United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in collaboration with UNEP DTU Partnership (UDP), held a virtual session titled Session 2 – Deploying Energy Efficiency Solutions in the Use of Appliances as a part of the Asia regional NDC series on 25 January 2022. The event was designed to support policymakers and practitioners with essential information and advice on technical, policy, and financial considerations to effectively implement energy efficiency activities focusing on electric appliances. According to the synthesis study published by the UNFCCC Secretariat in September 2021, which reviewed 164 new or updated NDCs provided by 191 Parties, it was found that energy efficiency improvement is among the most frequently indicated mitigation options across many major economic sectors. This is a significant increase compared to the previous round of NDC submissions (UNFCC, 2021).¹                               

Figure 1. Mitigation options listed in the recent round of NDC submissions

As a representative from the ASEAN region, Mr Septia Buntara Supendi, Manager of Sustainable Energy at the ASEAN Center for Energy, was invited to share perspectives and experiences on establishing effective collaborations among stakeholders to work towards a common energy efficiency goal. He highlighted the importance of conducting coordination calls regularly among stakeholders, including policymakers, partners, and international organisations, to discuss and streamline all the energy efforts in the ASEAN. Such a dialogue supported ASEAN decision-making on evidence-based positions on the many dimensions of the future cooperation among AMS to achieve the goals of the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC). Also, to the larger context of Sustainable Goals (SGD), mainly related to SDG 7 and 13 on the energy sector. An effective stakeholder engagement is a key to the overall success of the widespread implementation of the plans to drive ASEAN’s sustainable growth – re-iterated by Mr Septia.

Given the challenge of different perspectives and interests in the stakeholder engagement process, particularly in regional policy development, formulating the stakeholder structure and defining their role is the most vital component to be designed and agreed upon by all member states at the very beginning. This is to ensure smooth coordination and communication. The database evidence is also used to improve the decision-making at the final stage. Furthermore, ASEAN is guided by the APAEC framework to ensure that development policies address common challenges and interests. ACE initiates, facilitates, and implements a practical stakeholder engagement approach, particularly for energy efficiency programs, to ensure the region’s contribution to the collective target of reducing 32% energy intensity by 2025. When it comes to strategising the implementation of the EE plan in all energy-consuming sectors, the multi-stakeholder engagement framework is also vital in mapping out what market players to be engaged with and identifying what contributions will be made to the outcomes. Finally, he emphasised that policymakers should prioritise “energy efficiency first” in energy policy development and cultivate relationships with market players and customers to ensure technology adoption and behaviour change. ASEAN has prioritised their EE strategy into main sectors/areas such as appliances, equipment, EE finance mechanisms and business models, transportation, and industry sectors to address future demand and climate issues. Mr Septia encouraged stronger stakeholder cooperation to meet the target.

Pic by Jason Blackeye.