The past year is one that few of us will forget. While the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have played out unevenly
across Asia and the Pacific, the region has been spared many of the worst effects seen in other parts of the world. The
pandemic has reminded us that a reliable and uninterrupted energy supply is critical to managing this crisis.
Beyond ensuring that hospitals and healthcare facilities continue to function, energy supports the systems and coping
mechanisms we rely on to work remotely, undertake distance learning and communicate essential health information.
Importantly, energy will also underpin cold chains and logistics to ensure that billions of vaccines make their way to
the people who need them most.
The good news is our region’s energy systems have continued to function throughout the pandemic. A new report Shaping a sustainable energy future in Asia and the Pacific: A greener, more resilient and inclusive energy system released today by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) shows the energy
demand reductions have mainly impacted fossil fuels and depressed oil and gas prices. Renewable energy development in
countries across the region, such as China and India, has continued at a healthy pace throughout 2020.
As the Asia-Pacific region transitions its energy system to clean, efficient and low carbon technologies, the emergence
of the pandemic raises some fundamental questions. How can a transformed energy system help ensure our resilience to
future crises such as COVID-19? As we recover from this pandemic, can we launch a “green recovery” that simultaneously
rebuilds our economies and puts us on track to meet global climate and sustainability goals?
A clean and sustainable energy is central to a recovery from COVID-19 pandemic. By emphasizing the importance of the
SDGs as a guiding framework for recovering better together, we must focus on two critical aspcets:
First, by making meaningful progress on the SDGs, we can address many of the systemic issues that made societies more
vulnerable to COVID-19 in the first place – health, decent work, poverty and inequalities, to name a few.
Second, by directing stimulus spending to investments that support the achievement of the SDGs, we can build back
better. If countries focus their stimulus efforts on the industries of the past such as fossil fuels, we risk not
creating the jobs we need, or moving in the right direction to achieve the global goals that are critical to future
generations. The energy sector offers multiple opportunities to align stimulus with the clean industries of the future.
The evidence shows that renewable energy and energy efficiency projects create more jobs for the same investment as
fossil fuel projects. By increasing expenditure on clean cooking and electricity access, we can enhance economic
activity in rural areas and bring modern infrastructure that can make these communities more resilient and inclusive,
particularly for the wellbeing of women and children.
Additionally, investing in low-carbon infrastructure and technologies can create a basis for the more ambitious climate
pledges we need to reach the Paris Agreement targets of a 2-degree global warming limit. On this note, several countries
have announced carbon neutrality, demonstrating a long-term vision and commitment to an accelerated transformation to
sustainable energy. Phasing out the use of coal from power generation portfolios by substituting with renewables, ending
fossil fuel subsidies, and implementing carbon pricing are some of the steps we can take.
The COVID-19 crisis has forced us to change many aspects of our lives to keep ourselves and our societies safe. It has
shown that we are more adaptive and resilient than we may have believed. Nevertheless, we should not waste the
opportunities this crisis presents for transformative change. It should not deflect us from the urgent task of making
modern energy available to all and decarbonizing the region’s energy system through a transition to sustainable energy.
Instead, it should provide us with a renewed sense of urgency.
We must harness the capacity of sustainable energy to rebuild our societies and economies while protecting the
environment in the pursuit of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of ESCAP.