In March last year, the World Economic Forum (WEF) launched the fifth edition of their Energy Transition Index (ETI), ranking 115 economies on how well they are able to balance energy security and access with environmental sustainability and affordability.

With approximately 840 million people still without electricity access, the world is failing to meet energy targets in the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030. Globally, it was deemed as one of the most important indicators for measuring livelihood quality with the world aiming to ensure universal access to affordable, reliable, and modern energy services by 2030.

Technological innovations and favourable government policies are among the four trends expected to drive Southeast Asia’s transition to renewable energy in the coming years. A report published by global auditing firm KPMG titled ‘The Renewable Energy Transition’ noted that while there are still 70 million ASEAN citizens without access to reliable electricity, the potential for renewable energy is huge in those markets and governments are increasingly turning to solar and wind energy

Along with most Southeast Asian countries, Cambodia’s electricity consumption over the past decade has skyrocketed. In a report by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), electricity consumption in Cambodia has been growing rapidly, averaging 20 percent growth per annum since 2010.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has set an ambitious target of securing 23 percent of its primary energy from renewable sources by 2025 as energy demand in the region is expected to grow by 50 percent.

Although fossil fuels are the single biggest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, coal continues to be supported by both the government and businesses in the Philippines.While it is the cheapest fuel option, coal is also the most polluting one.

The newly-built Xayaburi dam has raised some key concerns about Lao PDR’s hydropower strategy.While hydropower is one of the country’s main exports, Lao PDR still has to import electricity.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has come under fire for referring to a newly-opened coal-fired power plant as “clean”, raising concerns about the country’s focus on renewable energy in the face of its increasing energy needs.The 500-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant in Mauban, Quezon, will provide additional energy supply to the Luzon grid and boost Duterte’s Build, Build, Build infrastructure program according to the Presidential Communications Operations Office.The US$1.1 billion pl

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), ASEAN currently consumes 4.5 million barrels of oil per day, while it only produces 2.5 million barrels per day, with the remaining supply gap – over 40 percent of the demand – coming from imports. Such oil demand is mainly driven by the transport sector, especially land transport, according to a research paper by the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA).

During the recent Jakarta Car Free Day on 28 July, Indonesia’s Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Ignasius Jonan, led a campaign called the National Movement of A Million Solar Roofs (Gerakan Nasional Sejuta Solar Atap) to promote the country’s solar rooftop utilisation.The campaign is an effort to bolster solar installation as listed in Indonesia’s National Energy Plan (RUEN), which targets solar photovoltaic (PV) installation of 6.5 gigawatt (GW) by 2025 and 45 GW by 2050.