clean energy technologies.

A new IEA report shows Southeast Asia is set to be one of the world’s largest engines of energy demand growth over the next decade, which will be caused by rapid economic, population and manufacturing expansions, driving up consumption, according to a new IEA report, posing challenges for the region’s energy security and efforts to achieve national climate goals.

“Southeast Asia is one of the most economically dynamic regions of the world and is set to account for a quarter of the growth in global energy demand over the next decade as its population, prosperity and industries expand,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.

“Countries in the region have a diverse mix of energy sources including highly competitive renewables. But clean energy technologies are not expanding quickly enough and the continued heavy reliance on fossil fuel imports is leaving countries highly exposed to future risks. Southeast Asia has made great progress on issues such as energy access, clean cooking and developing clean energy manufacturing, but now it must ramp up efforts to deploy those technologies at home,” he added.

This means that access to finance and investment for Southeast Asia’ fast-growing economies will play a pivotal role in strengthening their energy security and delivering on their emissions reduction goals, Birol added.

The IEA report said that based on today’s policy settings in the region, Southeast Asia will account for 25% of global energy demand growth between now and 2035, second only to India over the period and more than double the region’s share of growth since 2010.

This also means that by mid-century, energy demand in Southeast Asia will overtake the European Union’s.

This scenario will see electricity demand in Southeast Asia to surge at an annual rate of 4%, the report projects, to be fueled by the growing use of air conditioning because of more frequent heatwaves in the region.

The report said that clean energy sources – wind and solar, alongside modern bioenergy and geothermal – are projected to meet more than a third of the growth in energy demand in the region by 2035.

However, while Southeast Asia is stepping up its adoption of clean energy, this is not yet enough to reduce region’s energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, which are set to increase by 35% between now and mid-century,” according to the IEA.

“To turn this around, a major push is required to align with the outcomes of the COP28 climate change conference and meet the national goals that have been set in the region, all of which would mean halving today’s emissions by 2050, the report finds,” the IEA said.

“Today, of the 10 member economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which are among the world’s fastest growing, eight have net zero emissions goals,” it added.

NEED FOR INVESTMENTS

To reduce the region’s greenhouse gas emissions from energy production, the IEA said that scaling up clean energy investments is crucial. However, currently, Southeast Asia attracts only 2% of global clean energy investment despite accounting for 6% of global GDP, 5% of global energy demand and being home to 9% of the world’s population.

“The current level of investment will require a fivefold increase – with $190 billion needed in 2035 – to put the region on a pathway consistent with achieving its announced energy and climate goals,” the IEA said.

Furthermore, IEA said that reducing emissions from the region’s young coal-fired plants, which are less than 15 years old on average, should also be made.

There is also a need to expand and modernize Southeast Asia’s power grids to support greater shares of variable renewable energy, requiring annual investment to double to nearly $30 billion by 2035.

“This includes regional cooperation initiatives such as the ASEAN Power Grid as well renewables-based microgrids to serve islands and communities in remote areas,” IEA said.

(PHOTO FROM PIXABAY)