Green growth and sustainable development in Asia can be accelerated through regional integrated action. Existing forums involving the financial community are well placed to develop new green business opportunities.
As Asian economies have grown, the impact on the environment has increased, not only within the region but globally. Although efforts have been made across the region, progress towards achieving the SDGs remains slow. Some of the SDGs can be accomplished through economic growth, but climate-related SDGs are becoming more difficult to achieve due to the impacts of such economic activity. Governments in Asia take climate change seriously due to damage from natural disasters and thus prioritize climate action. Yet, it is difficult to decouple economic growth and population increases from rising GHG emissions. In order to separate economic growth from environmental challenges, the following regional integrated efforts could be pursued:
- An acceleration of the ASEAN Power Grid integration coupled with efforts to increase regional renewable energy deployment. Even though there are already a variety of support mechanisms via the US–Japan partnership, the IEA and China in the context of future grid linkage, ASEAN should take a strong lead in implementing its plan through the harmonization of its member states.
- Region-wide innovation initiatives that nurture promising technology to overcome current technological constraints. Two dimensions should be considered. One is energy storage technology to enable the roll-out of more viable renewable energy, such as large-scale battery use or clean hydrogen. The other is technology like CCS to dramatically cut carbon emissions from conventional fossil fuels. If successful, these initiatives could create new business fields in green technology across the region. Some progress has been seen in the East Asia Summit discussion on a CCS network or on building awareness of the importance of innovation. Action needs to accelerate. There is a space for every economy to take the lead in this regional initiative as long as that economy has advanced technology.
- The creation of a regional circular economy. This would solve plastic waste problems triggered by the Chinese import ban on waste plastic and would contribute to mitigating GHG emissions. An expanded UN–Japan partnership or TEMM could be a good framework to lead the regional circular economy based on the experiences of each country.
- The increased participation of the financial community in regional forums to discuss green and sustainable policies. With an increase of capital flows seeking green or sustainable investment as well as stable financial circumstances in spite of COVID-19, it makes sense for policymakers to involve the financial community from the policy development stage to incorporate their requirements with actual project development policy. This early-stage coordination with the financial community would also contribute to mobilizing capital flows, even for innovative projects. The financial community should play a pivotal role in advising about project structures including on public–private partnership frameworks, risk awareness on new technology or other useful information for policymakers to develop green growth policy.
Green growth and sustainable development are undoubtedly two of the top priority areas for the Asian regional agenda. Regional integrated action can create a win-win situation across Asia by providing new sustainable business opportunities. Despite the difficult challenges that the region faces, integrated action can make a difference and should be encouraged at all levels.
