Executive Summary

Asia is home to half the world's people, 4% of its oil and gas, and three quarters of its electrotech production. If this is to be the Asian century, its path will be electric.

Asia is electrifying rapidly. The region generates more than half the world's electricity and accounted for three quarters of global electricity demand growth since 2000. It overtook the West on electrification in 2016 and is electrifying five times faster.

It’s not just China. Southeast Asia leapfrogged the United States (US) in electrification in 2023 and EV share in 2024, and South Asia leapfrogged the US in solar share in 2022. Meanwhile, Asia excluding China is the second largest producer of both solar panels and battery components.

Asia lacks fossil fuels. It has just 4% of global oil and gas reserves, and imports $1.1 trillion of fossil fuels every year, accounting for 31% of its primary energy demand. As a result, Asia makes up 62% of global fossil imports.

But Asia is an electrotech superpower. Asia manufactures over 95% of solar panels, 85% of batteries and 75% of wind turbines. It also has enough solar and wind resources to supply at least 14 times its total energy demand and

100 times its oil and gas production.

Falling electrotech costs have opened the door to rapid change. Solar plus storage is cheaper than fossil generation across most of the region. Electric cars are now cheaper than petrol cars in many markets. Over 70% of the

energy system can already be electrified using commercially available technologies. None of this was true five years ago.

The closing of Hormuz is the catalyst. In 2024, Asia imported 45% of its oil and 30% of its LNG from the Middle East, making the region uniquely vulnerable to geopolitical disruption and fuel price shocks. High prices and shortages are forcing a rethink in Asia’s energy policy.

There is a new energy playbook for Asia. Lean into electrotech to regain energy sovereignty, reduce trade deficits, and build an Electro-Shield. Electrify road transport to halve oil imports and save over $300 billion a year, speed up renewable deployment to push LNG out of electricity, and electrify cooking to reduce fuel costs and indoor air pollution.

The prize is the Asian century. A trillion dollars a year, increasingly redirected from fuel imports to an electric flywheel. Cleaner air for the nine in ten Asians exposed to air pollution above WHO limits. Faster growth, greater security and a leading position in the electrotech industries the world will buy for decades.

The Great Convergence. The West built its wealth on fossil fuels, which fuelled the Great Divergence. Asia now has the chance to build its future on electrons.

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Source: EMBER