Asia | Steaming ahead

Vietnam is leading the transition to clean energy in South-East Asia

But it still needs to wean itself off coal

A worker rides his motorcycle near lorries transporting coal before it is loaded onto a Chinese ship at a port of the Cua Ong Coal Preparation Company in Cam Pha town, in Vietnam's northeast Quang Ninh province, 200 km (124 miles) from Hanoi September 21, 2010. Vietnam will need to import 3 million to 15 million tonnes of coal a year by 2015, rising to 21 million to 40 million annually by 2020, as new coal-fired power plants are built, Tran Xuan Hoa, chief executive of state mining firm Vinacomin said. Meanwhile, the Southeast Asian country, which is the world's top anthracite exporter, will gradually cut coal exports to 3-5 million tonnes per year, predominantly for metallurgy, a trade ministry official said. REUTERS/Kham (VIETNAM - Tags: ENERGY BUSINESS) - GM1E69M1A5401
|SINGAPORE

South-east asia is among the parts of the world most vulnerable to climate change. Yet this smoke-belching region seems uninterested in forsaking fossil fuels. Vietnam is a bright spot on an otherwise soot-black map.

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Steaming ahead”

A new era

From the June 4th 2022 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from Asia

Protesters wear Taiwan People's Party former chairman Ko Wen-je's masks to protest against the perceived judicial injustice

Taiwan’s political drama is paralysing its government

Domestic dysfunction plays right into China’s hands

A man wears a Australian flag and a cork hat on Australia Day

An angry culture war surrounds Australia Day

Conservatives claim that wokeness is destroying the national holiday


Stills from Gayrat Dustov's video tirade on social media

The fate of a ranting driver raises doubts about the “new” Uzbekistan

It seems free speech is not so guaranteed after all


Indian politicians are becoming obsessed with doling out cash

Handouts are transforming the role of the state—perhaps for the worse

How to end the nightmare of Asia’s choked roads

The middle classes love cars but hate traffic

Can Donald Trump maintain Joe Biden’s network of Asian alliances?

Discipline and creativity will help, but so will China’s actions