The financing gap is huge, but time is short. Given the inadequacy of a promised new climate finance goal, Southeast Asia should look beyond UN-led conferences to crowd in other sources of capital to tackle the climate crisis.
Asean needs to develop a collective response to the geopolitics of renewable energy in order to address resource nationalism and the adverse impacts of growing US-China rivalry on Southeast Asia's energy transition.
To achieve net zero emissions in Southeast Asia, addressing the significant financing gap is crucial, requiring bold targets and more international support.
Allowing private firms to sell clean power directly to consumers via PLN's networks could help the country meet its targets without burdening the national budget and to let the state-owned electricity utility focus on grid modernisation.