PETALING JAYA (Jan 13): Energy transformation should be a top priority for Asean as it tackles climate change, and the key strategies should be the development of connected infrastructure and capitalising on the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution.

Jeffrey Sachs, president of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions and Research (UN-SDSN), said during his presentation at the Asean Workshop on Sustainable Development that regional integration has become a strategic necessity for every nation in the world, and Asean must have diplomatic unity to have influence in the world.

The Workshop was hosted by Sunway University in collaboration with the UN-SDSN Asia Headquarters at the university.

Sachs said that Asean would need to connect population centres that have geographically determined power generators, like solar and wind, for Asean to create an energy system and address climate issues.

He added that decarbonisation must be done beyond the region and connect with nations from East Asia, Northeast Asia, and even Australia and New Zealand to create a power pool, such as a grid that extends into neighbouring nations, in which energy is traded across the space.

“The idea of a submarine cable that connects Australia's desert solar power with Indonesia is probably bankable and from an engineering point of view, a bold but feasible program,” he said.

This is where connected infrastructure, particularly on transport infrastructure, the digital infrastructure and the power grid, comes into play. Sachs mentioned China's Belt and Road Initiative as a good example of a strategy used to connect the world.  

“Make physical connections by having rail, fibre, power, water management, watershed management and ecosystem management for a region, because there's no other way to make the changes that are absolutely essential. Malaysia cannot have a zero-carbon energy system on its own if it's not interconnected across Asean,” he said.

“China and the United States are the two leaders, by far, of the AI revolution, but Asean is [will have an] economic future that will depend on being part of the AI revolution,” said Sachs.

Datuk Sri Haji Fadillah Haji Yusof, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy Transition and Water Transformation, echoed Sach’s sentiments and recognised that such efforts are vital to achieving shared development goals, as well as to the position Asean as a global leader in sustainability and resilience.

“Our first priority is the transition towards a low carbon interconnected energy grid, powered primarily by renewable energy sources. This transformation is not just an environmental imperative, but a strategic necessity. It is key to meeting our decarbonisation targets while ensuring energy security across the region,” he said during his opening address.