Search

Asia's unprecedented economic growth and reduction in the number of poor people is fuelled mainly by industrial expansion. This growth is unsustainable unless the associated environmental impacts are significantly reduced. Resource and energy efficiency is a practical way for industry to achieve this. However, current efforts are not sufficient to capitalise on the huge energy efficiency potential, as barriers exist including low company management awareness, limited knowledge and information, lack of financing, and conflicting policies combined with weak enforcement. This paper discusses and illustrates these barriers with real-life examples from Asian companies, including China. To ensure continued energy efficiency in Asian industry it is recommended to increase management awareness, establish an organisational infrastructure for energy efficiency cooperation, invest in financial mechanisms to fund energy efficiency projects, and expand and amend policies. It is also essential to improve efficiency of other resources, especially water. As a first step, an efficiency guide was produced as part of the Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction from Industry in Asia (GERIAP) project. Without these efforts, poverty in Asia in the long term is likely to increase rather than decrease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]