NEW YORK – When the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed following US and Israeli strikes on Iran, the story from most newsrooms described shocks to oil prices, liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply and supply chains which would eventually normalise.

ASEAN countries should draw a different conclusion. Price and supply shocks have been a regular feature of global energy markets. ASEAN’s vulnerability is no longer inevitable.

Energy sovereignty, industrial competitiveness and economic resilience now point in precisely the same direction: a regional, integrated, decarbonised energy system.

Much of great power competition has been enabled by the control of oil and gas supply chains, including choke points, embargoes and targeted regime change operations.

Weeks ago, the US put Cuba in a chokehold by limiting its access to imported oil just after the US led an illegal coup in Venezuela to gain access to its oil.

We are now seeing geopolitical power reshape LNG supply chains, directing limited supply to more powerful and better-resourced states. 

South-east Asian economies, many of which depend on imported oil and gas, are among the most exposed, with domestic energy access and costs determined by foreign political interests and along shipping corridors where geopolitical risk is the permanent operating condition.

ASEAN has the resources and the technologies to end this dependency and secure its energy and economic sovereignty.

The region is endowed with extraordinary renewable potential: solar irradiance across mainland and island South-east Asia, geothermal resources in Indonesia and the Philippines, hydropower across the Mekong Basin and offshore wind corridors that have barely been touched.

For years, decarbonisation was framed as a cost: a moral imperative that required sacrifice today for safety tomorrow. That framing was always incomplete, but it is now simply wrong.

The dramatic collapse in the cost of solar, wind, batteries and associated technologies means that the most secure energy system and the most affordable energy system are, increasingly, the same system.

China understood early that a clean energy future is both an economic opportunity and an imperative for energy security. It led one of the most ambitious domestic energy security strategies in history, built on clean energy investment at an unrivalled scale and speed.

Its energy self-sufficiency now stands at 84.4 per cent, and its dependence on fossil fuels continues to decrease as a result of accelerated electric vehicle adoption, rapid electrification and the largest high-speed rail network in the world.

China’s investment in clean energy technology has not only accelerated its own energy transition but has also driven down costs so dramatically that renewables are now the most cost-effective way to meet virtually all new electricity demand.

ASEAN’s energy systems to date remain fragmented: Each country plans its own power systems, cross-border interconnection is slow and limited, and industrial strategies are mainly domestic and disconnected from energy system planning.

That fragmentation imposes enormous economic and strategic costs.

It leads to higher overall system costs, redundant generation and greater exposure to exactly the kind of shocks that the Hormuz closure represents.

It also forecloses the integrated regional value chains in critical minerals, manufacturing and clean technology that could make ASEAN industrially competitive in the energy transition.

What ASEAN has been missing is a genuinely regional energy architecture designed to capture the full value of the region’s diverse resource endowment.

Under Malaysia’s chairmanship of ASEAN in 2025, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim articulated the vision of having an integrated, reliable, sustainable regional energy system as a cornerstone of ASEAN unity and long-term competitiveness.

That vision is now being given serious analytical and political form, and it has a proper institutional home.

The ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) is the region’s mandated technical body, officially charged with guiding its energy future.

For the first time, under the Philippines’ ASEAN chairmanship, ACE is developing an optimised, least-cost, integrated, decarbonised energy scenario for its forthcoming ASEAN Energy Outlook.

The premise is straightforward but consequential.

A connected grid allows surplus clean generation in one country to meet demand in another, improving energy access and reliability across the region and reducing overall investment needs and total system costs.

Source: The Straits Times, 16 Mar 2026 (https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/decarbonisation-is-no-longer-a-trade-off-but-a-security-and-economic-imperative-for-asean)

ABU DHABI - A new partnership launched in Singapore last October to scale up clean energy across ASEAN is making headway, with programmes to support renewable energy and energy efficiency rolled out in Malaysia and Indonesia in February.

The Middle East-based International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena), an intergovernmental organisation, also has plans to convene an investor forum in Singapore in late-2026 or early 2027 to matchmake suitable projects with interested investors. 

These initiatives aim to show how ASEAN economies can industrialise and grow economically, but in a less pollutive way.

Mr Gurbuz Gonul, the director of country engagement and partnerships at Irena, told The Straits Times that efforts to achieve this could include integrating renewable energy in industrial parks, electrifying selected industrial processes and strengthening local supply chains for renewable components.

The specific scope will be identified through national consultations, focusing on analyses that inform policy, and technologies that can be used to green local value chains and industries, he added.

According to a 2024 report by energy think-tank Ember, electricity demand in ASEAN is set to increase up to 41 per cent by 2030 from 2023 levels, driven by industrialisation, electrification and digitalisation.

It also noted that the region’s share of greenhouse gas emissions is expected to increase substantially due to population growth, expansion of manufacturing and increasing electricity demand from the region’s data centres.

“The emphasis is on linking renewable energy deployment to green growth, local value creation and employment opportunities,” said Mr Gurbuz.

He was giving ST an update on the Accelerated Partnership for Renewable Energy in South-east Asia, or Apresa, which was launched by Irena during the Singapore International Energy Week in October 2025.

The main aim of the partnership is to scale up clean energy in ASEAN. This will be done by strengthening renewable energy infrastructure, enhancing green economies, mobilising private sector investments and setting up renewable energy projects on remote islands in South-east Asia.

“Renewable energy is not just an energy transformation question anymore. It is an economic transformation because countries are seeing the benefit of using renewable energy to create value economic activities,” said Mr Gurbuz.

“The competitiveness of your economic activities is very much reliant on how you access the energy in a reliable way at cheap, competitive prices,” he added.

In Indonesia, Mr Gurbuz said Irena is also providing training to local communities to manage renewable energy plants. For example, it is preparing a capacity building programme in West Nusa Tenggara to help train locals on operating solar and micro-hydro mini-grids.

ASEAN is pushing for more renewable energy use, with a plan to reach 45 per cent of renewable energy in installed power capacity by 2030. A 2025 report by research firm Enerdata noted renewables account for about 33 per cent of the region’s installed power capacity.

Mr Gurbuz noted that Irena is also working on how remote islands in Indonesia and Malaysia can benefit from more renewable energy.

Currently, many of these communities rely on diesel, a fossil fuel, for power.

Mr Gurbuz said data is being collected from these communities on their energy needs at the household level, and also how much energy their public and economic infrastructure, such as schools and clinics, would require.

This information will help Irena work to close the energy-access gap, improve electricity reliability, replace diesel and promote productive energy uses, Mr Gurbuz said. The initiative aims to phase out diesel generators on remote islands and replace them with greener solutions such as solar and small-scale hydropower plants and battery storage.

This will not only help to stabilise energy costs and improve electricity supply but also support productive use of energy and expand local livelihoods, he added.

Mr Gurbuz said scaling up renewable energy in the region also requires financing.

To this end, Irena is gearing up to launch an investor forum in late-2026 or early 2027 to matchmake suitable projects with interested investors, he said, adding that the agency aims to organise the event in Singapore.

“As Asia’s leading sustainable finance centre... and as the regional leader for promoting and importing clean electricity, Singapore serves as the central location for bridging global capital with the regulatory expertise and international partnerships needed to unlock the capital required for energy transition,” he noted.

Irena will assess whether the projects are bankable to attract financiers or help developers improve their projects before recommending them. The agency will also propose to financiers – such as multilateral development banks – to fund them.

Examples of such projects include solar panel and onshore wind projects that have secured land, permits and feasibility assessments as well as transmission and grid reinforcement projects that support a greater share of renewables and cross-border electricity trade.

One way the region hopes to increase deployment of renewable energy is through the ASEAN Power Grid.

This regional grid is envisioned as being key to facilitating cross-border electricity trade among countries in South-east Asia, as renewable resources in the region are unevenly distributed.

However, infrastructure still remains a major obstacle to ramping up renewable energy in ASEAN, said Mr Gurbuz.

Singapore is a major champion of the ASEAN Power Grid, and has a target of importing 6 gigawatts (GW) of low-carbon electricity from its neighbours by 2035.

Mr Gurbuz said the city-state played a key role in driving momentum in the ASEAN Power Grid with its demand for clean energy imports, and its support for building interconnections between the countries.

Grid infrastructure refers to the interconnected network needed to bring power from producers to users. Such a network is critical in ensuring electricity can be distributed from the generation source, such as a renewable energy project, to where users are.

“Renewable energy can be deployed quickly, but grid development and infrastructure development cannot follow suit at that pace,” he said. “That is why there is a greater emphasis now on how infrastructure can unlock investments into renewable energy.”

Moreover, for the regional grid to be realised, national-level infrastructure must first be improved, said Mr Gurbuz.

Apresa will also aim to enhance countries’ grids to be more resilient and flexible, which is important to integrate more renewable energy that can be tapped for cross-border trading and contribute towards the ASEAN Power Grid.

This flexibility is needed because of the intermittent nature of renewables – such as when the sun does not shine or when the wind does not blow – as compared with the constant power generation from fossil fuels.

Source: The Straits Times, 1 Mar 2026 (https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/irena-launches-programmes-in-malaysia-indonesia-to-spur-green-economies-scale-clean-energy)

The Singapore Logistics Association (SLA) has signed five memorandums of understanding (MOUs) to accelerate sustainability practices, digital adoption, internationalisation and workforce development across the industry.

These come as the trade body, which has about 700 members, aims to position the sector to capture new cross-border opportunities in the new Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ).

Formalised on Monday (Feb 23) under SLA’s Vision 2027 road map, the association said the agreements aim to strengthen growth opportunities in “sustainability, digitalisation, internationalisation and human capital development”.

One partnership with the Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF) “enhances manufacturing-logistics integration and cross-border collaboration”. This will be achieved, for example, by “facilitating business missions and knowledge-sharing platforms” through the JS-SEZ.

SLA said the collaboration will also include “supply-chain integration” initiatives, such as dialogues and capability-building programmes. There will also be “overseas missions and market familiarisation initiatives” to expand regional partnerships.

Another partnership with the Federation of Malaysian Freight Forwarders “strengthens cross-border collaboration and regional logistics integration”.

Under the MOU, there will be joint dialogues and business missions, among other programmes, to “strengthen logistics linkages between Singapore and Malaysia, particularly in relation to developments under the JS-SEZ”.

Capability-building and professional development initiatives – including training programmes, technical workshops and industry briefings – will also be explored to boost “operational standards and workforce competencies”.

Separately, SLA signed an agreement with advisory firm EY Corporate Advisors to “(support) industry transformation through thought leadership and strategic advisory initiatives”.

Another two partnerships, with DSV Contract Logistics and SAF Veterans League, are aimed at improving human capital development and digital capabilities.

Apart from the five MOUs, SLA also entered into a partnership with the Singapore Retail Association to grow the retail and logistics ecosystem.

Speaking at a Chinese New Year event on Monday, SLA chairman Dave Ng said efforts will include trade missions, forums and joint capability-building initiatives in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), sustainability and regional expansion, including within the JS-SEZ.

He added that the trade body has already organised three missions to the JS-SEZ involving more than 170 participants, with a fourth slated for August this year.

Minister of State for Trade and Industry Alvin Tan, who attended the event as guest of honour, pointed out that Budget 2026 was an important one for the logistics sector, with various measures such as corporate tax relief for companies, grants for internationalisation and a tax deduction on AI spending.

On Monday, SLA marked the completion of the first intake of the Logistics Sustainability Professionals Programme (LSPP), launched in February 2025 in collaboration with Enterprise Singapore and Workforce Singapore.

SLA’s Ng said the programme has equipped logistics professionals with practical capabilities to measure emissions, strengthen compliance readiness and support long-term business resilience.

Graduates came from freight forwarding, warehouse operations, last-mile delivery and multimodal transport; there were 11 participants in the first cohort.

The programme provides blended learning to enhance skills for sustainability-focused roles, alongside funding support of up to 70 per cent for carbon tracking and reporting tools.

Source: The Business Times, 23 Feb 2026 (Singapore logistics body inks MOUs to tap JS-SEZ, boost sustainability and digital push - The Business Times)