Countries in the Asia Pacific can accelerate the shift to clean energy while building competitive local industries as long as policies don't slow access to affordable technologies, a new report has found.
Researchers from The University of Queensland and University of California (UC) San Diego have examined clean technology deployment, trade and manufacturing investment across 9 Asia Pacific economies, including Australia.
UQ's Professor Christoph Nedopil said clean technology manufacturing investment announcements across the 9 countries reached more than $15.5 billion ($11 billion USD) in the first half of 2026, led by Indonesia and India.
"Across the Asia Pacific, countries are not following a single roadmap," Professor Nedopil said.
"We found there are distinct transition pathways, depending on the country's domestic industry, trade and energy priorities.
"For example, Australia's renewable energy expansion relies heavily on imported technologies similar to Pakistan and the Philippines, while Malaysia and Thailand are export-oriented.
"Meanwhile India is building manufacturing capacity, primarily for domestic use.
"The risk for import-dependant countries like Australia is an overreliance on external suppliers, but the opportunity lies in developing positions in supply chains and value-added activities."
The green economic transition triplet suggests 5 transition pathways; Import-dependent economies, Self-consumption economies, Local value-adding economies, Comprehensive green economies and Low-intensity transition economies.
(Photo credit: The University of Queensland)
Professor Nedopil said India, Australia and Vietnam lead the region in adopting renewable energy generation.
"India added 172 gigawatts (GW) of renewable capacity between 2015 and 2025, and Australia managed to add 48 GW of capacity, despite limited domestic clean technology manufacturing," he said.
Associate Professor Michael Davidson from UC San Diego said China remained the dominant supplier of imported clean technologies for most economies.
"Ninety-nine per cent of Pakistan's solar equipment imports came from China in 2025," Dr Davidson said.
"China also supplied the remaining Asia Pacific economies in the study with more than 60 per cent of their battery imports and New Energy Vehicles, except for batteries to Malaysia.
"Conversely, the United States is a dominant buyer of clean technology from the Asia Pacific, with Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand sending more than half of their solar exports to the US.
"Changing United States trade policies also create uncertainty for export-oriented manufacturers."
Professor Nedopil said investment announcements and trade surpluses did not necessarily translate into operating factories, local jobs or technological capability.
"Access to affordable imports can speed up the energy transition but building competitive local manufacturing requires sustained demand, strong supply chains and ongoing innovation," he said.
"The challenge is creating lasting economic value without slowing the shift to clean energy."
Collaboration and acknowledgements
Professor Nedopil is the lead for Asia Pacific Industry Transitions in the UQ Business School .
Dr Davidson is an Associate Professor in the School of Global Policy and Strategy, and the Jacobs School of Engineering at University of California San Diego.
The research was supported by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
