By analysing the collected news from the first half of the year, it is undefinable that climate change is a crucial issue and has become more pressing than ever in the region of Southeast Asia. Some of the member states of ASEAN are prone to climate impacts such as the sea-level rise and extreme weather events like extreme drought and flood.Some ASEAN capitals like Bangkok and Jakarta is threatened by the faster rate ofsinking. While sea-level rise is one of the majorimpacts of climate change, this has causing thesinking cities became more vulnerable to thenatural hazards. Hence, to further mitigate such impacts and join the global pact in limiting the earth temperature below 1.5 degrees Celsius, ASEAN needs to stand ready in integrating the climate change commitment in shaping energy policy for their long-term planning. In this insight, we would like to share a summary from our ACE news clipping in the first half of 2019 on how climate change is impacting the Southeast Asia region.
ASEAN Member States have committed to facilitate the sharing ofinformation and best practices to enhance the implementation of the Paris Agreement and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in order to build climate resilient communities in Southeast Asia. As one of the biggest emissions is from the transport sector, and one of the climate change mitigation strategies is switching from the conventional to the electric vehicle (EV). Another way is to promote the renewable energy (RE). To pursue the ASEAN aspirational target of 23% RE in its energy mix by 2025 and tackling climate change, a huge investment is really neededIn tandem with a renewable energy policy, energy efficiency effort will also become key to solve the energy demand crisis and transitioning to the sustainable energy future of ASEAN.
