**5. Conclusions**

The purpose of this study was to formulate the scenario-based policy lessons and framework in the case of ASEAN economies in facilitating the development and deployment of green technologies and alternative energy options. In doing so, the study reviewed the literature around green energy deployment in the context of green growth and energy transition and discussed the current status of renewable energy development in the ASEAN. Alternative energy options such as nuclear and hydrogen energy prospects were discussed, while the study proposed hydrogen fuel as a way forward in meeting the energy and environmental objectives in the ASEAN. Some of the underlying research questions that this study aimed to shed light on and expose as urgent areas of future research include: (i) Why is the deployment of renewable energy low in the ASEAN, and what frameworks are needed to better support their wider deployment of green technologies like wind and solar in Southeast Asia in the context of energy transition? (ii) What are the policy and institutional frameworks required to implement innovative green technologies such as carbon capture, utilization and storage in the region as demand for fossil fuels, in particular, coal escalates? (iii) What is the scope for energy efficiency improvements in the region within the context of the push towards greener technology development and deployment? (iv) How can cross-sectoral partnerships between the governments, businesses, and NGOs in the ASEAN help to mitigate the threats of climate change collectively? However, it was beyond the scope and not the aim of this paper to comprehensively provide answers to each of these individual questions.

The study concludes that carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) will be a vital technology in the ASEAN to reduce emissions from the power sector and from industry while allowing the use of fossil fuels to achieve economic growth. The study proposes that transitioning to a hydrogen carbon economy, adapting to green energy finance for development and managing financial risks in promoting green energy development are necessary and urgent in the ASEAN region to adapt to climate change. The decreasing costs for renewable electricity, especially from solar PV and wind, seems to support the

production of electrolytic hydrogen, making it a low-cost supply technology option for hydrogen. Similarly, the increasing pressure from international agreements such as COP21 will demand countries to deploy alternative fuel pathways in their energy mix.

The International Monetary Fund forecasted the global economy to grow negatively at 4.9% in 2020, which will demand that policymakers come up with major economic stimulus packages to combat the COVID-19 crisis [58]. Investment in clean energy with technological solutions will not only be an ideal option from an environmental standpoint but will also fulfil the unemployment gap by creating green-technology-related jobs while spurring economic growth and is perceived to be vital in emerging regions like ASEAN. In addition, the falling costs of renewables can also provide policymakers a perspective to revisit the energy policy planning documents and have a long-term vision about green technology deployment. Batteries, hydrogen and carbon capture are viable technologies as they have the potential to be deployed in mass scale, which could help in achieving global clean energy transition. According to a recent analysis done by IEA, governments are believed to be driving 70% of global energy investments [59]. A proper coordination and leadership from the ASEAN governments to engage multiple stakeholders is important to achieve climate change goals with the appropriate deployment of green technologies. A coordinated energy strategy in the ASEAN will also improve the nuclear prospects, which are complicated by political factors, and public acceptance towards nuclear energy needs to be boosted.

Implementing energy efficiency improvements policy in the ASEAN through policy measures such as attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and reducing energy consumption in public goods provisions such as streetlights are desirable [60]. Cross-sectoral partnership and international power connectivity in the ASEAN region should be the way forward. The European Union provides a perfect example, whereby their partnership in renewable energy lowered the energy supply from coal by 3% [8]. We propose that short-term and medium-term policies to facilitate decarbonization include boosting public acceptance to nuclear energy, implementing energy efficiency improvement policies and complete elimination of fossil fuel consumption subsidies. The longer-term policies are to deploy CCS technologies as an enabler of hydrogen energy and to increase both the public and private sector energy investments in and development of CCS technologies. These are important policy lessons for the ASEAN governments to accommodate in energy policy crafting and promote sustainable development in the region through green energy development and deployment as a viable strategy to adapt to climate change.

**Author Contributions:** R.N.—conceptualization, methodology, writing—original draft preparation, writing—review and editing, validation, formal analysis, investigation; H.P.—writing—review and editing, resources, project adminstartion, funding acquisition; A.K.—writing—original draft preparation. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research paper was carried out under the funding from the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia.

**Acknowledgments:** We also acknowledge the valuable comments received from Fukunari Kimura, Jun Arima and participants at the First Working Group Meeting—Energy Sustainability and Climate Change in ASEAN—held on 14 September 2020. The authors are also grateful to the academic editor and the three anonoymous reviewers for providing helpful comments in improving the paper. All remaining errors are the sole responsibility of the authors alone.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
