DDW: USAID/USG Partnership for Southeast Asia's Clean and Inclusive Energy Future

Background

The US government is supporting its partners in Southeast Asia to enable and attract the infrastructure investments needed to meet their ambitious net-zero goals through a variety of mechanisms and programs. These include USAID’s Corporate Clean Energy Alliance (CCEA), US Department of State’s Clean Energy Demand Initiative (CEDI), and USAID’s Southeast Asia’s Smart Power Program (SPP). The USG’s partnerships support solutions that expand access to renewable energy, improve energy efficiency, and demonstrate and deploy transformation enabling technologies. Together, they aim to identify, inform, and implement clean energy solutions.

Furthermore, USAID is committed to supporting Southeast Asia’s just and inclusive clean energy transition. USAID programs such as Enhancing Equality in Energy for Southeast Asia (E4SEA), and the Mekong Sustainable Manufacturing Alliance (MSMA), promote gender equality in the clean energy workforce, and work closely with public and private sector project partners.

This Deep Dive Workshop will be divided into two 90-minute sections: The first will concentrate on US government/private sector partnerships and the collective effort to combat climate change through clean energy finance/development initiatives. The second 90-minutes will build on this discussion, focusing on the importance of promoting gender inclusiveness in the clean energy workforce, and the private-sector adoption of ESG standards during Southeast Asia’s clean energy transition.

Objectives

This Deep Dive Workshop will highlight USG initiatives that help private sector champions meet shared climate and clean energy targets in Southeast Asia. The discussion will highlight policy recommendations, investment tools, financing mechanisms, and support programs the private sector and USG can offer to governments, developers and civil society to support clean energy and climate change initiatives in Southeast Asia. The session will also showcase how business leaders are strengthening ESG standards.

AGENDA

9:00 - 9:15 a.m.

Private Sector Keynote Address

Eva Kelly Oberender, CEO, Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP)

9:15 - 9:30 a.m.

USG Private Sector Engagement Overview

Scott C. Bartos, USAID/RDMA

Derina Man, US Department of Energy, NREL

9:30 - 10:00 a.m.

Private Sector Panel Discussion

Moderator: Madura Watanagase, USAID Southeast Asia’s Smart Power Program

Panelists:

Kristine Margallo, Assistant Vice President for Business Development, Aboitiz Power
Tom Owen, Project Development Officer, UGEP
Eva Kelly Oberender, CEO, REEEP
Takuya (Tak) Kasai, Managing Partner, Head of APAC, Enel X Advisory Services Japan
Alex Perera, Deputy Director, Energy, World Resources Institute

10:00 - 10:30 a.m.

Q&A

Moderator: Madura Watanagase, USAID Southeast Asia’s Smart Power Program

10:30 - 11:00 a.m.

Coffee Break

11:00 - 11:15 a.m.

Scene Setter

Moderator - Vinod Shrivastava, Lead Advisor, USAID Enhancing Equality in Energy for Southeast Asia (E4SEA) Activity and Director, CORE International, Inc. 

11:15 - 11:25 a.m.

Private Sector Role in Developing Inclusive Energy Sector Workforce of the Future

Agnes De Jesus, Chief Sustainability Officer, First Philippines Holdings Corporation/First Gen

11:25 - 11:35 a.m.

Role of the Academic Sector and STEM Education in Inclusive Energy Sector Transition

Dr. Maria Teresa Fajardo, Director, Extension & Community Relations Division, USTP University of Southern Philippines

11:35 - 11:45 a.m.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory: Women in Power System Transformation: Advancing Gender Equality in a Changing Power Sector

Sadie Cox, Senior International Partnerships Manager, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

11:45 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Inclusive Transition in Corporate Governance

Dr. Dynah Avigail Basuil, Executive Director, Ramon V. Del Rosario Sr. Center for Corporate Responsibility, Asian Institute of Management, Manila, the Philippines

12:00 - 12:25 p.m.

Q&A

Moderator - Vinod Shrivastava, Lead Advisor, USAID Enhancing Equality in Energy for Southeast Asia (E4SEA) Activity and Director, CORE International, Inc.

12:25 - 12:30 p.m.

Closing Remarks

Moderator - Vinod Shrivastava, Enhancing Equality in Energy for Southeast Asia

SPEAKERS

Scott Bartos

Regional Energy Advisor, U.S. Agency For International Development (USAID)

Madura Watanagase

Manager, Competitive Procurement, USAID SPP

Eva Kelly Oberender

CEO, Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership

Derina Man

Project Lead, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

Vinod Shrivastava

Founder and Managing Director, CORE International, Inc.

Dynah Basuil

Professor and Executive Director,
Asian Institute of Management Ramon V. Del Rosario Sr. Center for Corporate Responsibility

Agnes de Jesus

Chief Sustainability Officer, First Philippine Holdings Corporation

Maria Fajardo

Director, Extension & Community Relations Division & GAD Focal Person, University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines

Takuya Kasai

Managing Partner, Head of APAC, Enel X Advisory Services

Sadie Cox

Senior Analyst, Markets & Policy Group of the Strategic Energy Analysis Center, NREL

Alex Perera

Deputy Director, World Resource Institute

Masatsugu Asakawa

President, Asian Development Bank

Fatima Yasmin

Vice-President, Sectors and Themes, Asian Development Bank

Mafalda Duarte

Executive Director, Green Climate Fund

Ramesh Subramaniam

Director General and Chief, Sectors Group, Asian Development Bank

Michael Schiffer

Assistant Administrator for the Bureau of Asia, United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Cindy Lim

Chief Executive Officer, Infrastructure, Keppel Infrastructure Holdings

Bhargav Dasgupta

Vice-President, Market Solutions, Asian Development Bank

Melanie Slade

Senior Programme Manager, Energy Efficiency in Emerging Economies, International Energy Agency (IEA)

Jiwan Acharya

Principal Energy Specialist, Sectors Group, Asian Development Bank

Damilola Ogunbiyi

CEO and Special Representative, The UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All

Gurbuz Gonul

Director, Country Engagement and Partnership, International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)

Sinon Vongkusolkit

Chief Executive Officer, Banpu Public Company Limited

H.E. Keo Rottanak

Minister, Ministry of Mines and Energy, Cambodia

Presentations

About Organizer

USAID's mission is to end poverty and advance human prosperity and security. Our climate work safeguards this mission and puts countries on a path to pursue clean energy growth and resilient, low-carbon development. USAID shares world-class climate knowledge, data, and tools with the aim to ensure that countries can predict, prepare for and adapt to change.