Call for S-E Asia to speed up renewable energy transition

Capacity must rise by 7 to 12 times for solar, onshore wind power to hit net-zero targets

- Sue-Ann Tan

Southeast Asia has to speed up in building its renewable energy capacities in order to hit the region's net-zero targets, experts said on April 4.

The region's annual renewable capacity additions have to increase by seven to 12 times for solar and onshore wind power, as compared with the region's annual average from 2018 to 2021, said McKinsey &

Company senior partner Vishal Agarwal at an event to discuss a report on Southeast Asia's transition to renewables.

The report was published by the Economic Development Board (EDB) and led by McKinsey, with Mr Agarwal as one of its co-authors.

It was launched at 2023's United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP28.

"It is important for South-east Asia to move more aggressively on the topic of renewables," he said, noting that the region currently makes up about 5 per cent of global emissions.

This is expected to double to 10 per cent by 2050, not because the region is increasing its carbon emissions, but because it is not decarbonising fast enough, he added.

The report noted that South-east Asia significantly lags behind other regions' markets, because it only recently started adding renewables capacity at scale.

The region has also historically capitalised on coal and gas to produce cheap power from subsidised fossil fuels, the report added. There are efforts to retire these coal power plants early, but the transition will still take time to take effect.