With 85% of regional consumption sourced from fossil fuels, the Asia-Pacific region faces significant pressure to meet growing energy demands amidst urbanization and industrialization, while ensuring a reliable and resilient energy supply amid geopolitical tensions and natural disasters. As the world's largest consumer of coal, the region's transition to clean energy is challenged by its high reliance on fossil fuels. Addressing this requires strategic financing for renewable energy, innovative technologies, and robust policy frameworks.
In 2022, the governments of Indonesia and Viet Nam launched the Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs) in 2022 to boost their energy transition efforts and financing. Subsequently, discussions have ensued on the appropriateness of conventional blended finance, the appropriate de-risking approaches, and efforts to transform business-as-usual modalities. Following the launch of the JETPs, ESCAP organized dialogues in 2023 to explore solutions in line with national financing priorities and plans. In 2024, building on this progress, ESCAP launched the Financing the Energy Transition Project (FET) in 2024 to assist Indonesia and Viet Nam as well as the Philippines, on accelerating finance for energy transitions, recognizing that each energy transition will be unique to each country.
ESCAP’s preliminary analysis will be presented at this first virtual cross-border technical dialogue. This event aims to validate the initial scoping and facilitate deeper exchanges among Member States, emphasizing the importance of collaborative efforts in addressing shared challenges and advancing energy transitions. The commitment from all three governments underscores the potential for significant progress through the FET project. The results of the dialogues and findings will be incorporated into the final reports to be delivered to all three countries for support in accelerating financing for the energy transition.
