Singapore and the IEA co-host first ever ASEAN Clean Energy Investment and Financing Training Programme

More than 100 participants from 15 countries, largely from Southeast Asia, convened in Singapore from 28 to 30 August for the Singapore-IEA Clean Energy Investment and Financing Training Programme. This programme aims to increase knowledge and skills for decision making on policies and regulatory frameworks that mobilise bankable investments in renewables and energy efficiency across the region.

According to the IEA’s Southeast Asia Energy Outlook, countries in the region will need to invest close to USD 3 trillion by 2040 to meet rising energy demand, or the equivalent of USD 130 billion per year. The Singapore-IEA Clean Energy Investment and Financing Training Programme is designed to give policymakers and professionals from state-owned utilities in the ASEAN region the tools to attract these investments and to develop sustainable financing models to do so. 

The Training Programme consisted of two parallel tracks: renewable energy and the power sector, and energy efficiency. The hands-on curriculum included case studies, lectures and practical exercises on policies and measures, risk evaluation, business models and financing approaches, as well as training on a financial assessment tool, to support investments in these sectors. The programme included a joint session on integrated energy policy and a cross-cutting simulation exercise where participants developed a country-level strategy for clean energy investment in a real-world context. Together, the materials from the Programme make up a clean energy investment and financing ‘toolkit’, which is designed to be used on a day-to-day basis by policymakers in their assessment of policies and investment options.

IEA Energy Investment Analyst Michael Waldron delivers a presentation at the ASEAN Clean Energy Investment and Financing Training Programme (Photograph: IEA)

The Training Programme featured almost 20 speakers and experts from the IEA, Singapore government agencies, public and private international financial institutions, the clean energy industry, the legal community and global think tanks.

The programme represents the first step of an energy investment and financing capacity building roadmap for ASEAN. Along with the IEA and other partners such as the World Bank, this roadmap will be used to guide technical assistance and capacity building in Southeast Asia over the next three years in the area of clean energy investment. The roadmap will be presented by IEA Executive Director Dr Fatih Birol at the forthcoming ASEAN Minsters of Energy Meeting.

The Singapore-IEA Clean Energy Investment and Financing Training Programme is the second event under the Singapore-IEA Regional Training Hub initiative, which was launched in 2016 when Singapore became an Association Country of the IEA.