Energy Transitions in ASEAN COP26 Policy Report

This report is part of an overarching project developed in collaboration with the COP26 Universities Network and the British High Commission in Singapore. The COP26 Universities Network is a growing group of over 55 UK-based universities working together to help deliver an ambitious outcome at COP26 and beyond. In this first ever collaboration of its kind, the network has brought together top researchers and academic figures from the UK and Singapore to publish a series of four reports aimed at supporting policy development and the UK’s international COP26 objectives in Singapore and across Southeast Asia. The reports focus on the following areas: Energy Transition The COP26 Policy Report on Energy Transition starts by exploring the impact of COVID-19 on ASEAN countries. This is followed by an examination of how CO2 emissions can be reduced, while at the same time maintaining a sustained economic growth with a mix of renewable and non-renewable energy consumption. This report also provides an analytical discussion on employment and social justice following the energy transition. Nature-based Solutions Nature-based climate solutions (NbS) are widely available, scalable, and cost-effective mechanisms to sequester carbon and safeguard Southeast Asia’s large carbon stocks. In addition, NbS provide ample co-benefits such a reducing haze, protecting biodiversity and shorelines, ecosystem services, and can provide economic opportunities through carbon credits and small-scale economies. Green Finance The Green Finance report addresses the rationale for carbon credits to be traded across ASEAN. It tackles policy considerations, a carbon offsets’ financial markets response based on consultations with industry partners, and the accounting review applied to carbon finance. Ultimately, it examines and assesses voluntary carbon markets connecting the dots with nature-based solutions and decarbonization. Adaptation and Resilience The ASEAN region is under increasing threat from natural hazards, some of which are exacerbated by climate change. The Adaptation and Resilience report presents the hazards, exposures and vulnerabilities that the region is experiencing, as well as strategies to reduce disaster risk at the sub-national and national levels and in transboundary contexts.