INFRAESTRUCTURE GROWING SUSTAINABILITY AWARENESS (AND FUNDING) This economic take-off has had an environmental impact, but it has also spurred conservation awareness in a region battered by extreme weath-er phenomena and threatened by rising sea levels. The ASEAN countries are signatories to the Paris Agreement. They have pledged to achieve a 23% contribution of renewables to their total primary energy mix by 2025, and 26 major cities are developing smart management programs. Microsoft and Temasek estimate that the region must invest USD 2 bil-lion over the next decade to cement a more sustainable, competitive economy. This spells big opportunities for ACCIONA. In fact, 40% of this enormous figure must come from the private sector, according to the Asian Development Bank, which has called for greater rate trans-parency and simplified regulations from authorities. Climate awareness is beginning to foster renewable energy and electri-fication of transportation in Thailand and Indonesia. The same thing is happening in the Philippines, whose Power Development Plan 8 aims to reduce coal dependence. In Singapore, the tax per ton of CO2 equivalent will rise from S$25 in 2024 to around S$80 by the end of the decade. This transition explains the ESG bond and credit market’s climb to 12.8 billion dollars in 2020. Vietnam has installed 9.3 gigawatts of solar pow-er and, since June, solar panel imports to the USA from Vietnam are free of import tariffs for two years. UP AHEAD, THE LIGHTS ARE ON UP AHEAD, THE LIGHTS ARE ON The foundation acciona.org contributes to the development of communities in remote areas without electricity, taking an approach that isn’t based on aid, as the communities become co-responsible for long-term management and maintenance of the PV systems installed. It just launched its project Light at Home in the community of Sibaltan Barangay, a town in El Nido in the province of Palawan, Philippines. By carefully approach-ing the families in question, most of which are indigenous, it has received the consent of 107 homes—some 400 people—which have been joined by several medical centers, schools, and co-operatives. Thanks to domestic auto-consumption equipment, they have their own electricity of renewable origin for lighting and to power appliances and cell phones. The households pay a fee, which is always less than what they previously spent on generators, batteries, and candles, and receive up to eight hours of good-quality electricity per day.