Abstract
This article carries out a multisectoral qualitative analysis (MSQA) and policy integration analysis of six sectors important for climate mitigation in Southeast Asia in order to assess the status of the climate-energy nexus in the region. It concludes that Southeast Asia will be heavily affected by climate change but the mitigation efforts of the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are incommensurate with the threat they face. Their nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement are modest, they have a low proportion of renewable energy in their energy mixes, a modest target for raising the share of renewable energy and they are not likely to reach this target. The ASEAN countries have also been slow to adopt electric vehicles and to accede to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), while continuing to burn their forests, channel subsidies to fossil fuels and invest in new coal power plants. If ASEAN accelerated decarbonization, it could seize business opportunities, secure its standing in the international political system and climate justice discussions, and increase its chances of reaching the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Highlights
This paper builds on the concept of a paradox in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)’s energy policies and climate ambitions introduced by Shi (2016) [1]
This is despite the fact that the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of solar PV in ASEAN fell by 65% between 2013 and 2018 [56]
No ASEAN member state participates in initiatives like the Cartagena Dialogue or the Carbon Neutrality Coalition, and only the Philippine Province of Negros Oriental is a member of the Powering Past Coal Alliance, with no ASEAN countries represented at the nation-state level [126]
Summary
This paper builds on the concept of a paradox in ASEAN’s energy policies and climate ambitions introduced by Shi (2016) [1]. Policy integration analysis is often carried out when there is a need to overcome policy incoherence, sometimes referred to as “silos”, for example between climate and energy policies [8,9,10] This framework was chosen to make it possible to bring together in one discussion the disparate climate and energy issues in the ASEAN member states and to be able to draw overarching, policy-relevant conclusions. These methodological choices make it possible to produce something different from and complementary to the many high quality, highly technical and often narrow studies of energy issues in Southeast Asia [11,12,13,14]. While such studies produce rigorous insights into specific issues [15,16,17,18,19,20], there is a gap in the literature in terms of laying the basis for overarching policy recommendations for the ASEAN member states
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