Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) representatives met with ASEAN Climate Change and Energy Project Phase II (ACCEPT II) team, Aldilla Rakhiemah (Senior Researcher) and Muhammad Shidiq (Senior Researcher) at ACE (ASEAN Center for Energy) office on 2 March 2023 to share and gain input on ASEAN Climate Change Strategic Action Plan (ACCSAP) 2023-2030 draft.

• IGES shared the update and gained input for draft development of ACCSAP from ACCEPT II. In addition, IGES would like to know more about ACCEPT II activities and how they can be linked to ACCSAP to avoid overlapping activities.
• For the upcoming plan, IGES will organize a virtual stakeholder workshop on 29-30 March 2023, on the progress of ACCSAP draft where ACE or ACCEPT II representative is expected to join and present on the energy-climate nexus works.

The ASEAN Climate Change Strategic Action Plan (ACCSAP) 2023 – 2030 is initiated by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and supported by the Ministry of the Environment, Government of Japan (MOEJ) and the Japanese Government, and the Institute for Global Environmental Studies (IGES). The ACCSAP is expected to provide regional strategic guidance until 2030 to harmonize commitments and accelerate synergized adaptation and mitigation actions toward resilient and net-zero ASEAN community in line with the ASEAN Climate Vision 2050. IGES is drafting the action plan and wants to update the progress and obtain input from ASEAN stakeholders’ perspective. The following stakeholders are ASEAN Secretariat (Energy Division, Environment Division, Transport Division, Finance Integration Division, Food Agriculture and Forestry Division), ASEAN Centre for Energy and ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity.

During the discussion IGES representatives Yosuke Arino, Naoki Matsuo, Mark Elder, and S.V.R.K. Prabhakar delivered information to the ACCEPT II representatives on the initial process of ACCSAP, drafting the action plan, and provided an updated progress draft. Currently, the draft is being developed through consultation with the ASEAN stakeholders to obtain early input for the process and discuss any climate change activities within the region to avoid overlap with the existing program. In addition to delivering the action plan progress, the goal of meeting with the ACCEPT II team was to learn more about ACCEPT II activities and experiences, especially during implementing the climate change activities in ACCEPT Phase 1. As a result, the prior ACCEPT II experience provided valuable insights for the IGES team’s drafting process of the action plan and outlined potential future joint activities on the energy-climate nexus.Figure 1. IGES and ACCEPT II representative during the discussion at ACE Office.

ACCEPT II representative Aldilla also delivered a presentation on the ASEAN Plan of Action on Energy Cooperation (APAEC) Phase II: 2021-2025 which include climate activities, ACCEPT Phase I achievements, the expected outcomes of ACCEPT Phase II as well as the current on-going activities in 2023. The presentation gained attention from the IGES team who questions regarding how the ASEAN energy structure works in the region, the decision process and execution, the ACCEPT design, experience, and overall difficulties and opportunities with implementing climate change projects within Southeast Asia. The discussions have also expanded to include the stakeholders that are involved, how to attract funding and execute the project, and gaining feedback and suggestions from the ACCEPT II team on how to ensure the successful future implementation of the action plan.

As a follow up, IGES has taken notes on the discussion points as well as input or suggestions from ACCEPT II on the draft action plan which will be used as input and huge consideration to further update the action plan document. Next, IGES is also planning to conduct a virtual stakeholder workshop on 29-30 March 2023 to hear input from ASEAN stakeholders on the current draft. In addition, IGES would like to invite the ACCEPT II representatives to deliver a 10-minute presentation during the workshop where ACCEPT II is expected to deliver the APAEC output related to climate, ACCEPT II work planning on energy-climate nexus or net-zero activities as well as expectation on the ACCSAP project. In the long-term, IGES team will work to continue finalizing the action plan document which is targeted to be accomplished and published in 2024 during the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment or any other ASEAN high-level meeting or dialogues. In advance, IGES also mentioned that ASEAN Center for Climate Change (ACCC) will be established and based in Brunei Darussalam which is mandated to implement the action plan in long-term. The two- and half-hour meeting ended with a photo session where IGES would like to further engage and coordinate with ACE or ACCEPT II if there is any further update on the action plan. ACCEPT II is more than welcome to have a follow-up engagement and discussion with the IGES team.

Detailed information on ACCEPT II: https://accept.aseanenergy.org/

Collaboration inquiries with ACCEPT: [email protected]