In collaboration with World Coal Association (WCA), Japan Coal Frontier Organization (JCOAL), IHI Corporation, and Japan CCS Co., Ltd., the webinar had gathered practitioners and stakeholders to discuss the importance of CCT and CCS in decarbonising the coal-depended power sector in Southeast Asia.

Referring to the 6th ASEAN Energy Outlook, the region is expected to rely on fossil-based power generation dominating about 26% of the primary energy supply by 2025. This condition highlights the role of coal in ASEAN’s energy sector despite ambitious targets set by the ASEAN Member States (AMS). As mandated in the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC) 2016–2025 Phase II: 2021-2025, the region is set to achieve 23% renewable energy (RE) shares in total primary energy supply (TPES) and 32% energy intensity (EI) reduction compared to the 2005 level by 2025.

The webinar exemplified the technical, economic, and policy perspectives of CCT and CCS to underpin low carbon transition in Southeast Asia. It scrutinises the critical analysis and findings from two reports entitled Coal Technology in ASEAN Balancing Equity, Security & Sustainability and The Strategic Report on Coal: New Role of Coal-Fired Power Plants in the Era of Energy Transition.

“Those reports provide a comprehensive analysis of the energy security and sustainable development opportunities that CCT Promotes as identified in APAEC Phase II, and the reports also provide the framework for the call to action, set out in the conclusion of the reports themselves,” said Dr Nuki Agya Utama, the Executive Director of ACE.

“It is fair to say that coal is at a crossroads, and its sustainability predicated on its ability to transform. This can only be achievable through an understanding and the deployment of Clean Coal Technologies, particularly Carbon Capture and Storage,” said Michelle Manook, Chief Executive of WCA.