Asia stands at the centre of the global climate transition, with much of its energy future still to be built. While the region faces complex economic and social tradeoffs, this also gives Asia a unique opportunity to build right the first time. The technologies for a net zero future already exist. The challenge now is scaling them effectively through viable business cases, supportive policies, and cross-border cooperation.

Ashwin Balasubramaniam, Partner, Singapore, Head of Energy Transition & Sustainability, South East Asia, McKinsey & Company, outlines three imperatives for Asia's decarbonisation journey. Watch here:

About Ashwin Balasubramaniam, Partner, Singapore, Head of Energy Transition & Sustainability, South East Asia, McKinsey & Company

Ashwin Balasubramaniam is Partner, Singapore, and Head of Energy Transition & Sustainability, South East Asia at McKinsey & Company. He co-leads the company's Sustainability Growth Platform in Southeast Asia, where he works with a diverse range of clients to advance their sustainability and decarbonisation goals.

He is deeply passionate about tackling the energy and climate challenge. Over the years, he has built broad experience spanning management consulting, investment portfolio advisory, business development, supply chain management, operations, digital and advanced analytics, and project management.

Since joining McKinsey in 2012, Mr Balasubramaniam has led multiple large-scale transformation programmes for energy and industrial clients across the region. His recent work includes driving an advanced analytics-based decarbonisation transformation for a fossil power generator and accelerating a giga-scale renewables deployment strategy for a state-owned utility.

He has also shaped innovative transactions to unlock investment in power sector decarbonisation, collaborating with regulators, financial institutions, developers, and utilities. In addition, Mr Balasubramaniam has helped design a green energy business roadmap for an oil and gas company, focusing on renewables, hydrogen, and electric mobility. He has also guided a traditional automotive original equipment manufacturer (OEM) in developing new green business models and helped establish a sustainability academy to build the capabilities of a major energy company.

Before joining McKinsey, Ashwin held regional marketing, operations, and project management roles at Vopak and Shell, covering business improvement and development functions.

He holds a Master of Science in Applied Finance from the Singapore Management University and a Bachelor of Engineering in Chemical Engineering from the National University of Singapore.

Outside of work, Mr Balasubramaniam enjoys collecting and reading books, pencil sketching, and learning new languages.