This book provides several up-to-date empirical policy-oriented studies on assessing the impacts of climate change on various economic sectors and the role of renewable energy resources in mitigating pollution and climate change. It suggests various policy recommendations on how to increase the share of renewable energy resources in the energy baskets of the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the rest of the world to ensure energy sustainability. As of 2020, most of the world’s energy investment still went to carbon-emitting sources, namely, fossil fuels. On the other hand, the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic Project Overview 20 March 2021 08:39 Page 6 of 9 downturns shrank the global energy demand, including fossil fuels, resulting in a sharp drop in their prices. Low fossil fuel prices are harmful to developing renewable energy projects, making solar, wind, and other renewable energy resources less competitive as sources of electricity. This is endangering the Paris agreement and the “Climate Action” goal of the United Nations. Given the high share of fossil fuels in the energy mix of the members of ASEAN, tremendous challenges must be faced for their energy transition in the post-Covid-19 world. The authors call for sound policy and applicable technologies to ensure sustainable energy availability, accessibility, and affordability to reach emission reduction targets.
Dr. Han Phoumin is Senior Energy Economist with the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia. He has more than 20 years of experience working at various international and inter-governmental organizations and multi-disciplinary research consortiums related to the energy market and technologies, environment, integrated water resource management, governance, and economic development in the region of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and East Asia. He specializes in economic development and policy and applied econometrics. Over the past ten years, much of his career has involved the power sector, incredibly sustainable hydropower development, renewable energy research, energy efficiency, clean coal technology, energy security, and energy demand and supply forecasting.
Dr. Farhad Taghizadeh-Hesary is an associate professor of economics at Tokai University in Japan, and a visiting professor at Keio University inTokyo, Japan. He taught as an assistant professor at Keio University and Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan. He is a grantee of the Excellent Young Researcher (LEADER) status from the Ministry of Education of Japan (MEXT). He is also a visiting professor at Chiang Mai University (Thailand) and a distinguished research fellow and external scientific member at the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam). He was a visiting professor/visiting scholar at the University of Tokyo, Griffith University (Australia), University of Tasmania and The Institute of Energy Economics of Japan (IEEJ). Currently, he is serving as Editor of Cognet Business & Management (Scopus), Associate Editor of Finance Research Letters (SSCI, Scopus), Associate Editor of the Singapore Economic Review (SSCI, Scopus) and Associate Editor of Globel Finance Journal (ESCI, Scopus). He has guest-edited special issues for prestigious journals including Energy Policy, Energy Economics, International Review of Economics and Finance, Economic Analysis and Policy, Journal of Economic Integration; Journal of Environmental Management; Australasian Journal of Environmental Management; Sustainability and Frontiers in Energy Research. His research credits include authoring more than 110 academic journal papers and book chapters and editing nine books published by Springer, Routledge and World Scientific. Dr. Taghizadeh-Hesary holds a Ph.D. in economics from Keio University with a scholarship from Japan’s government (MEXT).
Prof. Fukunari Kimura is a Professor in the Faculty of Economics, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan since 2000 and Dean of the Graduate School of Economics, Keio University, since 2015. He is also Chief Economist at the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia, Jakarta, Indonesia, since 2008. He serves as a co-editor of the Journal of the Japanese and International Economies. He specializes in international trade and development economics. He has recently been active in writing academic and semi-academic books and articles on international production networks and economic integration in East Asia.
Prof. Jun Arima is a professor at the Graduate School of Public Policy (GrasPP), University of Tokyo, Japan, and Senior Policy Fellow on Energy and Environment, Economic Research Institute of ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA). Currently, he also serves as Visiting Professor, International University of Japan, Project Leader for the 21st Century Public Policy, Distinguished Senior Research Fellow at the Asia Pacific Institute of Research (APIR), Consulting Fellow at the Research Institute of Economy, Trade, and Industry (RIETI), Visiting Researcher at the Institute of Energy Economics of Japan (IEEJ) and a member of German Japan Energy Transition Council (GJETC). He is also one of the Lead Authors of the forthcoming 6th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He began his career at the Ministry of Economic, Trade, and Industry in 1982 (then, Ministry of International Trade and Industry-METI), which was followed by more than three decades of experience in various roles in energy and environment. In his professional career record, he served in various senior-level positions at International Energy Agency (IEA); Director-General of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) London Office; METI’s Special Advisor on Global Environmental Affairs. He has extensive publications on energy policy.
