Research Database

Mobilizing private finance for renewable energy and energy efficiency is critical for Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) not only for the reduction of global temperature rise but also for meeting fast-growing energy demand. Two-thirds of green bonds issued in ASEAN were used to finance renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. This paper provides a review of green bond issuance and green bond policies in ASEAN. Issuance of green bonds in top three green bond issuing countries in ASEAN, i.e. Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, are reviewed in detail. Green bond policies in ASEAN are effective in promoting green bond issuance. However, this does not mean that green bond policies are effective in promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in ASEAN. Proceedings of green bonds issued in ASEAN can be used for financing projects abroad or re-financing past loans, thus do not necessarily promote green investments in ASEAN.

The global average sea level is rising at a rate of 3.2 mm per year according to recent observations of the IPCC. One of the main factors in sea level rise is thermal expansion, where greenhouse gases, especially CO2, accumulate and generate heat (climate change), thereby melting glaciers in the polar regions. Two villages in Kampung Bungin Bekasi, Indonesia, have already been experiencing flooding. Climate change can be addressed by environmental conservation and utilization of renewable energy to reduce CO2 production. Environmental conservation can be conducted by planting mangroves, while renewable energy is achieved by using natural renewable resources. Planting 10,000 mangrove seeds through citizen participation and by researchers from the University of Indonesia could create a new coastal ecosystem, which could prevent abrasion and become the habitat of sea biota. Renewable energy based on wind power and solar cell such as wind turbines and photovoltaics (PV) has been installed and used for streetlights, mosque lamps, and freezers. The wind turbine used in this study is made from wood, which is easy to obtain, and is designed to be compatible with the characteristics of Bungin Village, with a capacity of 500 Wp per unit. The total capacity of PV is 1800 Wp, which includes 720 Wp floating PV capacity and 1080 Wp PV monocrystalline capacity. Floating technology is chosen because the coastal areas have limited available land and the soil condition (sand) is inappropriate as a foundation for PV. The installed renewable energy is integrated and completed with a battery system and online monitoring to monitor the site in real time anytime and anywhere.

This study examines the relationship between energy consumption, financial development and economic growth for ASEAN-5 countries, namely Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, over the period from 1980 to 2017. Finance–growth and energy–growth relationships have been well researched; however, the energy–finance–growth nexus is an equally important but less explored area. Our Auto Regressive Distributed Lags (ARDL) bounds test for cointegration results suggests that the variables tend to move together in the long run for all countries, apart from Indonesia. Our study also considers the effect of a structural break due to financial crisis and confirms that the break does not affect the long-term relationship among the variables; in other words, the financial crisis does not affect the energy–finance–growth nexus. Hence, considering the consistency of energy consumption, the importance of the energy sector must not be undermined, and appropriate energy policies are instrumental in maintaining a well-managed financial sector for sustainable economic growth.

Hydropower dam information such as construction and completion timings is often incomplete and missing in existing dam databases, and the hydropower dam’s adjacency impact distance, which is important to the surrounding environment, is also lacking for many dams. In this study, we developed a new remote sensing approach to specifically determine the timings and to assess the influencing distance on land use and land cover at the above and below dam areas. We established the new remote sensing method by identifying levels shifts in trajectories of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) indicators and by identifying the change point in entropy coefficient of variation (CV) variations to allow an auto-acquisition of the information above at the water basin level. We used three geospatial datasets including 1) a 30-year Landsat time series, 2) an annual Landsat Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) composite, and 3) digital elevation model (DEM) data. We applied the proposed method to the Mekong River Basin (MRB) in Southeast Asia, where hydropower dam constructions have increased significantly since the 1990s. Results suggested that we were able to obtain the desired information for 67 Mekong hydropower dams successfully. Pearson correlation tests were used to validate timing results against official records, and the correlation coefficients were found to be 0.96 and 0.90, respectively, for construction and completion timing determination. We discovered that the buffer radius of a Mekong dam’s adjacency impact on land use and land cover was usually 4.0-km and 2.5-km in the above and below dam area. The data determined from this study may fill important information gaps in existing dam databases, and the approach developed in this case may be generalized to the other watersheds of the world, where hydropower dams exist. However, essential dam information is either incomplete or unavailable.

The primary objective of this paper is to analyse the growth of energy-related CO2 emissions in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), with specific emphasis on identifying its trends and underlying drivers. This objective is premised on the arguments that: (1) there is a general lack of analysis of energy-related CO2 emissions growth across ASEAN countries; and (2) such an analysis is critical, because it could enable an assessment to be made of the efficacy of existing energy policies for reducing emissions. Decomposition analysis is the main approach adopted in this paper. The findings of this paper suggest that the growth of energy-related CO2 emissions has slowed in some major emitters in the region, due to energy efficiency improvement, and, to a lesser extent, a gradual switch in energy fuel mix towards lower emission sources (gas and renewables). However, this improvement is unlikely to drive a major transformation in the energy sectors of the region to the extent considered adequate for redressing the challenge of rising emissions, as indicated by a steady emissions growth in most ASEAN countries over the entire study period (1971–2016). By implication, this suggests that a significant scale-up of existing policy effort is needed to rectify the situations.

The rapid expansion in mining activities is deteriorating the water quality in the Chindwin River of Myanmar. In addition, climate change may also aggravate this situation in future. Therefore, the aim of this study was to establish a connection between hydrology, mining area, heavy metal loading, and climate change in the Chindwin River. The hydrology of the upper Chindwin basin was modelled using SHETRAN hydrological model. Geochemical model PHREEQC was utilised to conduct speciation and saturation indexes modelling along the river in order to quantify the precipitated minerals along the river. Thereafter a regression relationship along with LOADEST model was used to quantify the heavy metal loads. Future climate was projected using four RCM's namely ACCESS1-CSIRO-CCAM, CCSM4-CSIRO-CCAM, CNRM-CM5-CSIRO-CCAM and MPI-ESM-LR-CSIRO-CCAM. Future discharges at water quality monitoring stations were simulated using the averaged ensembles. Finally, the heavy metal loading under future climate scenarios were analysed. Results indicate that climate change is likely to reduce future discharges by 3.4%–36.5% in all stations except in the Mokekalae station which shows 1.3%–9.4% increase in the near future discharges. Also, the projected metal loading under future climate conditions shows a decreasing pattern which is similar to the projected discharge pattern. In both baseline and future climate conditions, the area between stations Naung Po Aung and Uru downstream show the highest load effluent for both arsenic and mercury while the area between stations Uru downstream and Mokekalae show the highest load of iron effluent. Although future heavy metal loadings are expected to decrease, mining activities should be carefully monitored, since they discharge a large amount of toxic heavy metal loadings into the Chindwin River which is also expected to suffer a decrease streamflow in future.

We re-examine the relationship between CO2 emissions, energy consumption (EC) and economic growth (GDP) for the five main Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN-5) countries over the period 1980–2016. Our main contention is that the findings in previous studies that have examined the relationship between CO2, EC and GDP in the ASEAN-5 are biased because they fail to account for cross-sectional dependence (CD). We show that conventional tests applied to our dataset suggest a misleading conclusion about the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) and Granger causal relationship between CO2, EC and GDP in the presence of CD. When we apply a new panel test of Granger non-causality that addresses CD and heterogeneity, we find considerable heterogeneity. We find unidirectional Granger causality running from GDP to CO2 for Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand; unidirectional causality running from GDP to EC in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand; unidirectional causality running from EC to GDP in Singapore and bidirectional causality between GDP and EC in the Philippines. We also find support for the EKC hypothesis for the ASEAN-5 countries.

Vietnam’s economy is one of the most energy-intensive economies in the world, facilitated by long-standing government policies indirectly subsidizing energy prices through various state-owned enterprises in the energy sector. A consequence of this is that firms are using too much energy in production. This raises a crucial issue as to whether Vietnam can continue its development trajectory in the new era with rising energy prices and increased awareness of the use of fossil fuels and environmental pollution. In this context, understanding energy use patterns and firms’ behaviors regarding cheap energy prices is critical to forming appropriate energy policies and management practices. Using large-scale firm-level data, we have found explicit evidence of firms’ substitution of energy for capital inputs. This effect is present in both the short term and long term and in many energy-intensive industries. These results indicate that there is substantial benefit in appropriate pricing of primary energy and electricity, while also providing credit incentives for capital investment in more energy-efficient equipment. Reducing the rate of growth of energy demand, averaging approximately 10% annually, will have significant macroeconomic impacts. A quicker transition to less energy-intensive economic growth will also help to protect both the environment and public health.

The member countries of Southeast Asia have renewable energy sources that never run out like solar energy, wind, geothermal, hydropower, biomass, etc. Geographically, Southeast Asian countries are between two continents that have tropical and humid climate conditions in general, while only Myanmar has a subtropical climate because it is astronomically. This provides easier access to many renewable energy sources. The governments of ASEAN member countries have made several policies and promoted renewable energy to encourage individuals and industries to use renewable energy in the future. This study provides information on the status of renewable energy as a comprehensive substitute for fossils in Southeast Asian countries, which includes the potential for renewable energy in the region and the capacity of renewable energy currently available. The study also provides brief information on the potential of renewable energy, renewable energy targets, and challenges to energy demand in Southeast Asia. In addition, this paper provides several recommendations for renewable energy in Southeast Asian countries.