SINGAPORE, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Southeast Asia's green economy is projected to grow from about 290 billion U.S. dollars today to 430 billion USD by 2030, driven by rising demand from electric vehicles (EVs), data centers, artificial intelligence and industrial expansion, according to a new report revealed on Monday.
Investment momentum across the region is accelerating, but execution bottlenecks -- rather than funding shortages -- remain the key challenge in converting capital into completed projects, said the report by Bain & Company and Standard Chartered.
According to the report, more than 540 billion USD in investments have been announced across Southeast Asia's power and EV value chains; however, there is a 35 percent gap between announced and realized capex, driven by grid bottlenecks, permitting delays, and fragmented market structures.
The report also highlighted that electricity demand is expected to rise by more than 100 terawatt-hours by 2030, driven by data centers, EVs, and industrial clusters.
However, grid infrastructure typically takes five to 15 years to develop, creating a major mismatch between supply readiness and demand growth.
The report also noted that Southeast Asia's EV market is expanding rapidly, but about 70 percent of EV value creation still flows outside the region, with Southeast Asia accounting for only 2 percent of global EV production.
If effectively executed, the region could unlock an additional 80 billion USD in investments by 2030, it said. ■