PE Live: Development goals impacting Asia-Pac transitions

The need to build power capacity fast enough to support rapid economic growth while ensuring security of supply means that decarbonisation cannot be the primary objective

The speed of national energy transitions in the Asia Pacific region is being determined by the need to balance development goals with ambitions to decarbonise economies, an expert panel agreed on a PE Live webcast last week. “We operate in a region of the world that is growing very rapidly,” says Luca Tonello, general manager at Japanese bank Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). “It needs economic development to be supported with… electrification, access to power and infrastructure. That enables economic development to take place and living conditions to improve. This is the dilemma.” While governments must be mindful of this reality, there is a clear desire to engage in the transitio