The Investment Gap: Where Southeast Asia's Green Economy Is Stalling, and How to Fix It

Welcome to the May 2026 edition of SIPET Connect! 

This month, SIPET Connect turns to an issue that feels especially timely for Southeast Asia’s transition. 

In our latest Transition Toolbox, we speak with Robert Tromop of the Asia Pacific Energy Research Centre (APERC) about the role of long-range energy outlooks, data, and modelling in shaping better regional energy decisions. As Southeast Asia navigates rising demand, shifting fuel markets, and more complex transition choices, the conversation is a reminder that credible planning tools matter just as much as ambitious targets. 

In our Explainer, we look at the current energy crisis rippling across Asia following the disruption of Middle East supply routes. What began as a geopolitical shock has quickly become a test of how exposed the region remains to imported fossil fuels, concentrated shipping routes, and price volatility. For Southeast Asia, the lesson is not only about emergency response, but about what real energy security requires next: more resilient systems, lower fuel dependence, and faster progress on clean power, efficiency, and flexibility.  

As always, we also round up a few jobs, publications, and events worth watching across the region.  

Welcome to the March 2026 edition of SIPET Connect! 

Marking March as Global Gender Equality Month, including International Women's Day, we turn to a dimension of the energy transition that is gaining visibility, but still struggles to translate into system-level change: gender. 

March’s Transition Toolbox, Ellen Bomasang shares insights from over three decades across energy and development, reflecting on how the sector’s approach to gender has evolved—and what it will take to move beyond participation toward structural change. From workforce dynamics to financing and institutional design, the conversation highlights where real progress is happening, and where gaps remain. 

Our Explainer Series builds on this by unpacking what the global evidence says about women’s participation in renewable energy, and why a gender-responsive approach is essential to making the transition both effective and equitable. 

Welcome to the February 2026 Edition of SIPET Connect. 

In this edition, we take a closer look at a question that continues to surface across Southeast Asia’s transition: why do strong projects still face challenges finding the right capital (and vice versa)? 

In this month’s Transition Toolbox, Sarah Love, who leads the FCDO’s Climate, Energy and Nature Network in Southeast Asia, speaks with Peter du Pont of SIPET Connect about what actually needs to change—from building a stronger pipeline of investable opportunities, to why momentum is building behind the ASEAN Power Grid, and how coordination platforms like PACE and blended finance tools (including FAST-P) can unlock the flow of private capital from interest to action. 

Welcome to SIPET Connect’s first edition of 2026.

As the year begins, this issue focuses on the practical “how” of advancing Southeast Asia’s energy transition. In our Transition Toolbox interview, Adritha Subbiah from Southeast Asia Energy Transition Partnership (ETP), shares how the SPARK initiative is building trusted, closed-door peer learning networks for senior policymakers to tackle thorny issues like carbon markets and coal phase-down.

Our Explainer this month looks at why transition finance matters for decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors, before we mark the International Day of Clean Energy and close with the SIPET Noticeboard and reading list to keep your 2026 radar sharp.