The world’s most-polluted cities are in Asia. That’s true by quite some stretch.
Appropriately enough, you might think the “filter” function is broken on the ranking of the world’s worst cities for pollution, as compiled by Greenpeace and IQAir. The first 66 are all in Asia, mainly in India and China, until you start to reach the Gulf states, and Bahrain at No. 67.
By national average, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India are worst-off. China presumably is spared by its size, ranking No. 12 nationally but contributing more than half (57, to be precise) of the 100 worst-offending cities in the world.
IQAir has an incentive in tracking particulates. It’s a Swiss company that specialises in air-filtration equipment. But few who spend much time in Asia would disagree. The haze is often thick enough to obscure sight of more than a couple of city blocks. A “stroll” in the city can be decidedly “unhealthy” to “very unhealthy” in terms of the tiny particles that you’d inhale, by the standards of the World Health Organization (WHO).
These particles are byproducts of the burning of fossil fuels. That’s true whether it’s in the combustion engines of ships, cars and trucks, or in factories and power plants. Most people imagine that cars are responsible for the majority of air pollution on the planet. Yet burning coal is responsible for more pollution deaths in China than anything else, despite the huge rise in vehicles on Chinese roads.
Asia burns around 75% of the world’s coal. As a result, nine out of 10 people breathe polluted air, the WHO says. Burning fossil fuels kills about 7 million people prematurely each and every year.
Coal still powers China and India
Demand for coal outside Asia peaked in 1988, and has fallen by one-third since then. During the same period in Asia, it quadrupled. Factories and household fires are roughly comparable in magnitude, the largest sources of demand, while coal-fired power plants add another burden.
China and India have the largest number of cities with serious air pollution problems, and both have traditionally used coal to generate power. Both countries have pledged to increase investments in renewable energy.
China is in the sixth year of its “war on pollution.” It has stepped up its bid to shift the use of coal into gas and reduced coal to 59% of its energy mix in 2018, down from 69% in 2012 – although it says that’s still too high.
India has set an ambitious goal of generating 175 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2022, more than double the current tally. Coal-fired plants continue to generate 72% of India’s electricity. That should drop to 56% by 2030, and in terms of primary energy consumption, coal should soon dip below 50%.
While the energy mix may change, energy demands also continue to grow. China and India remain the world’s single two largest sources of coal, as well as site of the demand.
Southeast Asia lagging further behind
Southeast Asia has been even slower than India and China to shift from traditional fossil fuels to clean energy. The demand for energy in Southeast Asia has grown by a staggering 150% over the past 25 years.
Coal is likely to remain the single largest source of power, although a Capgemini report suggests that renewables should equate to 40% of installed capacity by 2040. The ASEAN group of Southeast Asian nations recently announced that it is already meeting the region’s energy-efficiency goals for 2020,ahead of time.
Any resistance is due to lack of money, not lack of knowledge. Most of the Southeast Asian nations are developing economies where the governments can’t afford to move away from cheap coal. Even a regional powerhouse like Singapore has a limited ability to switch to renewable energy – its choice is mainly solar – due to the city-state’s small land area and high population density.
Yet there are demonstrable signs that the will is there, if the funds are.
Leading the way
In Indonesia, a consortium led by Star Energy is investing in the country’s relatively untapped geothermal resources. Star Energy took over two geothermal plants in 2017: a 370-megawatt plant in Bogor, West Java and a 240-megawatt facility in Garut, West Java.
It’s part of a US$3 billion takeover of three Chevron geothermal power plants, the other being in the Philippines. Star Energy is a subsidiary of Indonesian petrochemical company Barito Pacific. But its partners in the deal are the Philippines-backed AC Energy, part of the Ayala Group, and Thailand’s Electricity Generating Public Co., or EGCO. It’s a three-nation collective.
Thailand is the region’s leader in terms of installed capacity for renewables. Investors pumped US$9.7 billion in assets into renewable-energy projects from 2010 through the first half of 2018.
The Thai energy group Banpu Power installed 150,000 kW worth of solar generators in 2018. Banpu, which derived 75% of its earnings from coal in 2015, is also looking to Vietnam’s long coast. It has announced plans to build its first wind project in Soc Trang Province, in the Mekong Delta. Vietnam’s long coastline should be especially conducive to harnessing wind energy.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s Tenaga Nasional is also betting big on solar energy. It connected a 50,000 kW plant near Kuala Lumpur to the grid last year. That’s the country’s largest solar-power facility.
The Philippines in 2017 saw the opening of the first factory in the country that produces photovoltaic cells. The plant, run by Solar Philippines in Batangas, south of Manila, is a crucial step in helping advance the use of solar power. The country is still expanding its power grid, with 83% of the country now having electricity. Sustainable energy sources can help fulfil a need.
Asian governments can pick up the pace
The Solar Philippines factory will sell locally and into both the United States and Europe. The private sector will always seek the most-profitable markets, and course of action. While the invisible hand of the markets can guide the renewables industry, there’s a large public good to the provision of utilities. Governments must enact policies that make the production, storage, and distribution of clean energy cost-efficient and attractive as well.
We’re already seeing this happen in places like Singapore, where the government has doubled taxes on diesel vehicles to 20 cents a litre. A similar push against coal should also encourage power companies to transition to renewables.
There’s huge potential for renewable energy to take off in Southeast Asia. The region can generate 30% more solar power than Japan, by one estimate, because of the abundance of year-round sun. Long coastlines around Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam make these countries ideal sites for wind farms.
The geography is there. Government plays a crucial role in encouraging investors to enter these markets. To the average person, renewable energy may be an abstract concept, absent from their daily lives. But its use can directly affect their health.
According to the latest version of the State of Global Air report, air pollution-related disease kills more people each year than either car crashes or malaria. Breathing polluted air was directly associated with 4.9 million deaths in 2017, and 147 million lost years of healthy life.
It is an avoidable cost. Anything that the private sector and governments in Asia do now to encourage renewable energy can directly benefit the lives of Asia’s citizens. The dirty secret of “dirty” power has been laid bare. Policymakers cannot afford to pretend anymore that they are blind to the knowledge.