Gillipsie, Clara, and Laura Schwartz

Preview: In this essay, we explore how Asia’s auto boom will shape its energy and environmental security outlook and identify options for how policymakers and industry can respond. We begin with a brief overview of key dynamics at play in Asia’s growing demand for automobiles. Next, we explore how the regional countries hope to mitigate the extent to which road-based transit will spur greater demand for oil, first, by engaging more robust urban planning, and second, by changing patterns in consumption through raising efficiency standards and promoting new and more advanced technologies. Last, we look at how countries across the region are evaluating their options for reducing prospects that oil security strategies could contribute to regional conflict, ultimately argue that countries need to accelerate progress on regional cooperation.