A Review of the Status of Fossil and Renewable Energies in Southeast Asia and Its Implications on the Decarbonization of ASEAN

The ten nations of Southeast Asia, collectively known as ASEAN, emitted 1.65 Gtpa CO2 in 2020, and are among the most vulnerable to climate change, which is partially caused by anthropogenic emission. This paper analyzes history ASEAN energy consumption emission from both fossil renewable energies last two decades. results show that ASEAN’s resources range low moderate, unevenly distributed geographically, contributed only 20% total primary (TPEC) 2015. dominant forms hydropower, solar photovoltaic, bioenergy. However, hydropower bioenergy have substantial sustainability issues. Fossil depend heavily on coal oil contribute 80% TPEC. More importantly, energies’ contribution TPEC has been decreasing decades, despite increasing installation capacity. suggests current rate addition capacity inadequate allow reach net-zero 2050. Therefore, will continue be an important part mix. tools, such carbon capture storage (CCS) hydrogen, needed for decarbonization. CCS decarbonize power industrial plants, while blue hydrogen hard-to-decarbonize plants. Based recent research into regional source-sink mapping, this proposes six large-scale projects four countries, can mitigate up 300 Mtpa CO2. Furthermore, identifies common pathways decarbonization their policy implications.