Can ASEAN Power Renewable Energy Diplomacy? (Fulcrum)

Renewable energy diplomacy is vital in addressing internal and external challenges to the energy transition in Southeast Asia. Yet, a broader appreciation of the geopolitics of energy transition within ASEAN is sorely missing.

Fossil fuels have been central to Southeast Asia’s post-colonial nation-building and a key driver of global geopolitics in the last two centuries. The objective of contemporary energy diplomacy in the region is to secure fossil fuel supplies to meet national security goals. A new form of energy diplomacy is needed to drive the development of the ASEAN Power Grid (APG), utilise the region’s critical mineral resources, and address the compounding geopolitics of energy transition. Renewable energy diplomacy is thus the key catalyst for meeting national-level net-zero targets and limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.