At the onset of the AIF Fellowship, as I entered a space I was rather hesitant and nervous to navigate, given its depth of understanding and tides of nuances – I stepped in knowing that this is a battle I want to march along in, one where I want to make sure that I take a step closer every day in fighting for the harmony of nature and one where I want to strive to be a better warrior every day. The battle to combat climate change, to become climate resilient and to attain climate sustainability – is one that is long drawn yet immediate and thrives on building the collective consciousness of the world.
The facts indicate nothing less. With the economies of South Asian and Southeast Asian countries growing at an exponential rate, the total energy consumption is expected to grow by 1.6 times over the next two decades under the business as usual scenario, with sustained population and economic growth [Southeast Asia Energy Outlook, 2019, International Energy Agency]. Such increased energy demand is a major contributing factor to the throes of climate change with carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in Southeast Asia having grown more rapidly than in any other region of the world from 1990 to 2010 [Southeast Asia and the Economics of Global Climate Stabilization, Asian Development Bank, 2015]. Hence, the region is on a trajectory that will make it a much larger emitter in the future thereby intensifying the threat of climate change where the Asian Development Bank (ADB) further estimates Southeast Asia to suffer bigger losses than most regions in the world owing to the effects of the same. Unchecked, climate change could shave 11 per cent off the region’s GDP by the end of the century as it takes a toll on key sectors such as agriculture, tourism, and fishing—along with human health and labour productivity [Southeast Asia and the Economics of Global Climate Stabilization, Asian Development Bank, 2015].
There exists a potential of 15-30 per cent reduction in the energy demand if such countries adopt and implement climate resilience strategies i.e. energy-efficient, clean energy, and alternative energy measures [Energy Outlook and Energy Saving Potential in East Asia 2019, ERIA for ASEAN and East Asia] – the motivation for which is plentiful given the region’s commitment through respective Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Accelerating the adoption of such climate-smart sustainable manufacturing practices (energy-efficient, clean energy, and alternative energy measures), especially energy efficiency (improving the efficiency of every unit of energy used in industrial production thereby reducing the overall energy consumption and cost of production), is an extremely cost-effective way to mitigate climate change, with the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimating that energy efficiency improvements could contribute half of the GHG reductions required to limit global temperature rise to 2°C above pre-industrial levels. Being the largest consumer of electricity in the world, the industrial sector [Energy Outlook and Energy Saving Potential in East Asia 2019, ERIA for ASEAN and East Asia] holds a huge potential for energy saving and GHG emission reduction through the implementation of such sustainable manufacturing measures. However, despite the environmental, technical and financial benefits of sustainable manufacturing for industry, the utilisation of this potential remains largely sub-par and ineffective. Therefore, there is an urgent need for breakthrough interventions within the region in order to enable the achievement of its country-wise NDCs through implementing innovative improvements at scale thereby combatting the barriers of high up-front costs and barriers to accessing finance, limited knowledge and awareness, inadequate policy incentives as well as lack of technical awareness, baseline data and the low credibility of Energy Service Companies (ESCOs). Although there exist policy-based interventions and initiatives to promote the adoption of sustainable manufacturing – the large-scale adoption of sustainable manufacturing practices still requires a range of interventions including unique business solutions, capacity building initiatives and affordable financing mechanisms to address different technical, informational and financial barriers. This paints a window of opportunity for the implementation of innovative and comprehensive business models – presently limited in number – that can effectively persuade and support the industries to undertake the shift towards sustainable manufacturing and enable the ecosystem to drive the energy transformation for the region. Such models, successfully demonstrated within the region of South and Southeast Asia, shall also leverage the current global crisis of COVID-19 and combat its tremendous economic fallout by enabling the industrial sector to build back better and stronger through making the shift to greener, and more energy-efficient as well as clean energy practices.
All of which brings me to my fellowship project – as an AIF William J. Clinton Fellow 2020-21, I had the opportunity to serve with the Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC) which is presently implementing the Energy Efficiency for Alliance for Industry (E2 Alliance) Project, accelerated by P4G (Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030), which aims to scale and replicate innovative interventions to drive the adoption of energy efficiency interventions by industry in India, South and Southeast Asia. Before I delve deeper into the immense learnings I gathered and elaborate on the perspectives from the ground, I think it is rather essential to understand the role of innovation within climate sustainability and how the E2 Alliance Program aims to drive the innovative energy transformation within the region of South and Southeast Asia. Please stay tuned for the next part in the blog series to explore the need for enabling ecosystems and deriving innovative solutions in order to move towards a climate sustainable tomorrow.
