Southeast Asia energy policies on track to disaster

ASEAN leaders' climate change pledges are undeliverable empty promises

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20211008 coal power plant Suralaya.JPG

Smoke billows from the coal-fired power plant owned by Indonesia Power in Suralaya in July 2020: crony capitalism and the powerful lobby are stifling efforts to develop renewable energy sources. © Reuters

Hans W. Vriens is founder and managing partner of Vriens & Partners, a Singapore-based public policy and political risk consultancy.

Within 30 years, large parts of low-lying Southeast Asia will be underwater, leaving 200 million people homeless. This dire prediction is endorsed by many climate-change experts, including Sir David King, a former climate change adviser to the U.K. government.

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