Asia’s climate optimism

Optimism is in the air in Asia, where the new Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership has brightened prospects for a post-pandemic recovery and a revival of multilateralism. Even more promising, there is growing regional agreement on the need to address climate change.

China’s recent announcement that it will aim for carbon neutrality by 2060 — which was followed by commitments from Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 — shows that East Asia is serious about the issue.

But truly making a difference will require reconsidering the traditional Asian development model, which has long tolerated environmental degradation in the interest of maximising growth.

While China’s commitment to carbon neutrality by 2060 is a good start, electricity demand is already forecast to double by 2050 (from 2017 levels). Beijing therefore must…