Who’s winning the green investment race in Southeast Asia?

This briefing analyzes public clean energy investments and climate policies from China, Japan, South Korea, and Australia within the ASEAN region, specifically focusing on Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam. It details the dominance of China in overall public funding and specific technologies like wind and hydropower, Japan's leadership in geothermal and solar, and the strategic approaches of South Korea and Australia to integrate into the region's green economy.

• China is the leading public investor in clean energy within key ASEAN markets, contributing over USD 2.7 billion between 2013 and 2023. This investment is primarily channeled through the China Development Bank and Export-Import Bank of China.
• Investment leadership varies by technology: Japan is the top investor in geothermal (approx. USD 1.3 billion) and solar (approx. USD 142 million), while China leads in wind (approx. USD 1.28 billion) and hydropower (USD 1.1 billion) for the 2013-2023 period.
• The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has shifted toward "green development," with renewables accounting for approximately 30% of all BRI energy investments in 2024, totaling a record USD 11.8 billion. In 2024, China provided about USD 1.83 billion for clean energy financing in Southeast Asia via the BRI, with Vietnam receiving the most at USD 975 million.
• Japan utilizes dedicated financing mechanisms like the Asia Zero Emissions Community (AZEC), which includes the Asia Energy Transition Initiative (AETI) and a USD 10 billion pledge for energy transition. However, roughly 34% of AZEC projects support renewables, while over a third include fossil fuel technologies like liquified natural gas (LNG).
• South Korea's financial initiatives are smaller in scale compared to China and Japan. Key mechanisms include the ASEAN Catalytic Green Finance Facility (providing over USD 1 billion in loans) and the ASEAN-Korea Cooperation Fund (USD 45 million for environment projects as of January 2025).
• Australia's strategy focuses on exporting renewable energy and technical expertise, targeting a market estimated at USD 10 billion per year by 2030. Major projects include the Australia-Asia Power Link (AAPowerLink), a subsea cable intended to export 2GW of solar energy to Singapore via Indonesia by the early 2030s.
• ASEAN countries face significant financing gaps to meet 1.5°C-aligned targets. While the region aimed for renewables to comprise 23% of primary energy supply by 2025, it only reached 13.5% as of October 2025, partly because annual investments were only USD 8 billion between 2016 and 2021 against a required USD 27 billion.

APA

Team, Z. (2025). Who’s winning the green investment race in Southeast Asia? Zero Carbon Analytics. https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/insights/briefings/the-race-to-invest-in-southeast-asias-green-economy/

Chicago

Team, ZCA. Who’s winning the green investment race in Southeast Asia? Zero Carbon Analytics, 2025. https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/insights/briefings/the-race-to-invest-in-southeast-asias-green-economy/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Team |first1=ZCA |title=Who’s winning the green investment race in Southeast Asia? |publisher=Zero Carbon Analytics |date=20 May 2025 |url=https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/insights/briefings/the-race-to-invest-in-southeast-asias-green-economy/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{team2025whos, author = {Team, ZCA}, title = {{Who’s winning the green investment race in Southeast Asia?}}, institution = {Zero Carbon Analytics}, year = {2025}, month = may, url = {https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/insights/briefings/the-race-to-invest-in-southeast-asias-green-economy/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }