From Crisis to Catalyst: Green Growth, Mobility and a Just Energy Transition in Southeast Asia

About this event

Southeast Asia is among the most economically dynamic regions in the world, but also among the most exposed to the pressures now reshaping the global energy landscape. Electricity demand is rising rapidly across the subregion, driven by industrialization, urbanization and a growing middle class. Coal and gas continue to supply a substantial share of the regional energy mix all the while countries face constrained fiscal space, supply chain vulnerabilities, rising debt-servicing burdens, and intensifying climate impacts. A decade into its low-carbon commitments, Southeast Asia is encountering the limits of fossil-fuel dependency which requires a candid assessment of whether current energy transition strategies pathways are adequate to deliver the aspirations of countries in this subregion. This event will invite participants to examine the energy transition through the lens of green growth, treating it as an economic and social proposition rather than solely as a response to climate change. It will consider the conditions under which economic growth, expanded energy access, decarbonization, and employment can be pursued together, and the trade-offs, sequencing decisions and distributional questions that can deliver that vision while leaving no one behind. The discussion will give particular attention to regionally relevant trends: transport and mobility, the social and human capital dimensions of the transition, and the financing architecture that will determine which pathways are feasible. Diverse policy and financial tools are being deployed to drive a just transition. Drawing from the diverse experiences of Member States, civil society, private sector, academia, international financial institutions, and the range of stakeholders present at Bangkok Climate Action Week and the IMF and World Bank Group Annual Meeting, this event aims to: • Articulate the benefits of energy transition as a driver of green growth and energy security while also identifying inclusion risks; • Share high-impact, regional examples of energy transition policies that can help overcome renewable energy deployment and sustainability; • Identify practical policy, institutional and sequencing choices for low-carbon mobility that improve access, including electrified mass transit, EVs, and two- and three-wheeler markets; • Examine how worker protection, skills development and the participation of informal workers, rural communities, women and youth can be embedded in energy transition planning; • Share policy and investment strategies for increasing industrial competitiveness through the energy transition; • Identification of financing tools, project preparation and risk-sharing needed to lower capital costs and expand investable pipelines. ETGGP is an ESCAP initiative to support Southeast Asian member States to plan, coordinate, and accelerate energy transitions. Access to affordable, reliable and clean energy is fundamental to sustainable development. How countries manage transitions in their energy systems will shape prospects for economic growth, energy security, and social development for decades to come.