Research Database

This paper aims to evaluate the policies targeted at regulating automobile emissions among ASEAN countries but with specific attention to the Philippines. Technology-based regulations on motor vehicles play an important role in reducing green-house gas emissions. However, regulations differ based on the level of economic development, policies and technological base of each country. This paper uses an example of the Euro 4 automobile emission regulations to examine its implementation process and strategies of each ASEAN countries. It subsequently focuses on the Philippines to analyse the role of government, multinational automobile manufacturers and local suppliers. The findings show that the strategies of automobile manufacturers have positively affected local suppliers’ technological capabilities.

Global warming has emerged as one of the most serious threats to the existence of humankind. There is also increasing acknowledgement that old arguments that focused on the exhaustion of economic resources and changing dynamics of utility are no longer necessary and useful in confronting climate change. This article reviews the main arguments that have shaped recent global initiatives on mitigating climate change and global warming. The increasing introduction of climate change mitigation initiatives comes from the recognition that such initiatives no longer require reducing economic growth. Fortunately, recent developments appear promising as the majority of the world's nations pledged at the Paris Accord of 2015 to check environmental degradation. Consequently, individual signatories have supplied intended national determined contribution proposals to the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change to cap temperature rise to 1.5 ˚C over the next century.

This article analyses climate mitigation impact once the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) introduce their respective Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) using dynamic non-linear computable general equilibrium modelling and 2010 input-output tables. The results indicate that atmospheric concentration of carbon and temperatures under the business as usual (BAU) scenario will fall from 390 PPM and 0.80°C respectively in 2010 to 351PPM and 0.79°C respectively, whereas under the optimal scenario it will fall to 329PPM and 0.71°C respectively in 2060. Cumulative climate damage under BAU and optimal scenarios will remain the same at MYR8.0 Billion, MYR14.3 Billion and MYR 24.8 Billion respectively in 2010, 2015 and 2020 but it will rise after that to MYR579 Billion under the former compared to MYR513 Billion under the latter in 2060. The reduction in carbon emissions shall also be achieved without a tangible fall in GDP per capita.

All states, whether governed by liberal or illiberal regimes, face the prospect of momentous and potentially catastrophic environmental impacts due to climate change. Historically, energy policy has been directed towards simply achieving energy security. This goal has now been significantly complicated by the need to achieve it while minimizing greenhouse gas emissions. Environmental non governmental organizations (ENGOs) could play a crucial role in promoting the transition to energy and climate security but the relative (il)liberalism of the political regime they operate under influences their effectiveness. This article assesses how ENGOs have impacted on the transition to energy and climate security in Myanmar and Thailand, two Southeast Asian countries highly susceptible to climate impacts and characterized by illiberal rule. It finds that the impact of ENGOs was highly dependent on their strategies, tactics and operation, with community-level projects providing a key route to effect change under conditions of extreme illiberalism.

The Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) recognizes the role of nonmotorized transport for sustainable urban development in its policy framework. National and local policymakers in Thailand and The Philippines, two tropical countries without a tradition of urban cycling, are increasingly paying attention to cycling as well. This article aims to assess the current situation and progress in cycling, using Bangkok and Metropolitan Manila as case study cities, and to describe the necessary conditions for advancing the significance of cycling in tropical megacities. This is done by operationalizing the so-called Technological Innovation Systems (TIS) framework, which has been used in transition studies since 2008, however, never for cycling. As such this article also “tests” this framework for its application in sustainable transportation. The two case studies are characterized with regards to the current role of cycling in the mobility system, its infrastructure, governance system, and existing research on the potential and barriers. We find that TIS can readily be applied to our cases, with the analysis showing that elements such as knowledge development, actor networks, e-bike adoption, infrastructure, resource mobilization and legitimation are not well developed; on the other hand, flat terrain, attention for cycling for health and environment, heavy congestion, expansion of public transport, growing bike industry, active university communities, and the emergence of advocacy coalitions, could open up opportunities for increasing its modal share.