SINGAPORE, May 18 (Bernama-Xinhua) — Southeast Asia’s green economy is projected to grow from about US$290 billion today to US$430 billion by 2030, driven by rising demand from electric vehicles (EVs), data centres, artificial intelligence and industrial expansion, according to a new report revealed on Monday, reported Xinhua.
Investment momentum across the region is accelerating, but execution bottlenecks — rather than funding shortages — remain the key challenge in converting capital into completed projects, said the report by Bain & Company and Standard Chartered.
According to the report, more than US$540 billion in investments have been announced across Southeast Asia’s power and EV value chains; however, there is a 35 per cent gap between announced and realised capex, driven by grid bottlenecks, permitting delays, and fragmented market structures.
The report also highlighted that electricity demand is expected to rise by more than 100 terawatt-hours by 2030, driven by data centres, EVs, and industrial clusters.
However, grid infrastructure typically takes five to 15 years to develop, creating a major mismatch between supply readiness and demand growth.
The report also noted that Southeast Asia’s EV market is expanding rapidly, but about 70 per cent of EV value creation still flows outside the region, with Southeast Asia accounting for only 2 per cent of global EV production.
If effectively executed, the region could unlock an additional US$80 billion in investments by 2030, it said.
— BERNAMA-XINHUA