Improving the impact of fiscal stimulus in Asia

The analysis finds that most COVID-19 stimulus packages in the five studied Asian countries lack sufficient climate considerations, with 'dirty' stimulus often outweighing green measures. South Korea is the best performer due to its Green New Deal, while the Philippines and Singapore showed no quantified commitment to green outcomes. The report recommends increasing the size of green stimulus, implementing green conditionalities for bailouts, and expanding support for green R&D and tax reductions.

• Five Asian countries—India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, and South Korea—announced a combined total of USD 884 billion in COVID-19 recovery stimulus packages starting in February 2020.
• Across the analyzed countries, the share of stimulus that negatively impacts the environment generally outweighed the measures directed toward green outcomes.
• South Korea emerged as the best performer among the five countries, with green stimulus measures accounting for 53% of its environmentally related stimulus, largely driven by its Green New Deal.
• India allocated 31% of its environmentally related stimulus to green outcomes, but also provided significant support for the coal industry, including USD 6.8 billion for coal transportation infrastructure.
• Indonesia's stimulus is characterized by a net negative environmental impact, with only 4% of environmentally related stimulus directed toward green outcomes and significant unconditional bailouts to state-owned energy companies like PT Pertamina (USD 2.4 billion).
• The Philippines and Singapore included no quantified commitments toward green outcomes in their stimulus packages.
• Singapore's environmentally relevant stimulus (USD 483 million) was entirely directed at the transport sector, including USD 396 million for aviation support without decarbonization conditionalities.
• The Philippines' environmentally relevant stimulus was primarily 'dirty,' including USD 289 million for the tourism industry and USD 58 million for smallholder farmers and fisherfolks without sustainable practice requirements.
• The report recommends that governments integrate green conditionalities into bailouts for environmentally damaging activities, citing the Air France bailout as a positive example of requiring emission reductions.
• There is a noted underutilization of green R&D subsidies and tax reductions for green products across the five analyzed countries.

APA

Aylward-Mills, D., Payne, J., Sudirman, M., Wijaya, M. E., Muhammad, B., Muhammad, M., Rabinsa, Z. A., & Haesra (2021). Improving the impact of fiscal stimulus in Asia. Climate Policy Initiative. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Improving-the-impact-of-fiscal-stimulus-in-Asia.pdf

Chicago

Aylward-Mills, Dan, Julian Payne, Melisa Sudirman, Muhammad Ery Wijaya, Brurce Muhammad, Mecca Muhammad, Zeki Alke Rabinsa, and Haesra. Improving the impact of fiscal stimulus in Asia. Climate Policy Initiative, 2021. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Improving-the-impact-of-fiscal-stimulus-in-Asia.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{aylwardmills2021improving, author = {Aylward-Mills, Dan and Payne, Julian and Sudirman, Melisa and Wijaya, Muhammad Ery and Muhammad, Brurce and Muhammad, Mecca and Rabinsa, Zeki Alke and Haesra}, title = {{Improving the impact of fiscal stimulus in Asia}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2021}, month = feb, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Improving-the-impact-of-fiscal-stimulus-in-Asia.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }