Jakarta (ANTARA) - The 2023 ASEAN Climate Forum is seeking to support ASEAN's efforts to become an environmentally friendly economic region, said Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, on Saturday."The ASEAN Climate Forum highlights the importance of a sustainable development agenda to facilitate ASEAN's transformation toward an environmentally friendly economy, in line with ASEAN's vision for 2045," he said at the 2023 ASEAN Climate Forum in Jakarta, a side event of the upcoming 43rd ASEAN Summit. The forum is expected to focus on strategic ideas and comprehensive thinking regarding emissions reduction, affordable energy transition, decarbonization strategies, and sustainable financing, he added. ccording to Hartarto, the Southeast Asian region will be affected by climate change and could potentially lose around 30 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) by 2050 due to increasing global temperatures and extreme weather events. Therefore, greenhouse gas emissions in Southeast Asia need to be reduced by 10 to 25 percent by 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. To achieve this, joint cooperation by the government and the business sector is needed now, he stressed. Currently, parts of the ASEAN region have committed to a zero-emission target. The use of electric transport and renewable energy will also be critical for the region to meet its decarbonization commitments, he said.
Source: Antara News Agency