Unlocking Commercial Financing For Clean Energy In East Asia

This report draws lessons to date from recent international experience in applying public financing instruments to unlock commercial financing to scale-up clean energy in East Asia. It addresses the following issues: when to use public financing instruments; which instrument to select; and how to design and implement them most effectively.

Green Finance and Renewable Energy in ASEAN and East Asia edited by Phoumin, Taghizadeh-Hesary and Kimura provides several empirical policy-oriented studies with new data on ASEAN member states and East Asian economies that deal with innovative and market-based solutions for unlocking private investments in renewable energy projects. In the wake of COVID-19, the importance of innovative ways and policies for enhancing investments in renewable energy projects to achieve climate-related goals is highlighted. Chapters cover various aspects and means of green finance for renewable energy development, including identifying the financing barriers and solutions for mitigating them, cleantech finance and energy transition, green investment risks, green technology financing, market development, carbon taxation, green bonds, FinTech, and green digital finance. The book collectively provides policy recommendations for designing funding strategies for renewable energy development in ASEAN and East Asia. A valuable resource to end-users, policymakers, and market players in ASEAN, East Asia, and the rest of the world on access to finance for renewable energy development.

This book is the first comprehensive assessment of the state of low-carbon investments in Asia, analyzing the rationales, mandates and public–private financing activities. Based on the experiences of several regional initiatives wherein public financing is catalyzing private investments in low-carbon infrastructure, this book proposes a framework that can be used as a tool to identify factors that influence private investment decisions and policy instruments that can scale up the private capital. Placing the Asian economies onto a low-carbon development pathway requires an unprecedented shift in investments. This book addresses this situation by asking questions such as: • What is the central role of private finance in achieving the Paris Agreement targets? • What key policy levers and risk mitigation can governments use in an effort to unlock the potentials of private capital? • How can regionally coordinated actions hold significant promise for scaling up private investments?

Thailand has had a remarkable economic development trajectory over the past 60 years and foreign direct investment (FDI) has been pivotal in this success. Thailand was one of the first movers in opening up to manufacturing FDI and in establishing proactive investment promotion and facilitation policies.

Thailand has adopted ambitious clean energy targets to meet its long-term climate goals, committing to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 and net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2065. Transforming Thailand’s energy system, alongside broader development objectives, is critical to meeting these goals as the energy sector accounts for 69% of Thailand’s total GHG emissions. The Clean Energy Finance and Investment Roadmap of Thailand (“the Roadmap”) outlines key actions to unlock finance and investment in two clean energy sectors: (i) renewable power, with special attention to small-scale renewable power systems; and (ii) energy efficiency in buildings, with a focus on cooling applications. The two sectors were selected in close consultation with the Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency (DEDE) of the Ministry of Energy of Thailand. The Roadmap provides a comprehensive overview of the progress to date, policy context and challenges to mobilise near-term finance in those sectors, as well as estimates of the finance needs to reach Thailand’s clean energy plans. The report also includes a roadmap action plan, suggesting non-prescriptive recommendations and actions that the Government of Thailand, financial institutions, energy service companies, academia and the international development community active in the country could undertake to foster clean energy investments in Thailand.

This book is the first of two volumes that review various approaches and instruments that have been tried, tested, and utilized to scale up clean energy development in Asia and the Pacific. This volume examines clean energy investment needs and financing gaps in the region and reviews existing financing options and approaches, including examples of how these have been applied. Innovative solutions for mobilizing private finance and managing risks associated with clean energy investments are also discussed.

This book examines clean energy financing and approaches in hydropower and demand-side energy efficiency projects. It presents policies and strategies on energy, based on the experiences in South Asia. This is the second of two volumes that reviews tried and tested approaches and instruments in scaling up clean energy development in Asia and the Pacific.