Consultancy on Just Energy Transition Follow-up Study At Oxfam

Summary of Consultancy:

• Indicative Budget: USD 40,000
• Contract type: Short-term consultancy (6 months ~)
• Program: Fair Finance Asia (FFA)
• Geographical coverage: Asia regional and ASEAN – specifically Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam

The Program:

Fair Finance Asia (FFA) is a five-year program funded by the Swedish Government through the Swedish Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand. It is a network of civil society organizations in Asia working to ensure that financial institutions operating in Asia are transparent and accountable to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria in their business activities and investment decisions. FFA aspires to reduce inequality in Asia by creating an enabling policy environment for integration of social and environmental considerations among financial institutions (FIs) and regulators in the region, and ensuring that FIs advance the interests and needs of local communities towards their well-being.

FFA is collaborating with SEI (to jointly undertake this research, ensuring technical and strategic cooperation) to address key knowledge gaps in accelerating Asia’s just energy transition, with a specific focus in the ASEAN subregion.

Objectives of the Study:

In 2021, Fair Finance Asia’s study, A future without coal: Banking on Asia’s just energy transition, revealed continued growth in Asia’s coal sector even after the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015 due to continued financing by banks and investors operating in the region.

Fair Finance Asia (FFA) is developing a follow-up study that will seek to assess Asia’s readiness to quit fossil fuels by focusing on renewable energy transition initiatives, their progress at national and regional levels, how they align with existing NDCs and net-zero commitments, and what the role of the Asian and global financial sector is in pushing for a swift and just energy transition in the ASEAN and across Asia overall.

Specifically, the aim of this study is to:

• Review and assess the renewable energy landscape in Asia. This includes looking into existing projects and initiatives at the national (specific countries covered under this study) and regional levels, as well as the gaps remaining in order to meet corresponding net-zero targets and NDCs in alignment with the Paris Agreement.
• Highlight key challenges and risks in Asia’s renewable energy supply chains, particularly those that require urgent attention by financial institutions and regulators.
• Develop a set of recommendations to mitigate the challenges and risks identified, as well as highlight pathways for a regional just energy transition that is effectively coordinated within and beyond borders, and effectively supported by responsible and sustainable financial flows and regulation.

Scope Of Work:

In this context, the specific scope of this study includes:

1. Analyze renewable energy financing and investments in Asia, clearly showing the mapping of financial flows in and between nationally and regionally operating financial institutions in the region including key multilateral development banks active in the energy sector in Asia (MDBs);
2. Assess gaps between NDCs and net-zero targets vs actual financing and investments made (at national and regional levels) in order to move towards energy transition;
3. Review the incentive mechanisms and policies available at the national and regional levels and how effective they are in accelerating the transition from fossil-fuel based power generation to renewable-based power generation;
4. Assess the gaps and challenges as well as critical risks and bottlenecks in Asia’s renewable energy supply chains, and through data and evidence, link with the responsibility of relevant financial institutions and regulators in the region;
5. Integrate multi-stakeholder (businesses, regulators, financial institutions, MDBs, and CSOs) insights on the role of renewables in ensuring the achievement of net-zero commitments and NDCs towards just transition in Asia;
6. Develop tiered recommendations for action and urgent next steps for regulators, MDBs, financial institutions, and CSOs based on the thorough analysis and key findings of the study.

The review will cover all countries that are a part of the Fair Finance Asia network and will include additional countries that are highly relevant to cross-border investments in Asia. These include:

• Bangladesh
• Brunei
• Cambodia
• China
• India
• Indonesia
• Japan
• Lao PDR
• Myanmar
• Malaysia
• the Philippines
• Pakistan
• Singapore
• South Korea
• Thailand
• Timor-Leste
• Vietnam

Expected Outputs

• Inception report indicating the annotated chapter-wise breakup that includes: the scope of work, methodology to undertake financial flow data analysis of renewable energy sector of the selected country, methodology to assess the gap between NDCs and net-zero commitments vis-à-vis the current status quo in energy investments, the list of informants and the interview questions;
• A written report in a Word document format of approximately 60 pages (excluding annexes) including the scope of work, answering the questions cited under ‘Research Questions’, and providing recommendations on the way forward
• An executive summary of key findings and recommendations
• A presentation to be delivered by the main researcher to the FFA and SEI networks
• The transcripts of the interviews with the raw interview data
• All relevant data used and collected as part of the research and analysis of the financial flow

For more details, please refer to the Terms of Reference at: https://bit.ly/3xcVAxa