Research Database

The paper assesses the rising interest in Circular Economy (CE) within ASEAN countries, revealing varying levels of progress, with Vietnam showing promise and Brunei, Laos, and Myanmar lagging, providing insights for investors, the public, academia, and policymakers.

This paper examines Indonesia's pursuit of achieving net-zero emissions by 2060, focusing on its utilization of green diplomacy, and highlights two key approaches: external efforts involving international partnerships for funding and eco-friendly technology transfer, and internal policies, including cross-actor initiatives to support the NZE 2060 policy, emphasizing the necessity of both international collaboration and domestic policy alignment for Indonesia to attain its net-zero emissions goal.

This study explores the impact of ASEAN's 2050 carbon neutrality goal on climate change and coastal ecosystems, particularly focusing on CO2 emissions from the coastal shipping sector. Using geospatial data and various sources, it reveals that container ships emitted 13.7 × 106 t of CO2 in 2019, contributing 3.8% of total greenhouse gases in 2020. Without regulations, emissions could quadruple by 2050. The study recommends adopting clean fuels, energy efficiency standards, and fuel-related regulations to achieve a 65–80% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050. Emphasizing cleaner technologies and collaboration, it holds significance for professionals in maritime, shipping, policy-making, environmental consultancy, sustainability, and international organizations.

This study evaluates the environmental and economic impacts of ICE vehicles, HEVs, PHEVs, and EVs in Indonesia, aspiring for net zero emissions by 2050. While EVs have the lowest CO and CO2 emissions but higher NOx and N2O emissions, their lower maintenance costs contrast with higher upfront costs. HEVs present a balanced option, offering insights for sustainable transportation solutions in the transition to net zero emissions.

In Thailand, most schools rely on electricity from the national grid, making it challenging to achieve net-zero energy. However, this research focuses on a school near the Thailand-Myanmar border, utilizing locally available solar and hydropower resources. A proposed electrification system, including PV modules, batteries, and an inverter, effectively supplied the school's electricity needs. As a result, annual diesel consumption dropped significantly, leading to a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (3650 kg-CO2e). With further energy efficiency measures, the school has the potential to achieve net-zero energy.

The study explores decarbonization strategies for the ASEAN power sector from 2018 to 2050, proposing integrated models incorporating renewable energy, carbon capture, and cross-border transmission grids, with transmission contributing minimally to costs (up to 0.3%) but potentially reducing cumulative system costs by 10.8%, requiring a total investment equivalent to 29.6%-44.2% of ASEAN's 2018 GDP, and highlighting the need for country-specific investments to achieve a carbon-neutral power sector.

In the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) countries, where the energy sector accounts for 84% of CO2 emissions, achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 would require the adoption of efficient technologies, renewable energy sources providing at least 81% of electricity, and the implementation of advanced low-carbon technologies, such as carbon capture and storage, particularly in coal, natural gas, and bioenergy industries, along with the utilization of electric vehicles in the transport sector, as essential measures to decarbonize the energy systems.

This study employs a global CGE model (GTAP-E-PowerS), which was specifically designed for climate change policy studies. This is a GTAP-based model, which was widely used in the literature to study different climate change and tax-related scenarios and was extended by Peters (2016) to include various base-load and peak-load electricity generation technologies. In each generation of technology, there are fossil- and renewable-based resources of which these resources are substitutable for each other within each technology, but base load and peak load electricity commodities are uniquely without any substitution. The model was then developed further by Nong (2020) to improve the capacity of the carbon market and associated simulations.

This study has been produced under the Climate Compatible Growth programme, which is funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). The views expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect the UK government’s official policies.