Research Database

The power sector is one of the major contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions while also being vulnerable to climate change in its own right. Accordingly, the global power sector needs to accelerate decarbonization. This paper assesses power sector pathways to net-zero emissions by 2050 for the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) using the Low Emissions Analysis Platform (LEAP). In addition to simulating a net-zero emissions scenario, the paper builds reference and renewable policy scenarios, enabling an analysis of additional measures required beyond the business as usual and current policy trajectories to achieve net-zero emissions. The LEAP simulation results indicate that under the net-zero emissions scenario, ASEAN member states need to swiftly capitalize on their currently underutilized renewable energy potential to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. By then, there will have to be a substantial transformation of the technological portfolio with variable renewable energy and energy storage coming to play central roles. The LEAP simulations also indicate that renewable and energy storage technologies are more cost-competitive than carbon capture and storage for achieving the long-term net-zero emissions goal. In the LEAP modeling, GHG emissions rise until they peak in 2029, then gradually decline until reaching zero by 2050. Meanwhile, the emission abatement cost is 16 USD/ton CO2e in the renewable policy scenario and 12 USD/CO2e in the net-zero emissions scenario.

The association between economic growth (EG) and environmental degradation (ED) has been highlighted extensively in prior studies. However, investigation regarding ‘technological innovation and clean energy role’ in dealing with environmental concerns has comprised limited context while considering the ASEAN economies under sustainable development goals. Therefore, the study attempts to investigate the phenomenon by using CS-ARDL analysis under short as well as long run. The findings through CS-ARDL in long- and short-run indicate that REN have impact carbon emission and ecological footprints negatively. Additionally, the EG in targeted economies is causing a higher level of CE and ecological footprints. Whereas, GDP2ofund to be significant in lowering the ED in the form of CE and ecological footprints. It is suggested that policies related to CE through EG should be developed in order to control the environmental issues in the future.

This study shows that ASEAN's environmental performance is gradually decreasing, especially Myanmar, Philippines, and Thailand that are caused from climate-related disaster.

This study contributes to environmental degradation literature. It suggests that developing and implementing climate-focused policies by ASEAN economies help mitigate ecological consequences and sustain economic growth. Technological improvements and the adoption of renewable energy sources could provide avenues for lower GHGs emissions in ASEAN economies.

Energy demand in transportation sector is increasing and the transportation sector currently emits high amount of greenhouse gases. Electric vehicles (EVs) were introduced to mitigate these emission of greenhouse gases. EVs are well-deployed at leading countries such as China, Europe, and United States due to EV-friendly policies and well-planned EV charging infrastructure. Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is following these leading countries and aims to become the next EV hub. Effective deployment of EVs not only require involvement from governments but also willing consumers that push EVs into communities. A survey was carried out among policy makers, manufacturers, and academia to determine suitable policies and financial incentives to increase deployment of EV in the market. The survey also included the hurdles and issues faced by the community to adopt EVs, and identifies that high purchase cost and charging issues are hampering the deployment of EV in ASEAN. EV-friendly policies and financial incentives were suggested in the survey and will be a good reference material for EV manufacturers and policy makers in ASEAN.

The use of renewable energy sources and carbon emissions has been debated from various perspectives throughout recent decades. However, the causal relationship between green energy sources and carbon emissions volatility has received limited attention. This study aims to close a knowledge gap in this area. The current study analyzes the renewable energy sources (wind, hydro, and geothermal) and carbon emissions of four ASEAN countries (Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines) between 2000 and 2019. The present study combined Chudik and Pesaran’s (2015) newly developed Dynamic Common Correlated Effects (DCCE) with cutting-edge investigation tools such as first- and second-generation unit root tests; CS-dependence; Variance inflation factor test for multicollinearity; and Pedroni, Kao, and Wester Lund tests of co-integration. The Granger causality test is also used to check the short-term and long-term causal effects within the renewable energy sources and green energy sources, and carbon volatility. According to the empirical results, green energy sources make a positive and vital contribution to reducing carbon emissions growth in the above-noted ASEAN economies. Furthermore, short- and long-run causality runs from green energy sources to carbon emission volatility in the region. A significant causality relationship has also been observed within the green energy sources of ASEAN.

This study examines whether and how harnessing more wind energy can decrease the cost of meeting the demand for electricity and amount of carbon emissions in the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region, using the ASEAN integrated electricity trade model. Three scenarios are considered: a counterfactual business-as-usual (BAU) scenario, which assumes no wind energy is used; an actual BAU scenario that uses the wind-generation capacity in 2018; and a REmap scenario, which employs the wind-generation capacity from the Renewable Energy Outlook for ASEAN. Simulation results suggest that dispatching more wind energy decreases the cost of meeting the demand for electricity and amount of carbon emissions. However, these emissions increase during the late years of the study period, as the no- or low-emitting energy-generation technologies are crowded out.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has experienced rapid social and economic development in the past decades, while energy shortage, environmental pollution, and climate change are the factors that prevent a sustainable development process. Deployment of solar photovoltaic (PV) power is one of the effective alternatives to overcome the above barriers and assist ASEAN to achieve the aspirational target of 23% renewable energy (RE) in the total primary energy supply (TPES). In this study, SWOT analysis is adopted to analyze the internal strengths and weaknesses and the external threats and opportunities tightly related to the development of solar PV power in ASEAN countries. Through the SWOT analysis, great potential for the development of solar PV power in ASEAN is found. As long as appropriate policies are implemented and proper actions are taken, huge space for deployment of solar PV power can be expected. Based on the SWOT analysis, countermeasures that emphasize further deployment of solar PV power in ASEAN countries are put forward. The tactics include arousing people’s awareness of a sustainable development process, government issue coherence and stable incentive policies, fostering a solar PV industry chain and master key technology, and seek opportunities via an international cooperation.

Over the last 30 y, there has been increasing emphasis on scientific research about climate change which has become one of the world's most challenging issues. Energy sources availability and reliability, especially renewable energy such as hydropower, solar energy and biomass-based energy, are very dependent on climate conditions. Although many studies have focused on conservation and utilization of energy, less emphasis has been given to future threats of drought on energy systems especially in ASEAN countries. The impact of drought on the region was conservative because such events were under-reported and under-monitored. The aim of this paper is to review the drought phenomenon in ASEAN region and analyse its impact as one of the climate change aspects, on the energy resources, supply, consumption and energy systems used in the ASEAN region. The review encompasses scholarly papers and news articles related to impact of drought on energy systems and analyse historical energy data for ASEAN. The study is focused on drought year in 2014 to 2016 because of extreme El Niño phenomenon. From this study, it is found that the scarcity of energy will occur if long-term drought happened. Drought will impact the biomass and hydropower as both are very vulnerable to high temperature but less impact on natural gas, coal and oil. El-Nino phenomenon in 2015 contributes about 5 % reduction of energy supply from oil, hydropower and biomass energy sources compared to previous year. In 2015, CO2 emission in ASEAN recorded almost double increment (4.1 %) compared to 2016 (2.6 %) due to dependency of carbon-emitting sources like natural gas and coal to meet the energy needs during drought.