Jakarta (VNA) – ASEAN member states are working towards buildingan environmentally friendly economic bloc in line with ASEAN’s vision for 2045,Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto saidat the ASEAN Climate Forum in Jakarta.

The forum, held recently on the sideline of the 43rd ASEAN Summit, focused on strategic ideas and comprehensive thinkingregarding emissions reduction, affordable energy transition, decarbonisationstrategies, and sustainable financing.

According to Hartarto, the Southeast Asian region will beaffected by climate change and could potentially lose around 30% of its grossdomestic product (GDP) by 2050 due to increasing global temperatures andextreme weather events.

Therefore, greenhouse gas emissions in Southeast Asia need tobe reduced by 10% to 25% by 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. Toachieve this, joint cooperation by the government and the business sector isneeded now, he stressed.

Currently, parts of the ASEAN region have committed to azero-emission target. The use of electric transport and renewable energy willalso be critical for the region to meet its decarbonisation commitments, hesaid.

ASEAN countries agreed to develop an electric vehicleecosystem and become an important part of the world's supply chain, with theirindustry playing a significant role in this plan, he added.

In addition, the development of electric vehicles can play amajor role in environmental sustainability, starting from reducing greenhouseemissions, accelerating the energy transition, decarbonising the landtransportation sector to achieve the zero emissions target, and increasingenergy security in the ASEAN region.

He said that a shift to electric vehicles is important notonly in ASEAN but also at the global level due to its advantages in energydiversification and emission reduction.

The ASEAN Summit also agreed to explore cooperation andcollaboration in the development of the electric vehicle ecosystem, he added.

He said that the cooperation includes improvinginfrastructure and charging stations, creating a business environment andinvestment climate to attract investment, and encouraging public-privatepartnerships./.