Southeast Asia and the economics of global climate stabilization
From 1990 to 2010, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in Southeast Asia have grown more rapidly than in any other region of the world. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has analyzed the potential role the region can play in climate change mitigation, focusing on the five countries of Southeast Asia that collectively account for 90% of regional greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions—Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam. The study examines several potential regimes for regulating global GHG emissions through 2050. These include: business as usual (BAU); fragmented national climate policies; a global climate stabilization agreement that is likely to keep warming below 3°C, by limiting GHG concentrations to 650 parts per million (ppm) CO2 equivalent by the end of the century (650 ppm scenario); and a more ambitious target that is likely to avoid warming of more than 2°C, by limiting GHG concentrations to 500 ppm CO2 equivalent (500 ppm scenario). Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) was included and excluded from the scenarios.