Linking ASEAN’s Energy Transition Pathways to a Just Minerals Transition at the 2nd National Congress on Transition Minerals
Philippines, 27 October 2026
Photo 1. Poster of the 2nd Transition Minerals Congress
Quezon City, 27 October 2026 – The ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE), through the ASEAN Climate Change and Energy Project Phase II (ACCEPT II), took part in Day 1 of the 2nd National Congress on Transition Minerals, convened by the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC). Ms Nathania Azalia, Junior Research Analyst of ACCEPT II at ACE, presented an overview of ASEAN’s energy transition towards 2060 and served as a panellist in the roundtable discussion on “Intra-regional Trade of Minerals for a Just Energy Transition in the ASEAN”.
The Congress is a multi-stakeholder gathering that aims to discuss issues around the rising demand for minerals for a just energy transition. Convened by LRC for the first time last year as a platform to raise community voices, dialogue with legislative champions, and refine positions among civil society, the second edition looks at policy shifts and new developments in the mining space.
Following the welcome and rationale from Mx Maya Quirino of LRC, the session commenced with a paper presentation from Engr. Joshua Lopez of the LRC, presenting his team’s findings on the region’s minerals projection and opportunities for stronger intra-regional collaboration. Responding to the paper presentation, a rector presentation and panel session followed, featuring Ms Nathania Azalia of ACE, Mr Andri Prasetiyo of Senik Centre, Indonesia, Ms Nachatira Thurai of Climate Action Network Southeast Asia, Malaysia, and Dr. Genalyn G. Aquino-Arcayera of Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services (IDEALS) as panellists.
Photo 2. Ms Nathania Azalia, Junior Research Analyst of ACCEPT II at ACE, during the roundtable session
In her presentation, Ms Nathania introduced ACE as an intergovernmental organisation that advances ASEAN energy cooperation as a think tank, catalyst, and knowledge hub. This is then continued with setting out the region’s direction through the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC) 2026–2030. To show how the region could get there, she drew on the 9th ASEAN Energy Outlook (AEO9), particularly projections of the ASEAN Coordinated Transition Scenario (ACTS), a regionally optimised pathway built on stronger coordination in electricity trade, energy efficiency, technology, and investment.
The presentation then turned to the link between the energy pathways and minerals. Installed power capacity in the ACTS reaches 3,322 gigawatts (GW) by 2060, with renewables such as solar, wind, and hydropower making up 62% of the mix compared with 31% in the baseline, and interconnection under the ASEAN Power Grid grows about 20-fold, with power exchange between regional groups growing about 12-fold. Ms Nathania noted that the scale of new capacity and the pace of deployment have implications for transition-mineral demand, since requirements depend on the technologies deployed and on the supporting infrastructure needed, including grids and energy storage.
Presenting more on regional mineral strategies, Ms Nathania showcased existing regional minerals frameworks around the world. For ASEAN, this is the ASEAN Minerals Cooperation Action Plan (AMCAP-IV) 2026–2030, which covers regional minerals cooperation, sustainable development, supply security, and upstream-to-downstream value chains, alongside the ASEAN Minerals Development Vision, the ASEAN Principles for Sustainable Minerals Development, and the ASEAN Minerals Exploration Strategy. The European Union’s Critical Raw Materials Act (2024) and Africa’s Green Minerals Strategy (2025) were cited as comparisons, with the caveat that the scope, legal status, and implementation mechanisms of these frameworks differ, especially for ASEAN.
From this regional evidence, Ms Nathania put forward three considerations: to consider taking the broader energy-system requirements into account in mineral-demand assessments, including grids, storage, flexibility, electrification, and regional interconnection and not only renewable generation capacity; to strengthen alignment between energy-transition priorities and minerals cooperation, taking into account existing arrangements and the differing priorities and capacities of Member States; and to strengthen the evidence base and data-sharing within ASEAN, using the ASEAN Energy Database System (AEDS) as the region’s shared data system. She also shared that the region’s vision rests on a just and inclusive energy transition, for which ACE’s “A Guide to a Just and Inclusive Energy Transition” act as a basis.
By bringing ACE’s regional energy evidence into a room of civil society organisations, legal advocates, and civil society networks, the roundtable reaffirmed that the energy transition is a cross-cutting issue and requires deeper cross-sectoral discussions as the region moves forward towards the collective vision of a low-carbon energy future.
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