*5.5. Carbon Dioxide Emissions in the Mekong Subregion*

The region will continue to rely on fossil fuel consumption in the foreseeable future (see Figure 5). This is mainly because of the presence of the high combined share of fossil fuels in the power generation mix of the Mekong Subregion, at 67% in 2017 and 78% in the BAU scenario by 2050, as well as the high share of fossil fuel use in the TFEC. CO2 emissions rose from 42 million tonnes of carbon equivalent (Mt-C) in 1990 to 127 Mt-C in 2017. These emissions are expected to rise to 457 Mt-C in the BAU scenario and to 318 Mt-C in the APS by 2050.

Thus, the clean use of fossil fuels through clean technology deployment is indispensable in decarbonizing the Mekong Subregion's emissions, as also recently shown in a study by Han et al. [77]. Further, natural gas should be promoted as a transitional fuel to bridge towards more renewable energy in the future.
