{"id":6796,"date":"2026-01-23T02:51:03","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T02:51:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/?p=6796"},"modified":"2026-01-23T02:51:03","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T02:51:03","slug":"rising-coal-demand-overshadows-southeast-asias-transition-to-renewable-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/2026\/01\/23\/rising-coal-demand-overshadows-southeast-asias-transition-to-renewable-energy\/","title":{"rendered":"Rising coal demand overshadows Southeast Asia\u2019s transition to renewable energy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finn Brooks &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/southeast-climate-fossil-coal-energy-renewable-3dceea3bfa849edd9ccb78ff1e2f9b52\">https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/southeast-climate-fossil-coal-energy-renewable-3dceea3bfa849edd9ccb78ff1e2f9b52<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Southeast Asia\u2019s coal consumption is growing faster than anywhere else in the world, making the region\u2019s transition to renewable energy far more difficult than planned. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), coal demand in Southeast Asia is expected to rise more than 4% per year through 2030, with Indonesia and Vietnam leading the increase. This surge comes even as governments sign Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs) and increase renewable capacity. Indonesia is reconsidering coal phase-outs, and Vietnam continues importing record amounts of coal despite significant solar expansion. These trends threaten climate goals and worsen vulnerability to climate impacts like deadly floods<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In recent years, the nations of Southeast Asia \u2014 especially Indonesia and Vietnam \u2014 agreed to major climate-linked deals with wealthy partners through Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs). These were supposed to help finance a faster switch to renewables like solar and wind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the reality is slightly different. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Coal demand is projected to grow more than 4% annually through 2030, the fastest rate in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Indonesia, long a top coal exporter, has put its planned coal phase-out on pause and is even considering new coal plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Vietnam, despite boosting solar capacity, imported record amounts of coal in 2025 due to energy security concerns tied to past power shortages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">International climate agreements, like the Paris Accord, pressure nations to cut emissions, but economic growth and energy demand are rising fast in southeast Asia, and fossil fuels like coal still account for a large share of electricity generation across the region. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From an IR standpoint, this reflects a common systemic tension: global norms for climate action versus the hard calculus of eceonmic development and energy security. Countries that are still industrializing often find themselves caught between meeting missions pleges and keeping the lights on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Finn Brooks &#8211; https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/southeast-climate-fossil-coal-energy-renewable-3dceea3bfa849edd9ccb78ff1e2f9b52 Southeast Asia\u2019s coal consumption is growing faster than anywhere else in the world, making the region\u2019s transition to renewable energy far more difficult than planned. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), coal demand in Southeast Asia is expected to rise more than 4% per year through 2030, with Indonesia and Vietnam leading the increase. This&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/2026\/01\/23\/rising-coal-demand-overshadows-southeast-asias-transition-to-renewable-energy\/\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":331,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-analysis-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6796"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6797,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6796\/revisions\/6797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}