Eco-Business

Rising electricity demand from data centres is putting pressure on the country to expand generation and grid capacity, but shorter-term commitments from some operators could make it harder to recover the cost of those investments, said the country’s energy regulator.

Workers installing solar panels in Vietnam

As of 2025, solar electricity was already 50 per cent cheaper than gas on average across Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, according to a Zero Carbon Analytics study. The cost gap is expected to widen to 84 per cent by the end of the decade.

Cebu’s recurring grid alerts expose a flaw in Philippine renewable procurement, as low-cost projects on outlying islands cannot always supply the Visayas’ biggest power market, leaving Cebu reliant on costly diesel, says Aurora Energy Research’s Patrick Tan.

Banks headquartered in eight Asia-Pacific markets facilitated just US$0.83 of low-carbon energy financing for every US$1 directed towards fossil fuels in 2024

Bangkok’s response to the LNG price shock highlights a regional problem in which sustainable finance instruments are proliferating, yet clean energy projects remain harder to fund than fossil fuel projects.

By Hannah Alcoseba Fernandez

By Taejun Kang

By Siva Selan

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Workers in an electronic manufacturing factory in a Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) area in Laguna.

The World Bank has made a volte-face on industrial policy. Southeast Asian countries will need to consider the new policy, but calibrate it across vastly different national contexts. By Marco Kamiya

Vietnam has limited room for manoeuvre on the energy front as supply tightens, but is proactively playing the hand it has been dealt. By Le Hong Hiep

Now is the time to double down on renewable energy and electrification. By Lidy Nacpil

To accelerate the retirement of coal, we need a scalable incentive framework that offers equitable participation and fair distribution of costs and benefits. By Mike Ng

By Ian Storey

By Kaushik Sridhar

By Le Hong Hiep

By Jessica Cheam

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A growing number of companies are admitting that they can't meet their sustainability targets. Has the era of "corporate vulnerability" begun, where companies are more honest about their sustainability progress?

While some companies greenhush, others are upfront about their inability to meet sustainability targets. Eco-Business asked experts at the Ecosperity conference if it pays for businesses to be "vulnerable" about sustainability progress.

Economic fears look set to trump any concerns about climate change among voters, according to street interviews conducted by Eco-Business.

Campaigning for the city-state's general elections has crossed the halfway mark, but climate has hardly featured as an electoral issue. Eco-Business hits the streets to ask Singaporeans from a range of socioeconomic groups: Would they vote for a party that promises bolder climate action?

Transition credits explainer video_title card

There is consensus that coal needs to be retired early in Asia, but the mechanisms for financing the phase-out are not clear. This mini-documentary examines how transition credits work and whether they can fund Southeast Asia's equitable switch to clean power.

Gaurav Sant, founder of startup SeaChange, tells Eco-Business about a technology he hopes will give the world's oceans the capacity to absorb additional carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

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Luanne Sieh has been group chief sustainability officer at CIMB Bank for the last eight and a half years

The Malaysia-headquartered bank's sustainability chief tells the EB Podcast about the discipline's mandate to prove value, wrestling with NGOs, and greenwashing in finance.

EB Studio Critical to the country’s energy security in the 1970s, geothermal is now re-emerging as the Philippines’ biggest clean energy advantage at a time when countries are seeking reliable, round-the-clock renewable power, says Francis Giles B. Puno, president and chief operating officer of First Gen Corporation.

Government must call on development finance institutions to tap on risk management tools to make the capital-intensive technology more investible, Global Wind Energy Council’s Ann Margret Francisco tells the EB Podcast.

As the Philippines gears up to chair Asean next year, Michael Sinocruz says the government will push offshore wind to bolster cross-border renewable energy trade, while protecting marine life impacted by infrastructure.

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