SECURING ASIA'S ENERGY NEEDS - CONCERNS OVER CARBON EMISSIONS HAVE NOT DAMPENED NEW AND AMBITIOUS PROJECTS TO RAMP UP CONSUMPTION OF FOSSIL FUELS

摘要

When the People's Republic of China, India, Indonesia and other countries in Asia opened their doors to international trade and foreign investment, the stampede could be heard around the world. With about 2.7 billion people, or 40% of the world's population in the region, the sheer size of their emerging markets was too big to ignore. Rapid development, particularly in the heavy industrial sectors, such as petroleum refining, chemical processing, steelmaking and construction, have fueled a steep rise in energy consumption. "The huge energy challenges facing China and India are global and call for a global response," says Nobuo Tanaka, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA; Paris). "If governments do not change their policies, oil and gas imports, coal use and greenhouse-gas emissions are set to grow inexorably through to 2030."