The Indonesian Government, aligning with the Paris Agreement, plans to fulfill its commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In 2060, the estimated total energy demand is 1800 TWh, with a significant shift towards alternative energy sources, notably nuclear power, which contributes 247 TWh (16.5%) to the total energy mix, aiming to reduce CO2 emissions significantly compared to fossil fuels.

Sustainable aviation fuels is a strategic long-term solution for zero-carbon aviation industry by 2050, thus underscoring the need to accelerate the deployment through reforms in the relevant key areas. Aligned to the agenda, this paper aims to study the policy opportunities for drop-in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) deployment in the ASEAN by considering the initiatives undertaken. by Indonesia and Malaysia. Four areas are used as coding framework to assess the current status, challenges, and policy opportunities, namely (1) policy, strategy, and reforms; (2) standards and certification system; (3) economic instruments; and (4) international integration. First, the current status and challenges within each country is assessed. Indonesia has shown a more command-and-control approach with an upfront SAF blending mandate. However, it needs to be supported by several compliance measures. Malaysia, on the other hand, has conducted country assessments but no SAF-specific policy has been issued yet. Both countries still lack the economic instruments, while international integration is still relatively under-explored with only limited inter-regional partnerships. As the biggest palm-oil producing countries, Indonesia and Malaysia possess enormous potentials to lead the region in deploying SAF, thus more initiatives are urged.

The ASEAN is currently trying to mitigate the amount of CO2 emissions per country. This is not only to contribute to the worldwide goal of lessening greenhouse gases, but to also ensure the safety of its member states by combatting the effects of climate change. The effects as stated by the IPCC, such as rising water levels, rising ambient temperature, and an increase in the frequency of tropical storms, can greatly endanger members of the ASEAN. It must be noted that a majority of its members are archipelagic, have areas of extreme poverty, and rely on agriculture for production. Therefore, the temporal logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) has been conducted in order to determine the possible drivers that cause the changes in CO2 emissions per year for all ASEAN member countries. The drivers of CO2 were divided into the population, economic activity, energy intensity, and energy structure effects. CO2 emissions per fuel type were calculated using their respective emission factors. Knowing which drivers constitute the most CO2 emissions in a country would help pinpoint which areas could be worked on. It was found that Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, and Lao PDR had the most impressive decrease in CO2 emissions due to energy intensity and structure effects. A majority of the other countries have either stayed constant or even increased CO2 emission output per year from each effect. Therefore, general policies based on the success of these countries that could be applied for each member country are recommended in this study.

This paper presents a conceptual study of ASEAN countries, explore the possibility of developing carbon trading futures and options market from an economic perspective. Owing to market-based complementarity and an invisible hand in the economic market to influence the market and the difference in the development level of ASEAN countries, the joint planning of carbon trading mechanism (carbon trading emission rights mechanism) has become a great trend in the future. The ASEAN countries are currently at a stage of high industrial development; it also brings many pollution problems. How to maintain economic stability and even growth without prejudice to the environment is one aspect of the hard work of scholars studying environmental protection and economists jointly. This paper sets a framework for a carbon trading mechanism to study what impact it will have on the market economy and the environment. It is hoped that this creative idea will be realized and benefited mankind and nature in the future.