Governments and Philanthropies Announce South East Asia Energy Transition Partnership

Today the Government of Canada’s Department of Environment and Climate Change, the French Development Agency (AFD), Germany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), the United Kingdom’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and global philanthropies announced the beginning of a new collaboration at the One Planet Summit in New York to accelerate the energy transition in partnership with countries in South East Asia.

South East Asian countries can ensure continued economic growth and prosperity, keep pace with the related growth in energy demand, and meet their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) toward the Paris Agreement. The fall in the cost of renewable energy, the untapped renewable energy potential in South East Asia, and the lessons learned from increasing renewable energy penetration globally presents an opportunity for South East Asian countries to accelerate the energy transition and meet their Paris commitments.

The partnership announced today aims to consolidate international support for the energy transition in South East Asia, and help promote the right market conditions for the region’s thriving private sector to ramp up investment.

“South East Asia is home to growing economies and innovative companies, and it can help lead the global charge in adopting clean energy and reducing fossil fuels,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and UN Special Envoy for Climate Action. “That will bring major benefits to cities and countries in the region, by reducing deadly air pollution and creating new jobs. Public private partnerships can help speed progress, and our foundation is glad to play a role.”

Canada, France, Germany, and the UK will offer financial resources and make technical assistance available to accelerate the energy transition.

Mr Bambang Brodjonegoro, the Republic of Indonesia’s Minister of National Development Planning, welcomed the announcement: “Indonesia is poised to deliver on the transition to a low-carbon future that delivers economic and environmental security, and helps to meet the crucial Paris and Sustainable Development Goals. We welcome partnerships such as this that can help accelerate our goals and catalyze investment.”

Ms Catherine McKenna, Canada’s Minister for Environment and Climate Change said: “Canada is proud to be taking action at home and abroad to protect the environment and grow the economy. Making the important and necessary transition to a clean economy, and helping developing countries in that transition, will ensure a healthier and more sustainable future for our kids and grandkids.”

Mr Jochen Flasbarth, State Secretary at Germany’s BMU said: “Action is urgently needed in South East Asia if the world is to deliver the commitments to tackle climate change made in Paris in 2015. However, accelerating the uptake of renewable energy and energy efficiency is also a golden opportunity to lock-in long-term prosperity and a secure, affordable energy supply for South East Asia’s citizens in the future.”

Global philanthropies – including Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), ClimateWorks Foundation, the European Climate Foundation, Growald Family Fund, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, IKEA Foundation, OIF and the Sea Change Foundation – have agreed to leverage their respective strengths and maximize their collective impact, building on and extending existing partnerships with the region. This innovative partnership will allow for coordinated support and faster action, and is intended to encourage other governments and philanthropies to join.

Sir Christopher Hohn, co-founder of CIFF, said: “This partnership will provide South East Asian policymakers with the evidence and expertise required to make the transition to renewable energy happen. By doing so, the region can make a material contribution to achieving the Paris goals and ensure continued economic growth and prosperity.”

The Honourable Loren Legarda, Senator of the Philippines, said: “We welcome this commitment from the philanthropic and climate finance donor community to support our country’s efforts to transition towards cleaner energy. This partnership further incites us to transform and rethink the way we should rebuild energy and infrastructure, towards a new path where our people and communities can truly be able to survive and thrive.”

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Note to editors:

Additional supportive statement from Vietnam:
Nguyen Thi Dieu Trinh (Ms.)
Co-Chair of the Low Emission Development Strategies Global Partnership
Department of Science, Education, Natural Resources and Environment
Ministry of Planning and Investment
Tel: +84-8043310

“As co-chair of the Low Emission Development Strategies Global Partnership (LEDS GP) Forum, and co-chair of the Finance working group, we would like to support the ideas bringing these key stakeholders together – especially in leveraging investments and connecting funds across the globe to support and finance bankable projects.”

Participating governments:

• Canada: Department of Environment and Climate Change. Press Contact – Caroline Thériault, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, +1-613-462-5473, caroline.theriault2@canada.ca.

• France: Development Agency (AFD). Press contact – Valentin Riehm, riehmv@afd.fr.

• Germany: Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU). Press contact – Andreas Kübler, +49 3018 305 2012, presse@bmu.bund.de.

• UK: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Press contact – Mr Joshua Snape, Joshua.Snape@beis.gov.uk.

Participating philanthropies:

1. Bloomberg Philanthropies works to ensure better, longer lives for the greatest number of people by focusing on five key areas: the arts, education, the environment, government innovation, and public health. Encompassing all of Mike Bloomberg’s giving, Bloomberg Philanthropies includes his foundation, corporate, and personal philanthropy as well as Bloomberg Associates, a pro bono consultancy that works with mayors in cities around the world. For more, visit www.bloomberg.org. (Key contact: Lee Cochran, lee@bloomberg.org.)

2. The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (UK) is an independent philanthropic organisation, headquartered in London with offices in Nairobi and New Delhi and a presence in Ethiopia. Established in 2003, CIFF works with a wide range of partners seeking to transform the lives of children and adolescents in developing countries. Areas of work include maternal and child health, adolescent sexual health, nutrition, education, deworming, tackling child slavery and exploitation, and supporting smart ways to slow down and stop climate change. For more, visit www.ciff.org. (Key contact: Monica Allen, Director of Communications, mallen@ciff.org.)

3. ClimateWorks Foundation: Founded in 2008, ClimateWorks Foundation is a global organization whose mission is to mobilize philanthropy to help solve the climate crisis and ensure a prosperous future. It does this through performing four key roles: providing a global view to philanthropy of climate mitigation opportunities, facilitating funder collaborations, developing and funding global and transnational climate mitigation strategies, and growing climate philanthropy. For more information, visit www.climateworks.org. (Key contact: Justin Guay, Director Clean Energy, Clean Air, justin.guay@climateworks.org.)

4. The European Climate Foundation (ECF) – a ‘foundation of foundations’ – was established in early 2008 as a major philanthropic initiative to help Europe foster the development of a low-carbon society and play an even stronger international leadership role to mitigate climate change. For more, visit https://europeanclimate.org.

5. Growald Family Fund’s mission is to catalyze climate innovation and leadership through venture philanthropy. As a high-impact venture philanthropy fund we invest our grants in a portfolio or organizations poised to create an outsized impact on our world in the area of electricity transformation. We work in partnership internationally with like-minded foundations and nonprofit partners as well as academic and policy research institutions. GFF believe that philanthropy plays a key role in nurturing new approaches to climate solutions, supporting objective analysis for use by key partners and stakeholders. This support, together with work done by governments and businesses, can help to create the meaningful transformation that is needed for the climate. (Key contact: Athena Ronquillo-Ballesteros, Asia Program Director, +1 240-839-8285, aballesteros@growaldfamilyfund.org.)

6. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation is a nonpartisan, private charitable foundation that advances ideas and supports institutions to promote a better world. For more than 50 years, we have supported efforts to advance education for all, preserve the environment, improve lives and livelihoods in developing countries, promote the health and economic well-being of women, support vibrant performing arts, strengthen Bay Area communities and make the philanthropy sector more effective. For more, visit https://hewlett.org.

7. The IKEA Foundation (Stichting IKEA Foundation) works to create a better everyday life for the many people. As the philanthropic arm of INGKA Foundation, the owner of the IKEA Group of companies, we focus on improving the lives of vulnerable children by enabling their families to create sustainable livelihoods, and to fight and cope with climate change. Learn more at www.ikeafoundation.org and www.facebook.com/IKEAfoundation. (Key contact: Truus Huisman, truus.huisman@ikeafoundation.org.)

8. OIF: The mission of the Overlook International Foundation is to have a significant, measurable impact on climate change mitigation. We intend for our funding to be catalytic; to have a genuine impact on the ability of the organizations we support to grow. (Key contact: Marisa de Belloy, mdebelloy@overlookinternational.org.)

9. Sea Change Foundation: Founded in 2006 by Nat Simons and Laura Baxter-Simons as a private family foundation, Sea Change Foundation is dedicated to achieving meaningful social impact through strategic philanthropy that addresses the most pressing problems facing the world today. The Foundation is currently working to address the serious threats posed by global climate change, and primarily focuses on climate change mitigation and clean energy policy. Nat Simons and Laura Baxter-Simons are the co-directors of Sea Change Foundation. For more, visit www.seachange.org.