The Asean region is expected to be the world’s fourth-largest economy by 2030. But balancing the bloc’s economic success with its sustainable development obligations, including the need to cut greenhouse gas emissions, will be difficult.
A near 100 per cent increase in primary energy consumption by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states is anticipated between 2015 and 2030 in the fossil fuel-dependent region, according to a study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.