New Delhi, May 4 With India making strides in improving data transparency, scoring higher than higher-income countries like China and Japan, more than half of 39 economies in Asia have "poor" or "insufficient" power data, which are home to 684 million people.
This finding was from a new joint report by global energy think tank, Ember and climate impact multiplier, Subak, released on Thursday.
The researchers conclude that poor data transparency is holding back the speed of clean power transition in Asia, home to 80 per cent of global coal generation.
This is the first-in-kind report that presents a comprehensive regional picture of the availability of power sector data in Asia, including the Asia Pacific and Central Asia.
The research identified 74 official data sources across the region, which is a significant improvement since the first Asia Data Transparency Report 2020, led by Ember.
While India, New Zealand and Australia scored the highest, many countries with high electricity demand needed improvements. China, despite being the largest electricity consumer in Asia and globally, only scored an "acceptable" rating due to lack of detailed data and inconsistent reporting.
ASEAN countries generally scored "insufficient" or "poor" for data transparency, while Thailand and the Philippines performed relatively better.
Notably, three low-middle income countries (India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka) are making strides in improving data transparency, scoring higher than higher-income countries like China and Japan.
The authors argue that they are demonstrating good practices that can be replicated elsewhere.
he authors conclude that data transparency in Asia needs improvement, which can be done by following open data standards and guidelines that require relatively low technical or financial capabilities.
Asia accounts for 62 per cent of global power sector emissions. As its electricity demand is rising twice as fast as the rest of the world, decarbonising the power sector in the region is of crucial importance for limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees.
Ember's Asia Data Analyst, Uni Lee, said: "Data transparency enables various stakeholders in society to participate in building pathways to decarbonise the electricity grid. I hope that revealing the state of data transparency can trigger a regional and national conversation about the need to make power sector data open and free to access for all."
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