East Asia must rev up green efforts

More investment, faster action needed, says World Bank
Jessica Cheam, Straits Times 20 Apr 10;

MAJOR countries in East Asia will have to invest an additional US$80 billion (S$110 billion) per year for the next 20 years to stabilise the region's growing carbon emissions.

The financing is on top of the US$100 billion a year that the region plans to invest to boost energy efficiency and develop renewable energies.

The figures are part of a new World Bank study released yesterday that examined the region's energy landscape.

It found that it is 'within reach' of governments to mitigate climate change without compromising economic growth, even while improving energy security.

But while many countries are taking steps in the right direction on energy, accelerating the speed of these efforts is crucial, said the bank's senior energy specialist Wang Xiaodong, who led the report.

'The window of opportunity is closing fast, because delaying action would lock the region into a long-lasting high-carbon infrastructure,' said Dr Wang.

The World Bank study covered China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

It noted that although the region has experienced the fastest economic growth in the world for the past 30 years, it is also home to many of the planet's most polluted cities.

East Asia's carbon emissions - regarded by scientists as the culprit behind climate change - have more than tripled in 20 years, with China accounting for 85 per cent of regional energy consumption and emissions.

The 'formidable challenge' now is to mobilise financing for the right investments, said Dr Wang at the report's launch at the Thomson Reuters office at One Raffles Quay.

About US$85 billion a year is needed for energy efficiency in the power, industry and transport sectors, while US$35 billion is needed for low-carbon technologies.

But energy efficiency measures to be implemented will mean the region can avoid having to invest an average of US$40 billion a year in thermal power plants.

Therefore, the total additional financing needed is US$80 billion a year, said the report.

If nations move in a sustainable direction, low-carbon technologies will meet half the region's power needs by 2030, the report estimates.

Fuel subsidies by governments in China, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand should be cut to discourage energy consumption, said the bank.

Dr Wang noted that even though eco-cities are sprouting across the region, there is no 'national standard'. 'Singapore, with its proven model of compact urban design and planning, has a lot to offer in experience to these emerging cities,' she said.

Meanwhile, the bank is focused on conducting policy dialogues across the region and stepping up knowledge-sharing with local banks so that more financing can be offered to energy efficient and clean technology solutions, she said.

World Bank: East Asia 2025 emissions forecast
Yahoo News 19 Apr 10;

BEIJING (AFP) – The World Bank said Monday that East Asia could stabilise its greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 while maintaining economic growth by investing in energy efficiency and low-carbon technologies.

Achieving the target would require the region's biggest energy guzzlers to invest an extra 80 billion dollars a year to make power, industry and transport sectors more efficient and develop renewable energy, the World Bank said.

Success also depends on the region finding the political will for big changes as well as transfers of financing and technologies from developed countries, the Washington-based lender said in a regional energy report.

"Major investments in energy efficiency and a concerted switch to renewable sources of power... could simultaneously stabilise greenhouse gas emissions, increase energy security while improving local environments," the report said.

But the World Bank warned time was running out and urged policymakers in energy-hungry China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam to act quickly.

"While many East Asian countries are taking steps in these directions, accelerating the speed and scaling up the efforts are needed to get on to a sustainable energy path," it said.

"The window of opportunity is closing fast, because delaying action would lock the region into a long-lasting high-carbon infrastructure."

If countries act, regional carbon emissions could stabilise by 2025 and begin to decline slightly, said the bank, which provides financial and technical aid to developing nations.

Achieving the target depends largely on China, which accounts for 80 percent of energy consumption and 85 percent of regional carbon emissions, it said.

The world's third-largest economy will need to reduce its carbon emissions as a percentage of economic growth by an even greater margin than currently planned, the bank said.

It called that a "daunting goal," given that China is still a developing country relying on energy-intensive, heavy-polluting industries.

It also noted that major policy and institutional reforms as well as big lifestyle changes would be needed throughout the region to achieve the goal.

World Bank Says East Asia Can Stabilize CO2 By 2025
David Fogarty, PlanetArk 20 Apr 10;

China, the world's top greenhouse gas emitter, and five other East Asian nations, need a net additional investment of $80 billion per year to get on to a sustainable energy path, the World Bank said on Monday.

Such investment was crucial to curb an otherwise inevitable surge in planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions as regional economies grow to lift millions out of poverty and to meet the energy needs of rapid urbanization, the Bank said in a report.

The report, "Winds of change: East Asia's sustainable energy future," said it was possible for China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam to stabilize their greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 without compromising growth.

But the move would require major policy changes and investments in energy efficiency and a concerted switch to renewable sources of power.

Such a switch would also increase energy security while improving local environments.

Underscoring the region's rapid rise, the bank said East Asia achieved a 10-fold increase in GDP over the past three decades, leading to a tripling of energy consumption, which was expected to double again in the next two decades.

"Countries need to act now to transform the energy sector toward much higher energy efficiency and widespread deployment of low-carbon technologies," Jim Adams, World Bank Vice President for the East Asia & Pacific Region, said in a statement.

The report looked at two scenarios in which development continued according to current government policies and an alternative, low-carbon growth path.

MAJOR HURDLE

Under the alternative sustainable energy development (SED) path, the report said renewable energy, including hydropower, wind, biomass, geothermal and solar, could meet a significant proportion of the region's power needs by 2030.

And to achieve this sustainable energy path, net additional investment of $80 billion per year was needed over the next two decades, or an average of 0.8 percent of regional GDP. But mobilizing this financing was a major hurdle, the Bank said.

"Historically, financing has been a constraint in developing countries. The results have been under-investment in infrastructure and a bias toward energy choices with lower up-front capital costs," it said.

It also estimated that approximately $25 billion per year would be required as concessional financing to cover the incremental costs and risks of energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Under the reference (REF) scenario, emissions of local air pollutants and CO2 would double over the next two decades. Coal would also continue to be the dominant fuel.

This would lead to growing energy security concerns triggered by increased risks of price volatility and exposure to disruptions in energy supplies, the report says.

"Throughout the next two decades, imports of oil and gas will grow across the region. Under the REF scenario, by 2030 China is expected to import 75 percent of its oil and 50 percent of its gas demand and become the largest oil importer in the world. Malaysia and Vietnam are projected to switch from being net energy exporters to net importers," it says.

Under the SED scenario, CO2 emissions of the six countries could peak at 2025 and decline slightly thereafter.

Local environmental damage costs by 2030 would drop to $66 billion versus $127 billion under the REF scenario.

The study said the share of coal in power generation was projected to decline from 70 percent under the REF scenario to 36 percent under the sustainable development scenario by 2030. This assumed that carbon capture and storage would play a key role.

This would also require a 3-fold increase in the share of low-carbon technologies such as renewable energy and nuclear in power generation from today's 17 percent.

"Scaling up renewable energy requires putting a price on carbon and providing financial incentives to deploy renewable energy technologies," the report says.

(Editing by Clarence Fernandez)