Green projects needed for Asia – ADB
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has forecast “immense stress” on the environment if Asian nations don’t implement green strategies and sustainable energy policies that reflect social development and necessities of environmental protection.
“Asia has seen unprecedented urban population growth but this has been accompanied by immense stress on the environment,” Changyong Rhee, ADB’s chief economist, said on August 15 at the launch of the bank’s Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2012: Green Urbanisation in Asia report.
“The challenge now is to put in place policies which will reverse that trend and facilitate the development of green technology and green urbanisation,” Rhee added.
Since the 1980s, Asia has been the fasting urbanising continent on the planet, now accounting for nearly half of all of the world’s city dwellers, the report noted.
Debilitating traffic and the proliferation of urban slums now plagues poorly planned cities that have become hives of explosive population growth, such as Jakarta and Manila.
Further instigating worry, increased demand created by Asia’s burgeoning middle class is predicted to continue to stress energy supplies, leading to overdependence on cheaper carbon-emitting resources.
If the region is to stabilise energy consumption, economists have advised that imposing congestion and emissions charges, as in Singapore, and removing fuel subsidies, as in Malaysia and Indonesia, will restore an accurate market dynamic.
With oil and gas production levels stagnating and energy demand continuously rising, the report posts that innovative solutions will become “imperative to sustainable growth.” Waste-to-energy conversion plants, as on display in the Philippines and Thailand, or “smart” grids are some examples mentioned in the report.
Coal consumption is likely to increase if business-as-usual scenarios remain the prevailing development model, leading to a rise in carbon dioxide emissions, which could reach 10.2 metric tonnes per capita by 2050.
[caption id="attachment_4216" align="alignleft" width="240"] Changyong Rhee, chief economist of the Asian Development Bank.[/caption] The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has forecast "immense stress" on the environment if Asian nations don’t implement green strategies and sustainable energy policies that reflect social development and necessities of environmental protection. “Asia has seen unprecedented urban population growth but this has been accompanied by immense stress on the environment,” Changyong Rhee, ADB’s chief economist, said on August 15 at the launch of the bank’s Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2012: Green Urbanisation in Asia report. “The challenge now is to put in place policies...
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has forecast “immense stress” on the environment if Asian nations don’t implement green strategies and sustainable energy policies that reflect social development and necessities of environmental protection.
“Asia has seen unprecedented urban population growth but this has been accompanied by immense stress on the environment,” Changyong Rhee, ADB’s chief economist, said on August 15 at the launch of the bank’s Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2012: Green Urbanisation in Asia report.
“The challenge now is to put in place policies which will reverse that trend and facilitate the development of green technology and green urbanisation,” Rhee added.
Since the 1980s, Asia has been the fasting urbanising continent on the planet, now accounting for nearly half of all of the world’s city dwellers, the report noted.
Debilitating traffic and the proliferation of urban slums now plagues poorly planned cities that have become hives of explosive population growth, such as Jakarta and Manila.
Further instigating worry, increased demand created by Asia’s burgeoning middle class is predicted to continue to stress energy supplies, leading to overdependence on cheaper carbon-emitting resources.
If the region is to stabilise energy consumption, economists have advised that imposing congestion and emissions charges, as in Singapore, and removing fuel subsidies, as in Malaysia and Indonesia, will restore an accurate market dynamic.
With oil and gas production levels stagnating and energy demand continuously rising, the report posts that innovative solutions will become “imperative to sustainable growth.” Waste-to-energy conversion plants, as on display in the Philippines and Thailand, or “smart” grids are some examples mentioned in the report.
Coal consumption is likely to increase if business-as-usual scenarios remain the prevailing development model, leading to a rise in carbon dioxide emissions, which could reach 10.2 metric tonnes per capita by 2050.
