ASEAN Green Economy (Dr. Liao Jinxing) – EJ Tech

This articleauthorDr. Liu JinxingHonorary President of the Hong Kong Young Industrialists Council, and a columnist for the Hong Kong Economic Times“The Words of God“.

This year is truly a global election year. In addition to the US presidential election, the UK parliamentary election and the EU parliamentary election, more than 20 countries held presidential or parliamentary elections. In the United States, Republican Trump is highly popular, and the UK Labour Party is also expected to be in power again. As the political situation changes, geopolitical risks are also heating up. In response, China’s manufacturing industry has accelerated the “China+1” as a risk-averse strategy, and has selected ASEAN, Eastern Europe and South American countries as the primary target locations for setting up factories. In particular, ASEAN, located in Asia, has a large Chinese community and has become a major base for manufacturing in the Mainland and Hong Kong.

The Asian region’s economy continues to grow, and the political environment is stable. Election platforms are increasingly focused on promoting the economy and improving people’s livelihood. Compared with the previous slogans of tax cuts and handouts, this year’s focus is more on environmental protection and emission reduction. Sustainable development is an important global issue. Many countries are committed to achieving net zero emissions (Net Zero) by 2050, hoping to delay or even reverse the devastating impact of global climate change. ASEAN countries are working to reduce emissions and have set goals one after another, planning to achieve net zero emissions between 2050 and 2065. According to the Asian Development Bank, the ASEAN region will need to invest a total of about US$3 trillion in the development of various infrastructure between 2023 and 2030, including the construction of green infrastructure and the improvement of existing infrastructure. Therefore, the region has a huge demand for green technology.

Take Indonesia as an example. The country has a large population and has experienced rapid economic growth in recent years. It has gradually become a major Southeast Asian country and an important member of ASEAN. At the same time, Indonesia also has huge nickel reserves, accounting for 22% of the world’s total, which is crucial to the battery industry driven by the electric vehicle industry. Due to a sharp increase in demand, the Indonesian government imposed restrictions on nickel exports in 2020, which attracted the attention of the global new energy industry. It is reported that the Indonesian government announced an investment of US$20 billion at the end of 2023 to develop the country’s renewable energy industry, including a comprehensive investment and policy plan led by the United States and Japan, aiming to achieve the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the power grid to 250 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030.

Last year, the Vietnamese government also approved an electricity development plan, pledging to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and strive to make renewable energy account for at least 30.9% of the country’s energy use by 2030, and further increase to 67.5% by 2050. The Malaysian government’s emission reduction target is to have renewable energy account for 31.1% of the country’s energy by 2025.

With a large number of Chinese companies entering ASEAN to set up factories, emission reduction has become an important consideration for production investment. It will take a long time for Southeast Asia to develop renewable energy and reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. While expanding energy supply to meet the needs of the manufacturing industry, reducing greenhouse gas emissions is also a huge challenge. The strict requirements of the international market on ESG (environment, society and governance) have prompted these countries to invest heavily in renewable energy and technology, develop specific emission reduction roadmaps, and achieve green energy goals.

More articles by Liao Jinxing:

Support EJ Tech

If you want to submit articles, report information, publish press releases or interview notices,Click here to contact us.