7th Forum on the Climate-Energy Security Nexus: Enhancing Energy Sector Climate Resilience in Asia

Background

Asia is one of the fastest growing regions in the world in terms of GDP and projected energy demand. To meet this rising energy demand and other energy objectives such as improving energy access and enhancing energy security, governments across Asia are planning significant energy and infrastructure investments. At the same time, the region is particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts, motivating both climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts. For the energy sector, extreme weather events, rising temperatures, and changes to precipitation patterns pose a range of risks to energy infrastructure, supply, and demand. Three sessions held in Manila within the Asia Clean Energy Forum (ACEF) programme, addressed how policy and financial environments can help enable resilience-building, what companies in Asia and internationally are doing to address and manage climate risk, and key issues for the energy sector at the food-energy-water nexus.

These sessions were co-hosted by IEA and ADB. Detailed information on the ACEF can be found here.

Agenda‌

Deep Dive Workshops

Session 1. Creating an enabling environment to enhance climate resilience

In this session, speakers will discuss how enabling policy and financial environments can be established to drive resilience-building investments and business practices in the energy sector.

• How can government policies and regulations drive businesses to build resilience, particularly alongside other objectives (decarbonisation, energy access, affordability)?
• What measures can be taken to ensure the low carbon transition, including deployment of variable renewables, promotes rather than threatens system resilience?
• What are successful models being used to finance resilience-building activities? How can momentum in driving investment for clean energy and energy efficiency be used for resilience objectives and how can we move beyond financing disaster recovery to investing in climate preparedness of assets?

Romeo Montenegro, Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA)
Sorrell Grogan, Australia Energy Market Operator (AEMO)
Peerapat Vithayasrichareon, International Energy Agency (IEA)
Andrew Jeffries, Asian Development Bank (ADB)

Session 2. Building resilient energy assets and infrastructure

In this session, speakers will highlight best practices in building resilience into existing and new energy infrastructure, as well as the barriers that are creating challenges for asset owners, managers, and operators.

• How are energy asset owners/managers identifying and assessing climate risks, and how do these assessments inform investment and operational decisions?
• What gaps or barriers are creating challenges in identifying and addressing climate risks to energy assets?
• What are best practices in leading power and oil and gas companies, and how can they be shared?

Vivien Foster, World Bank
Shi Jing, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC)
Lwandle Mqadi, Eskom (via video conference)

Energy Futures Stream

Energy Resilience at the Food-Energy-Water Nexus

Speakers in this session will discuss the challenges and opportunities of enhancing energy sector climate resilience, through the lens of the food-energy-water nexus.

• What are the short- and long-term climate risks to the energy sector in Asian countries, in particular at the food-energy-water nexus?
• How can changing water needs of the energy sector be better managed, particularly during the low-carbon transition?
• What are the potential synergies in pursuing clean energy and resilience, and how can both public and private financing be enhanced for projects with mitigation and adaptation co-benefits?

Scene-setting: Paul Simons, IEA & Gil-Hong Kim, ADB
Divyam Nagdal, International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)
Pradeep Perera, Asian Development Bank (ADB)
Bill Girling, International Hydropower Association (IHA)