Speeding Up The Energy Transition

Fossil fuels still power the globe. They account for 87% of Asia Pacific’s energy needs, 70% of the EU’s, and 47% of Switzerland’s. A much faster transition to renewable energy is needed if the world still wants to have a shot at not warming more than 1.5 degrees by 2050. This requires a fundamental shift in energy systems, away from fossil fuels. It needs governments, societies, and businesses to all be on board and commit to a greater ambition.

That awareness seems to have set in. There is a visible shift from ambition to action. But it all still falls far short from what is required: efforts need to be scaled up. As the world’s biggest growth region, what happens in Asia Pacific will determine whether the world succeeds in the energy transition and meet the Paris climate goals.

Asia’s success requires contributions from Europe as well. Governments will need to spend billions on building policies and regulations to reach net zero, so that multinational banks, (re)insurers and other companies can sustainably invest trillions in the global energy transition.

At the inaugural Asia Sustainability Dialogue, organised together with the Swiss Re Institute, we’ll explore what the bottlenecks are to scale up the energy transition and what is needed to remove them.

How can countries attract money to pay for renewable energy projects? How can financial companies work with governments and institutions like the Asian Development Bank to fund a way out of fossil fuels? What does the energy transition mean for a local consumer? What are examples of successful projects and investments that can be copied?

Get insights on all of this from key experts in a concise, to-the-point format on Thursday, August 31, 2023. Attend in-person or online, both free of charge. Register now using the button on this site. Details on confirmed speakers below, with more speakers to be added soon.

SPEAKERS

Philip Gass is Lead Transitions in the International Institute for Sustainable Development’s Energy program, based in Geneva. He works directly on economic approaches that promote sustainability including the green economy, circular economy, and just transitions. In Indonesia he has focused on strategies to shift from coal to renewable energy. His recent work has also focused on development of fiscal policy approaches that facilitate greenhouse gas mitigation including carbon pricing and subsidy reform. He has a background in political economy and stakeholder engagement, having worked in a legislative setting in Canada prior to joining IISD.

Andrea Bertello is Director Country Engagement & Partnerships at RELP, a Brussels-based impact-driven non-profit organization aimed at scaling up cheaper and faster renewable energy deployment at large scale in the Global South by helping governments attract investment, foster competition, lower costs of renewable energy generation and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He has 15+ years work experience in the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors. Before working for RELP, Andrea has worked for several businesses spanning from renewable energy project development and consultancy (in Latin America), to the development of energy, IoT and data analysis solutions and small-scale clean energy generation systems (in Europe and South East Asia). He has taught several courses on renewable energy in both Argentina and the U.S. and worked as external consultant for the European Commission on renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. Before that Andrea worked for Trinergy Ltd., a wind energy asset manager based in Dublin and New Energy Finance in London (current BNEF).  Andrea holds a BA in Economics (University of Turin) and an MA in Sustainable International Development (Brandeis University).

Junice Yeo is Executive Director at Eco-Business, based in Beijing. She specialises in corporate sustainability in Asia and leads the ESG Intelligence division, which focuses on research, advisory and training on key issues such as disclosure and ratings, climate risk, sustainable finance, and carbon market developments. Junice was previously Director for Southeast Asia at global sustainability management consulting firm Corporate Citizenship. She delivers board briefings on evolving ESG issues in Asia, and regularly mentors professionals across industries on ESG integration, disclosure and strategy. Junice has two decades of private and public sector experience in China and Southeast Asia. She previously served in trade, tourism and investment functions at the Embassy of Switzerland, and Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City. She has also led in global and regional brand communications efforts for the Singapore Tourism Board and at the French multinational, Danone.

Martin Weymann heads the Sustainability, Emerging & Political Risk Management team at Swiss Re, responsible for coordinating the sustainability activities across the company and scanning the horizon for future risks and developments. It also contributes to the dialogue with a wide range of Swiss Re’s stakeholders such as clients, investors, governments, NGOs and the public. Martin is a member of the FSB Task Force on Climate-related Disclosures (TCFD) and a board member of the UNEP Finance Initiative Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI). Martin holds a MSc in environmental sciences with specialization in physics, climate and water systems from ETH Zurich.

Isabelle Zheng is a senior researcher at the Department of Banking and Finance at the University of Zurich (UZH) following her PhD on climate and biodiversity financial risks. 
She has co-developed a climate transition risk assessment tool for large portfolios of bonds, loans and equity shares which has then been applied by several regulators and policy makers. She has also established several executive programs on the frontier topics of sustainable finance, ‘Climate Change Finance’ and ‘Biodiversity and Finance’ at UZH. She holds an MA in VWL (Economics) from UZH after her bachelor from Fudan University in Shanghai. Isabelle is an alumna of the Gen A Young Leadership Program of Asia Society Switzerland.

Dr. Chris Humphrey is senior scientist at the ETH Center for Development and Cooperation (NADEL) and a senior research associate at the ODI think tank, specializing in development finance. He is the author of Financing the Future (Oxford University Press, 2022) about multilateral development banks in the 21st century, and was a member of the G20 Independent Review of Multilateral Development Bank Capital Adequacy Frameworks (2022). Dr. Humphrey combines teaching, policy-oriented research and consultancies for international organizations and governments. He has a PhD from the London School of Economics.

Annisa Sekaringtias is a senior researcher on clean energy finance and diplomacy at climate think tank E3G. Her work focuses on overcoming barriers to scaling clean energy finance via major public finance institutions, including the multilateral development banks. She also investigates how energy transition could support development and resilience, particularly in low-and-middle income economies. Prior to that, she assisted teaching in Environmental and Resource Economics and Law at UCL and worked with international organisations on energy finance. She holds a BSc in Engineering from Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) and an MSc in Economics and Policy of Energy and the Environment from University College London (UCL).

About the Asia Sustainability Dialogue

The Asia Sustainability Dialogue is an annual event organized by Asia Society Switzerland and Swiss Re. It provides a platform for in-depth discussions on sustainable practices, environmental resilience, and green economic growth. Featuring a blend of thought leaders, policymakers, business innovators, and environmental activists from both continents, the dialogue strives to inspire responsible action and sustainable development and promote cooperation in these areas between Europe and Asia.

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