Prime Infra’s CEO says the Paris 1.5-degree goal is ‘feasible’ for Southeast Asia—if governments are willing to pay for it

The CEO of Prime Infrastructure Capital, Guillaume Lucci, believes it is feasible for Southeast Asia to meet the Paris Agreement's most ambitious climate goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C, but only if governments are willing to accept higher energy costs. This assertion was made during a panel discussion at Fortune's Southeast Asia 500 Summit in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Lucci warned that this would require sacrificing cost and potentially rethinking some climate targets, expressing some pessimism about the region's ability to power an AI-era growth spurt without breaking its decarbonization targets. The Philippines, where Prime Infrastructure Capital is based, currently imports 98% of its oil from the Middle East, and the country recently declared a nationwide energy emergency following the Iran war, which has led to soaring local fuel prices.

Lucci pointed out that the Philippines' grid is not ready for the energy transition, with the country currently building 2,000 megawatts of pumped hydro to help stabilize its grid. Kim-See Lim, the chief investment officer of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), offered a more optimistic perspective, highlighting Southeast Asia's young, tech-savvy population and its rapid growth over the past two decades.

She emphasized that the region will need to transition to meet the effects of climate change, which are "felt quite severely" in Southeast Asia. Despite the projected rise in electricity demand of around 5.4% annually between 2026 and 2030, Lim noted that the main obstacle to achieving this transition is a shortage of investor confidence in projects, rather than a lack of capital.