SMARTS's new publication: Fossil Fuel Lock-In vs. Clean Power: Pathways for the Developing Asian Region by 2050

SMARTS Center
5 days ago
2 min read

⚡ 🌏 What are the Opportunities for developing Asian economies to decarbonize with rising electrification demand?

📊 “Fossil Fuel Lock-In vs. Clean Power: Pathways for the Developing Asian Region by 2050–2060,” compares the challenges across Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, and Thailand.

🏭 A unique challenge for these developing economies is what should be the retirement plan for their young coal fleets with substantial technical and economic life? Developed industrialized countries had more than 100 years to gradually retire their coal fleets. Developing countries with young coal fleets need a blueprint of just-transition paths to be internationally negotiated.

🎯 Pledged Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of many developing countries include end-use electricity demand-side interventions. This study models the future emission pathways, including NDC-compatible and Ambitious targets for energy efficiency (EE) and demand-side flexibility (DSF), and suggests, with evidence, how integrated demand and supply planning, coupled with gradually rising Renewable energy penetration, can decarbonize power systems by 2050-2060.

🌿 The comparative evidence confirms that by committing to Integrated Demand-Supply pathways, emerging Asian economies can expand their clean power systems with:

- lower cost,

- with less land, and

- with lower emissions.

🗝️Their success hinges on:

(i) early, large-scale deployment of EE and DSF to better optimize system size;

(ii) timely, well-planned coal and gas phase-down backed by dedicated just-transition institutions and social protections for workers and affected regions;

(iii) scaling-up of investment through domestic reforms and international climate finance; and

(iv) robust frameworks for land-use governance, grid modernization, and diversified storage.

Read the paper:

https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ae9bd9

#EnergyTransition #CleanEnergy #PowerSystems #DemandSideFlexibility #EnergyEfficiency #RenewableEnergy #JustTransition #ClimateFinance #Decarbonization #SouthAsia #SoutheastAsia #coalphaseout