Women as Energy Entrepreneurs for the ASEAN Green Economy
by Livia Liannasari
7 March 2025
Powering up any kind of activity requires energy, and women, just like any other individuals, should be empowered in the pursuit energy transition. ASEAN has recognised this matter for the last few decades, especially in achieving its vision for a sustainable regional community. As stated within the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint 2025, the philosophy behind ASEAN principles has always envisioned an inclusive, people-oriented, and people-centred regional community. In the context of sustainable energy transition, which has occupied ASEAN forefront priority as outlined within ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC) — a series of five-year implementation plans for energy sector cooperation in the implementation of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). Since its very first publication in 1999, ASEAN has stressed the need for a comprehensive approach in meeting the targets and executing programmes, even more the next phase of APAEC (2026 – 2030) will delve into Just and Inclusive Energy Transition.
However, understanding the dynamics within and between regional affairs is crucial, as the absence of stability often means that change is the only constant. In response to the region’s uncertainties and fluctuations, ASEAN has encouraged creativity and innovation to accelerate its progress toward achieving regional goals. The concept of entrepreneurship has been central to this spirit, particularly in the energy sector, where it is continuously promoted and potentially becoming a key component in advancing ASEAN’s pursuit of inclusive and dynamic economic integration.
On last year’s International Women’s Day, ASEAN Centre for Energy published the ACCEPT Gender Booklet in 2024 highlighting how providing more resources and opportunities for women entrepreneurs in the energy sector will add fresh new perspectives to clean and renewable energy developments. Entrepreneurs are capitalizing on the green revolution by developing and promoting renewable energy solutions. In this context, women may play a pivotal role as influential actor within their communities, shaping how they earn a living, develop new skills, and drive change. Women are vital agents of change in environmental sustainability, as they often prioritize social and environmental impacts in their business practices.
In 2021 ASEAN published the Declaration on Building a More Sustainable, Inclusive and Resilient Future: Unlocking Women’s Entrepreneurship on the 41st ASEAN Summit. Within this declaration, ten AMS restated the urgency to strengthen the efforts to promote the economic empowerment of women and women’s entrepreneurship development in ASEAN by creating a holistic system and enabling environment. This will build capacity, enhance knowledge and skills and maximise the potential of women entrepreneurs in the region as reflected in the ASEAN Declaration on Innovation (2017). The opportunities and benefits arising from innovative start-ups and disruptive technologies that enable transformation across sectors of society, thus requiring holistic policies that foster entrepreneurship and new business, facilitate movement of capital and talent and harness market scalability in the ASEAN region.
Gender disparity remains a significant challenge, with women’s representation on energy company boards in Southeast Asia is below 50%, ranging from 10.7% in Thailand to 29.7% in Viet Nam. They are underrepresented in leadership roles and often receive less funding compared to their male counterparts. For instance, women’s representation on energy company boards is notably low. Based on ACCEPT Gender Booklet in 2024, there are no existing public policies currently regulating gender-energy nexus, and financing remains unevenly distributed. Furthermore, a report made by Bain & Company in 2024 further highlighting how Southeast Asia in the broader level has deep-rooted problems regarding structural constraints. These include the dual challenge of balancing economic growth and energy transition, a mismatch in supply and demand due to geographical dispersion of renewable resources, limited incentives for carbon reduction, and inadequate access to financing. In addition, a significant investment gap to fund the transition continues to exist—an estimated $1.5 trillion is required until 2030, with only $45 billion in investments made across dedicated green investments since 2021.
It is important to understand that gender and inclusion issues are part of a complex system that requires multisectoral and multidimensional responses — cutting across the three ASEAN Communities — and taking a comprehensive approach. ASEAN has been promoting the triple-helix in mapping key players as the forefront, which this writing would like to recommend further the incorporation of civil society and media stakeholders to the map. This is known more widely as penta-helix, which could make ASEAN’s effort more practical. The inclusion of civil society as a key player means that ASEAN is supporting a bottom-up approach and the role of media in this regard is to ensure transparency within the implementation journey.
This writing believes that a unified ASEAN comes from within, back to its roots — and this serves as a focal point to reflect on how ASEAN defines the term community? Furthermore, the ASEAN Gender Mainstreaming Strategic Framework (2021- 2025) reiterates the requirement of multisectoral interventions and dialogue among government, donor, private sector, civil society, and community-based stakeholders. The establishment of an institutional mechanism that can bring together the three Communities and ASEAN’s gender institutions in an effective, authoritative, and sufficiently capacitated system that can undertake a sustained advocacy and influencing effort and drive the implementation of a complex gender mainstreaming agenda over the long term. This will require that the different institutions act in a coordinated and strategic manner to leverage their respective strengths, mandates, and constituencies.
There is deep potential to create employment and entrepreneurial opportunities in the clean energy sector in ASEAN. However, if gender equity policies and programmes are not proactively planned and implemented, there is a concern that women will stay marginalised. It is also important to adapt these factors to the specific context of each country or organisation to create optimal environments and opportunities for women in the clean energy transition. Based on the ASEAN Energy and Gender Report: Development Finance by ASEAN Centre for Energy, few ASEAN Member States (AMS) at the national level (e.g. Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, The Philippines, and Vietnam) have launched several initiatives that position women as core drivers of community-based energy projects, with most are financed through development finance, philanthropic or blended finance schemes.
Additionally, the International Energy Agency (IEA) highlights initiatives like the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-fi), housed in the World Bank Group, which aims to provide women in developing countries with access to finance, markets, training, and networks. The Women in Technology Venture Fund (WIT) from the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) also provides funding for women-led technology companies, while the Eileen Fisher Women-Owned Business Grant Program helps female entrepreneurs expand their businesses and create positive social and environmental impacts. Other examples include the American Association of University Women (AAUW) Community Action Grants for women and girls in STEM, and the Amber Foundation Grant, which offers small grants for women interested in starting new businesses.
Looking back to 2022 when the Asia Development Bank conducted a virtual seminar talking about Women in the Green Economy, several best practices were highlighted, including the SIDA-funded EmPower-Women for Climate Resilient Societies project, which supports women energy entrepreneurs in the Pacific region, where women’s contributions to agriculture and fisheries conservation are often undervalued. The project recognises their potential to drive change, despite limited access to resources such as technology, tools, financing, and land rights. Additionally, Frontier Markets, with its network of 30,000 rural women entrepreneurs, has connected over 1 million households and sold 20 million products, including solar power solutions. In India, the Saheli e-commerce app, designed by women for women, aids rural customers in accessing clean energy information and solutions. The UNDP’s Gender-Responsive Just Energy Transition Pilot Project in Indonesia also empowers women through training in clean energy, digital literacy, and financial inclusion, fostering the establishment of women-led businesses in remote villages. The Jakarta Post, in 2021, emphasized ASEAN’s need for gender-sensitive energy policies, better data, and more support for women in leadership, STEM education, and entrepreneurship. It also highlighted global initiatives such as SEforALL, Women at the Forefront Initiative, and Clean Energy, Education and Empowerment (C3E) by IEA to further promote women’s roles in the energy sector.
Empowering women in ASEAN’s energy transition is critical for sustainable development, as women are key drivers of innovation and change in clean energy solutions. While ASEAN has made strides with initiatives like the ASEAN Gender Mainstreaming Strategic Framework and the Declaration on Women’s Entrepreneurship, significant gender disparities persist, especially in leadership roles and access to financing. A holistic, multisectoral approach involving governments, the private sector, civil society, and media is essential to ensure that women are fully included in the green economy. Best practices, such as community-based energy projects and global initiatives, highlight the potential of women entrepreneurs to advance renewable energy. However, without check and balances in terms of planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation from the incorporation of penta-helix, women risk being continuously hindered in maximizing their potential in this growing sector, underscoring the need for tailored, inclusive solutions across ASEAN member states.
Livia Liannasari is a Research Assistant at the ASEAN Climate Change and Energy Project (ACCEPT).
The views, opinions, and information expressed in this article were compiled from sources believed to be reliable for information and sharing purposes only, and are solely those of the writer/s. They do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) or the ASEAN Member States. Any use of this article’s content should be by ACE’s permission.
