Research Database

The ASEAN primary energy demand to grow by an average of 3.4% per year from 627 to reach 1,450 million tons of oil equivalent by 2040. In the alignment to accelerating the energy transition through the ASEAN, the region is aiming to reach 23% of RE in the total primary energy supply (TPES). With the five-year remaining, ASEAN has a lot opportunity to accelerate the effort. This research presents overview of the shaping of the renewables and low-carbon power utilisation which has been in the action plan to optimise effective and efficient power utilisation. It will be presented in the study report, the alignment of low-carbon society and renewable energy promotion in ASEAN has been in great progress considering its attempt to improve all power utilisation lineage.

Pathways to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 °C in line with the Paris Agreement long-term temperature goal and achievement of Sustainable Development Goals involve energy system transitions with strong uptake of renewables by 2050. Fossil fuels currently dominate the energy systems of the ASEAN countries, a region that has abundant untapped renewable resources. This paper expounds an approach of how the ASEAN region may substantially increase uptake of renewable energy. It provides an overview of the shortfalls in energy targets and investigates the technical potential of a selection of renewable energy technologies throughout the region. The findings demonstrate confidence that an energy system decarbonisation pathway for the ASEAN region is possible, however, current policies and action are lacking for achieving any level of decarbonisation by 2050. Further studies are necessary to refine the ASEAN region’s renewable resource technical potential as well as its commercial feasibility based on available technologies. Improvements are also necessary to build confidence in the accuracy of energy statistics to support such studies. Additionally, a review of the ASEAN region’s energy supply system would be required to inform such a feasibility study.

Scholars and policy-makers agree that cross-border and multi-sector cooperation are essential components of coordinated efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 infections. This paper examines the responses of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nation) member countries to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the limits of regional cooperation. ASEAN has pre-existing cooperative frameworks in place, including regional health security measures, which, at least theoretically, could assist the region's efforts to formulate cooperative responses to containing a global pandemic. With its overarching “One Vision, One Identity, One Community”, ASEAN cooperation has extended to include region-wide disaster responses, framed as “One Asean, One Response”. Using content analysis, this paper examines media statements and policies from ASEAN member states and the ASEAN Secretariat to assess the collective response to COVID-19 during the period from January to August 2020. By identifying gaps and opportunities in government responses to COVID-19 as the virus spread throughout Southeast Asia, this paper provides new insights as well as recommendations for the future.

A vast body of studies estimates the impact of energy consumption on the environment. A typical empirical study either use aggregate energy consumption or apply conventional econometric techniques in modelling the nexus of energy, income and environment. To correct these gaps, the objective of the study is to use renewable and non-renewable energy consumption in analyzing energy-income-environment nexus, and to apply the novel Method of Moments Quantile Regression for ASEAN countries. The outcomes indicate that non-renewable energy consumption stimulate carbon emissions across all quantiles (10th to 90th), the value of the 10th quantile is 0.257 which rises to 0.501 till 90th quantile. Whereas, the renewable energy consumption leads to a decrease in CO2 emissions across all the quantiles (10th to 90th) but this association is statistically insignificant at higher quantiles from 60th to 90th. The empirical outcomes also verify the presence of the environmental Kuznets curve relationship, which is statistically significant from the middle (30th) to higher (90th) quantiles. Moreover, the finding of panel estimation approaches (FMOLS, DOLS, FE-OLS) also verify the existence of the EKC hypothesis in ASEAN countries. Their finding also describes that 1% increase in non-renewable energy consumption increase CO2 emission by 0.29%, 0.26% and 0.30% whereas 1% increase in the usage of renewable energy reduces CO2 emission by 0.17%, 0.15% and 0.17% in case of FMOLS, DOLS and FE-OLS respectively. The empirical results conclude that the government should encourage and subsidize the sources of green energy to tackle environmental degradation. More policy implications are further discussed in the study.

This article examines the diffusion of the principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’ (CBDR) from the United Nations (UN) to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Despite its varying interpretations in international negotiations since the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), CBDR’s meaning hardly experienced any change in ASEAN. ASEAN’s different interpretation of CBDR from the UN matched the unchanging internal and external role expectations of ASEAN, which were a product of member states’ learning and conditioned by cognitive priors in the region. Cognitive priors in the climate change context included the ‘ASEAN Way’ of collaboration and member states’ deep-seated aspirations for development. The empirical study shows that internally, ASEAN acted as an interactive space for information exchange and a relationship facilitator; externally, it has embraced the position as the voice amplifier for member states in international negotiations. Maintaining the UNFCCC version of CBDR tallied well with ASEAN’s role expectations to: 1) provide member states with room to develop national actions that meet their respective priorities (internal); and 2) put member states in a better position to defend their interests in negotiating adaptation and mitigation responsibilities with extra-regional states (external).

Economic growth, accompanied by rising energy demand in ASEAN countries have been unprecedented over these few years. On the other hand, the energy consumed in the ASEAN region is predominantly non-renewable, which could have implications for sustainable development. Previous studies that have investigated the energy-growth-environment nexus for this region are inefficient in terms of the proxies used to measure environmental quality and the estimation techniques adopted. As such this study explores the influence of renewable and non-renewable energy consumption, economic growth, and urbanization on a more reliable environmental indicator (ecological footprint) from 1990 to 2016, while controlling for trade. First-and-second-generation unit root and cointegration tests are applied amidst evidence of cross-sectional dependence. Findings reveal that economic growth, trade, and non-renewable energy contribute significantly to environmental degradation in ASEAN countries. This suggests that the region is growing at the expense of its environment, while also indulging in emission-intensive trade. Further findings show a one-way causality from urbanization to non-renewable energy consumption. Policy directions and implications of the findings for sustainability are discussed.

An increase in private vehicle fleet and usage exacerbates the overuse of petroleum products, air quality degradation, and public health risks, among other drawbacks. This study investigated the energy and environmental benefits for private passenger vehicles under various scenarios in Metro Manila, the Philippines. The findings are informative to design policy implications for energy and environmental benefits. The study applied the Gaussian copula-based multinomial logit (MNL)-linear regression to develop the household vehicle ownership and energy consumption model using the disaggregated data of 1,795 households collected in 2017. The simulated vehicle fleet and energy consumption were then adopted to extrapolate energy demand, emissions, and public health risks for a 2010–2050 horizon using the bottom-up approach. Under the baseline scenario, the energy demand and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions will reach 5.45 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe) and 16.93 million tonnes (Mt) in 2050, respectively. The amounts of hydrocarbon (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOX), particulate matter 10 (PM10) and particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) emissions, and economic loss of health risks will be 6,214 tonnes (t), 62,136 t, 536 t, 10,550 t, 1,348 t, 996 t, and 237 Million USD, respectively, under the baseline scenario in 2050. Improvement of accessibility significantly reduces energy demand and CO2 emissions. Introduction of Euro 6 cars and Euro 4 buses and Public Utility Jeepneys noticeably improves public health. The new tax schedules on gas and vehicle maximize the tax revenue. The integration of all the mentioned alternatives can achieve sustainable mobility and urbanization.

Worldwide primary energy needs are satisfied basically from non-renewable sources that are limited in supply and innately hazardous to the environment. Biomass-based power systems are very much potent to address the environmental issues fostering sustainable development, while being able to provide a secured and uninterrupted power supply at the same time. Biomass-based power generation systems not only reduce the GHG emissions but also have enormous opportunities of job creation and promote biomass re-growth through sustainable land management practices. This paper overviews the biomass scenario in Southeast Asian and EU countries to give an overview of the potential and scalable energy harnessed from biomass resources. Economic analyses presented on biomass gasification-based power generation have been evaluated with three specific cost estimations, namely low, average and high. Key economic performance metrics of biomass gasification-based dual-fuel internal combustion engine generator with low investment estimates are as follows: a positive net present value of USD 7.5 million; internal rate of return 14.45%; and a payback period of 5.45 years. A review of the technologies can provide a base for strategic energy policy for the next generation of sustainable energy policies and helps policymakers to frame strategies aiming for clean technology and sustainable development. Biomass integrated gasification combined cycle-based systems are found to be most suitable for power generation or biofuel synthesis.

The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report notes the importance of mobilising green finance in order to limit global warming to 1.5°C and prevent catastrophic climate change. Fully implementing the Paris Agreement to meet this climate target will require US$ 1.5 trillion in green financing annually through 2030, according to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. At the same time, raising green finance is key to meeting Asia’s surging energy demand, which is fuelled by economic growth, population growth, and enhanced energy access. Two-thirds of global energy-demand growth will occur in the Developing Asia by 2040. Therefore, scaling up green finance in Asia is needed.