The International Energy Agency has published a new report which illustrates that Asia in reducing their interest in coal while increasing the money that they are spending on renewable energy. It is great news that Asia is attempting to make the most of renewable energy sources in order to cut down their use of fossil fuels. More countries around the world are looking into becoming greener, especially with the introduction of the Paris Agreement.
However South East Asia is also the location for the worldâs largest exporter of coal, so it is interesting to consider whether Asiaâs attempts to become completely coal free will be achievable. There are plans to construct 117 new coal fired power plants in the area over the course of the next five years. These plans seem counter intuitive when the continent as a whole is reducing their use of the fossil fuel. The plan has been agreed by President Joko Widodo and it is thought that the new power plants will add 35,000 megawatts of power for the country at the end of the five year period.
The report that has been published by the International Energy Agency covers a wide area, and shows that China also has significantly reduced their investment into coal. This is great news and China is the world’s largest energy investor. It is thought that these reductions around the world will lead to a significant decline in the investment made into coal fired power plants around the world.
The World Energy Investment 2017 report analysed a range of data including the energy investments from different regions across the globe. Hopefully South East Asia will follow the example that has been set by China and start to reduce their investments in fossil fuels and coal-fired energy plants, opting instead for more renewable alternatives.
