Winds of Change

Abstract

This report focuses on East Asia's sustainable energy development in its middle-income countries: China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. This report suggests the strategic direction for the region to get onto a sustainable energy path over the next two decades, and presents policy tools and financing mechanisms to get there. The main conclusion is that such a path of maintaining economic growth, mitigating climate change, and improving energy security is within reach of the region's countries. However, what is required is a paradigm shift to a new low-carbon development model. Countries need to act now to transform the energy sector toward much higher energy efficiency and more widespread deployment of low-carbon technologies. At the same time, the speed and scale of urbanization in the region presents an unrivalled opportunity to build low-carbon cities by integrating sustainable energy technologies, compact urban planning, water management, and public transport. While many countries in the region are already taking steps in this direction, accelerating the speed and scaling up the efforts are needed to reach a sustainable energy path. To move the region to a sustainable energy path, the commitment of the respective governments and communities is essential. The governments will need energy-pricing reforms that no longer encourage the use of fossil fuels, and put in place regulations and incentives that improve energy efficiency and support low-carbon technologies. The governments also will need to ramp up research and development for new technologies to leapfrog to the clean energy revolution.