Published in Green Plus magazine June/July 2015 issue.

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I
t is true though that the EU
relationship with ASEAN is rel-
atively young compared to other
regions in the world. Yet the EU
needs to advance towards the next
diplomacy and international rela-
tionship phase with ASEAN, focus-
ing not only on dialogue but also
translating dialogue into concrete
actions.
Certainly, climate change could
be one of the areas of common
interest for both parties.
In order to bringASEAN member
states on board, the EU needs to:
 understand ASEAN’s posi-
tion and concerns related to
climate change and economic
development
 commit substantive finan-
cial support to assist ASEAN to
implement its climate change
priorities.
Starting with climate finance, it is
no longer a secret that the EU has
increased its financial cooperation
package to ASEAN for the period
of 2014-2020 and that climate
change is one of the components
of future cooperation. Yet, such a
committed financial flux might not
be enough to develop the green
economy that the ASEAN region
is pursuing.
From this point of view, the EU
should think of proposing addi-
tional financial tools for ASEAN
such as the increase of financial
lines that the European Investment
Bank is channelling today towards
ASEAN countries. For instance,
an EU-ASEAN facility to promote
low carbon economic activities
in ASEAN countries could be
created.
This could facilitate not only the
implementation of climate change
policies inASEAN but also to foster
the participation of EU private
sector in the region, as well as the
transfer of EU technology.
European Countries have gone
through a very long process
from heavy industrialisation with
massive environmental costs
including anthropogenic climate
change. Looking at cumulative
emissions (Fig1), Europe is still
one of the main sources of GHG
in the atmosphere:
It is of great concern, ASEAN
countries are changing dramat-
ically with rapid increment of
cumulative GHG emission. This
could be the main reason for the
current “donor” and “recipient” sit-
uation. Hence, it is a fundamental
interest for EU countries to help
ASEAN countries to streamline the
long transition towards low carbon
economy.
Specifically in the view of the
current climate change adaptation,
it will only work if ASEAN countries
are working towards the mitigation
strategies at the same time. If the
two degree Celsius target of reduc-
tion cannot be reached, Europe
will be faced with a massive loss
of adaptive capacity. Likewise,
ASEAN countries are also mas-
sively impacted by climate
change and need to develop
our own climate adaptation
strategies where we can benefit
from European knowhow.
Hence, the partnership benefits
are leapfrogging for the high emis-
sion pathway in ASEAN countries
towards a low carbon economy
and at the same time transfer-
ring the bottom up knowledge on
adaptation from Europe to ASEAN
countries.
RENEWABLE ENERGY (RE)
REALISATION IN ASEAN
The EU has been supporting
ASEAN in the energy sector for
over 25 years. One program is
the EC-ASEAN Energy Facility
(EAEF) coordinated by theASEAN
Centre for Energy (ACE) from
2003 to 2007.
The objectives of the EAEF
were:
 increasing the security of
energy supply of ASEAN coun-
tries and indirectly of Europe,
 increasing the economic
exchanges between European
Union and ASEAN countries,
 improving the environment
at local and global level, and
 f a c i l i t a t i n g t h e
 By KENNETH WONG
Renewable energy
milestones act as reference in
climate change partnership of Asean-EU
The EU needs international
allies to advance with her
ambitious international
agenda at the upcoming 2015
Paris Climate Conference
and ASEAN States could
fulfil those needs. By the end
of 2015, the ASEAN Socio-
Cultural Community (ASCC)
will be embarking on a new
course which will be based on
an ASCC Community 2025
vision. These two entities
have tried hard to find a
common ground. Clichés such
as the lack of experience,
funding, data, as well as policy
barriers have handicapped
the development of renewable
energy (RE) realization in
ASEAN. Economic growth,
job creation and poverty
alleviation remain the
overriding objectives in most
of the ASEAN countries. If the
EU and its member States are
to support a green transition
within ASEAN, perhaps the
first and most important
question to ask will be: How
can green initiatives contribute
to economic growth and jobs?
It is also hoped that through
the history of long ties in the
renewable energy sector
between the EU and ASEAN,
we can witness its milestone
and brainstorm EU-ASEAN
climate change partnership.
Delegates gather for the Lima Climate Action High-level Meeting

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implementation of the ASEAN
Plan of Action for Energy
Co-operation (APAEC) 1999-
2004 and subsequently
2004-2009.
The EAEF is the single biggest
source of fund for both period
of APAEC mentionedi. For the
APAEC 2010-2015, the strength-
ening of the Senior Officials
Meeting in Energy (SOME) with
EU consultations is expected
to bring mutual benefits to both
ASEAN and EU.
The overall strategic directions
of energy cooperation in ASEAN
are set out in APAEC 2010-2015
which defines the regional policy
objectives, strategies, and action
plans for the different sectors rep-
resented by the sub-sector net-
works and industry associations,
across seven program areas,
namely:
1. ASEAN Power Grid;
2. Trans-ASEAN Gas Pipeline
(TAGP);
3. Coal and Clean Coal
Technology;
4. Renewable Energy;
5. Energy Efficiency and
Conservation;
6. Regional Energy Policy and
Planning;
7. Civilian Nuclear Energy.
ACE’s mandate is to initi-
ate, coordinate and facilitate
regional, as well as joint and
collective activities on energy.
For (3), (5) and (6), the main
sources of funding are ASEAN
dialogue partners: the EU, Japan,
Australia, China, Korea, and India.
Not to overlook, the original TAGP
aims to develop a regional gas grid
by 2020, by linking the existing and
planned gas pipeline networks of
the ASEAN Member States.
The updated TAGP Masterplan
2000 involves the construction
of 4,500 km of pipelines mainly
undersea, worth USD7 billion.
Eight bilateral gas pipeline inter-
connection projects, with total
length of approximately 2,300 km,
are currently operatingii.
It is observed that there is a
growing realisation within ASEAN
that, it will be necessary to promote
alternative energy supply/diversifi-
cation if the countries are to main-
tain (and in some cases even
increase) recent impressive eco-
nomic growth rates.
ASEAN will continue to be
heavily dependent on fossil fuels in
the coming years and the increase
in electricity demand in the next
15 years (estimated at around 3-4
% yearly) will further enhance the
dependence on fossil fuels, espe-
cially coal.
No doubt there is a growing
focus on RE technologies as part
of the solution. RE and energy
efficiency is of course also high-
lighted by ASEAN as part of the
response to climate change (e.g. in
the recent ASEAN joint statement
on Climate Change from Nay Pyi
Taw, November 2014).
The ASEAN Institute of Green
Economy (AIGE) was also
launched for overhauling the
economy in a way that synthesizes
economic growth with the environ-
mental protection for sustainable
economy.
However, there is still quite
an “implementation gap” on the
ground. For example, Indonesia,
has set an ambitious target of 23
% renewables in the energy mix
by 2025iii. From the humble start
of 6% today, in order for Indonesia
to reach (or come close to) the
target, there is a need for large
scale investments.
These investments are not only
RE technologies such as thermo,
wind, solar, bio, hydro; but also in
energy infrastructure, grid connec-
tivity and political support for reg-
ulations which allow renewables
to become an economically viable
alternative to fossil fuels based
electricity production (e.g. agree-
ments on feed in tariffs between
private and public stakehold-
ers etc.). This demands not only
capital flows but also a conscious
political decision to prioritise RE.
In the case of Indonesia, this
question has evidently become
even more important with the new
government led by the reform-ori-
ented president Joko Widodo.
Widodo has clearly stated key pri-
ority is to sustain and even accel-
erate economic growth. Some
economists predict that even the
7-8 % economic growth that the
government has set is an ambi-
tious target.
The result will be in the low end
in terms of creating enough jobs
to accommodate up to 2 million
new job seekers every year. It is
therefore not a surprise that focus
is on reforms and initiatives which
will advance economic growth –
not least infrastructure invest-
ments, facilitating foreign invest-
ments and increasing productiv-
ity – but also longer term invest-
ments in health and education.
Green and sustainable measures
will be welcomed if they can con-
tribute to this.
This is where we need to be able
to argue that green growth is part
of the solution. Another issue is
the limited experiences in effective
public-private cooperation mech-
anisms which can drive green
growth. There is a growing realisa-
tion of the necessity for public and
private sector to work in tandem, in
order to promote specific sustain-
able solutions and technologies.
It is not yet clear exactly how this
could and should be modelled in
this areaiv .
Expertise Transfer/ Exchange
between EU-ASEAN
ASEAN countries have made
considerable effort to tap the
vast RE resources in the region.
Several countries introduced feed-
in-tariffs or regulations for RE as
well as other supportive policies,
for example, tax and customs
exemptions or tax holidays.
Despite those efforts and some
promising developments, a large
scale market for RE applica-
tions has not yet been in place
in the region. The publication
of Deutsche Gesellschaft für
Internationale Zusammenarbeit
(GIZ), ASEAN Renewable Energy

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76 C L I M AT E
Guidelines, clearly stated that the
main obstacles for successful
large scale implementation of RE
in ASEAN, are quite similar to the
problems Europe faced in the early
day of renewables.
In particular, complex adminis-
trative procedures, lack of trans-
parency in the project cycle and
permitting procedures as well
as insufficient access to finan-
cial resources, are identified as
important encumbrance to an
effective RE market and industry
developmentv.
The ASEAN RE Guidelines
are developed to facilitate the
increasing private sector activity
and investment in the RE sector
of ASEAN. Since the confidence of
the project developers and inves-
tors is the prerequisite to boost the
region-wide RE deployment, the
transparency of the project devel-
opment and permit procedures is
indispensable.
To this end, the Renewable
Energy Support Programme for
ASEAN (ASEAN-RESP), jointly
implemented by the ACE and
GIZ, is developing a comprehen-
sive, easy-to-access and regularly
updated online tool which includes
complete information on ideal RE
project development cycles in the
respective countries.
Against this background,
ASEAN-RESP developed guide-
lines for biomass/biogas, and mini
hydropower (MHP) project devel-
opment in Indonesia in cooperation
with the Least Cost Renewables
Project Indonesia (LCORE) are
developed. In a next phase, guide-
lines for PV in the Philippines,
Thailand, Malaysia, and biomass/
biogas in Vietnam are envisaged.
By now, we shall recognise the
EU brings something real to the
table of RE, not only because
of EU’s climate change commit-
ments, but also least in terms of
their longstanding experiences
and proven technologies. The EU
is not the only player but they are
certainly among the most import-
ant ones: from regulations and
policy, to capacity building, tech-
nical solutions, planning and spe-
cific technology transfer, the EU
and its member States have con-
crete experiences to share with
ASEAN.
Certainly, the fact that ASEAN
member states do not share the
same energy profiles, economic
development strategies or politi-
cal realities represent a challenge
for any international organization
to formulate a unique RE plan for
ASEAN. Identifying common areas
of interest in RE in ASEAN is thus
a key for the EU, same applicable
to climate change initiatives. Given
the exponential growth of cities in
ASEAN, topics such as energy
efficiency in buildings is probably
an area of common interest for all
ASEAN countries.
Equally biofuels are also a topic
of interest for a good number of
ASEAN countries. For Malaysia,
the implementation of the National
Biofuel Policy is spearheaded by
the Ministry of Plantation Industries
and Commodities.
In addition, the EU could support
ASEAN countries in engaging the
regulatory reforms to promote RE
and share with them, the results
of the different policies and incen-
tives undertaken by EU member
states over the last 20 years.
There is not a single EU stra-
tegic approach to promote RE in
ASEAN member states, at least
compared with initiatives and
actions initiated by the EU on RE
with other regions such as China,
Central Asia or Russia.
The EU has focused its inter-
national energy cooperation on
those countries and regions that
have an impact on the state of the
energy market worldwide, such
as China, or that affect the secu-
rity of the EU energy market itself,
such as Russia. Promotion of RE
tends to be an item included in the
package of the cooperation agree-
ments signed with such countries/
regions.
Baseline in Place with Bilateral
Support
Under Denmark’s Development
Cooperation (DANIDA), Denmark
has a longstanding Environmental
Support Programme which sup-
ports the government of Indonesia
in developing inclusive and sus-
tainable growth through improved
environmental management and
climate change mitigation and
adaptation. Focus has been very
much on regulation and capacity
building.
That remains the case today.
Another kind of activity is helping
to evaluate the environmen-
tal impacts of large scale infra-
structure projects as well as
support Indonesia to map out its
actual potential for renewables.
For instance, DANIDA has been
supporting a ‘wind atlas’ cover-
ing several provinces, identifying
the specific locations where the
highest wind potential is.
Likewise, under DANIDA
Renewable Energy/ Energy
Efficiency Project in Malaysia
with Economic Planning Unit
(EPU), several studies have
been conducted: Study on Clean
Development Mechanism (CDM)
Baseline Methodologies for Palm
Oil Mill Effluent (POME) Methane
recovery project, CDM Capacity
Building Programme, Policy
Analysis in Waste to Energy
Projects (landfills, palm oil waste
as well as biodiesel), Barrier
Analysis of Biomass Supply Chain
as Renewable Fuel in Malaysia
etcvi.
In Malaysia, although RE
resources such as biomass and
solar are abundant, policy frame-
work, mechanisms, technologi-
cal development, human capac-
ity etc. are necessary to facilitate
the development of the RE market.
Cambodia has set a country
target achieving 100% electrifi-
cation in rural communities by
2020, using renewable sources.

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For Laos, the government aims to
electrify 90 percent of households
by 2020, increase the share of RE
to 30 percent by 2025, and make
biofuels substitute 10 percent of oil
imports by 2025vii.
In terms of energy efficiency,
however both countries are just at
the initial stage, building capac-
ity in energy management and
energy auditing, mostly under
regional cooperation and bilateral
projects. The ASEAN-German
Cooperation is currently on-go-
ing with the implementation of the
5-year project onASEAN - German
Mini Hydro Project (AGMHP). The
project aims to improve the pre-
conditions for sustainable utiliza-
tion of mini-hydropower (MHP)
sources in Cambodia, Lao PDR
and Vietnamviii.
Added to what is already in place
at the national level, more ASEAN
stakeholders and decision makers
ought to visit the EU to inspect
some of the solutions that have
been successfully implemented.
Denmark has established a pub-
lic-private agency called ‘State
of Green’, as a professional visit
organiser whereby such delega-
tion visits are considered useful in
showcasing the benefits of green
investments.
The direct cooperation and dia-
logue between our relevant sec-
torial ministries and authorities in
ASEAN and EU is also significant.
Getting experts to talk and share
experiences can help in solving
both the regulation and technical
issues.
One milestone which we could
witness from Denmark is, the
Frederikshavn Municipality has pre-
pared a strategy plan on RE 2030,
to implement the energy policy of
Frederikshavn Municipality for the
entire Municipality as geograph-
ical boundary and aims towards
a 100% RE supply and optimum
energy consumption by the year
2030.
Way Forward
Global energy supplies have
become a scarce commodity.
The thirst for energy of upcoming
industrial nations in South-East
Asia and dwindling resources in
Europe make the issue even
more pressing. The EU-ASEAN
dialogue on Energy was launched
in the margins of the ASEAN
Senior Officials Meeting on
Energy (SOME) in 2007, pro-
gressively until today’s READI
dialogue on Energy, the aim is
to further enhance EU-ASEAN
Energy co-operation and to further
enhance linkages, trade, invest-
ment and economic co-opera-
tion through the preparation and
implementation of a package of
mutually beneficial policies, pro-
grammes and activities designed
in particular to promote transition
to a low-carbon economy.
Two objectives of APAEC
agreed collectively by the ASEAN
ministers were to reduce regional
energy intensity by 8% by 2015
from the 2005 level, and to
increase the total regional power
installed capacity of RE to 15%
by 2015. In ASEAN, the share of
RE in primary energy consumption
was 28.1% in 2005 equivalent to
133 MTOE and is expected to grow
annually at a rate of 9.1% to reach
185 MTOE in 2030ix.
The APAEC recognizes global
and regional issues and chal-
lenges on energy and climate
change including inter-related
issues on food and energy security
as well as the impacts of energy
development on health, safety
and environment. In addition, the
APAEC recognizes the importance
of establishing an efficient, trans-
parent, reliable and flexible energy
markets in the ASEAN region and
improvement of access to afford-
able energy to eradicate energy
poverty.
Although some cross-bor-
der energy projects have been
designed for the Greater Mekong
Subregion (GMS), implementation
and progress have not been sat-
isfactory. The reasons identified
include: the lack of infrastructure
to facilitate intraregional energy
trading; concerns over externali-
ties which are inherent in energy
distribution networks; and an
absence of regional frameworks
to share costs and benefits from
energy tradingx. Hence, there are
still significant barriers to imple-
ment energy trading in the GMS.
So, we truly hope that the
READI dialogue on Energy could
further enhance the implementa-
tion of APAEC, in particular in the
areas of energy efficiency and
conservation, biofuel, investment
framework, and energy security.
And subsequently, supportASEAN
in the use of RE for rural devel-
opment, regional energy trading,
research and development in
clean energy production, and
exchange of energy policies infor-
mation, including policy formula-
tion and initiatives.
It is also useful to keep in mind
that even if ASEAN states are
cooperating in environmental
issues and ASEAN has developed
several joint statements on climate
change issues, ASEAN does not
yet act as a formal group in climate
change negotiationsxi.
In other words, there is not
per se an ASEAN position in the
climate change arena as each
country continues to have its own
position and are many times inte-
grated in different climate change
negotiation coalitions. ASEAN do
urge the developed countries to
accelerate their contributions to
the Green Climate Fund, to mobil-
ise it as a matter of priority, noting
that the distribution process should
be effective, predictable and easy
to access.
It is interesting to observe on
side track that, a coalition formed
by Greenpeace, Oxfam and WWF,
ASEAN for a Fair, Ambitious and
Binding Global Climate Deal
(A-FAB) aims to sharpen and
strengthen ASEAN’s position as
a regional bloc at the UNFCCC.
This might suggest that to a certain
extent, the civil society in ASEAN
is more advanced than the politi-
cal front in reaching a single view
on regional climate change.
For ASEAN member states,
the EU has not yet developed a
comprehensive approach towards
cooperation in the area of energy,
although the region has achieved
a significant role as a demand
energy market key player. In
setting up an effective climate
change strategy for ASEAN, the
EU should not propose an action
plan focusing only on the techni-
cal or economic aspects related to
climate change.
Instead, it would be better
to forge a link with the ongoing
ASEAN’s Regional Energy Policy
and Planning efforts, development
and poverty policies. There is no
doubt that gaining support for RE
policy in ASEAN in the past implies
that EU is not only contributing to
national energy independence but
most importantly that RE will also
help to achieve social and eco-
nomic goals in ASEAN states.
Only if linked to poverty mitiga-
tion and economic goals, the indi-
vidual national stakeholders – con-
sumers, private sector, institutions
— can feel the real advantages of
evolving towards an energy para-
digm transition and support their
governments in adopting the
climate change policies.
i. ASEAN PLAN OF ACTION FOR ENERGY,
APAEC 2010-2015 report, by ASEAN Centre
for Energy, item 58.
ii. APAEC 2010-2015 report, ACE, item 35.
iii. http://www.thejakartapost.com/
news/2013/07/13/indonesia-told-focus-renew-
able-energy.html
iv. http://www.thejakartapost.com/
news/2015/03/20/private-public-partner-
ship-key-sustainable-new-city.html
v. http://re-guidelines.info/
vi. http://ecoideal.com.my/services/
renewable-energy-and-energy-efficiency/
vii. Li. L & Vijitpan T. (2014), Energy,
Economy, and Climate Change in the
Mekong Region. In Lebel L. (Eds.),
Climate Risks, Regional Intergration, and
Sustainability in The Mekong Region (pp.
21). Bangkok: Stockholm Environmental
Institute.
viii. APAEC 2010-2015 report, ACE, item 62.
ix. APAEC 2010-2015 report, ACE, item 44.
x. Li. L & Vijitpan T. (2014), Energy, Economy,
and Climate Change in the Mekong
Region. In Lebel L. (Eds.), Climate Risks,
Regional Intergration, and Sustainability
in The Mekong Region (pp. 24). Bangkok:
Stockholm Environmental Institute.
xi. Chan N. (2015), “The regional origins of
international coalition formation: developing
countries in the UN climate negotiations”,
paper presented at ISA Global South Caucus
International Conference, pg. 8.