ASEAN 2025 Open letter

May 26, 2025

The Honourable Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim

Prime Minister of Malaysia

ASEAN Chair 2025

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Your Excellency,

We address you in your capacity as ASEAN Chair for 2025. We call for an urgent and decisive response to the climate crisis. The ASEAN region is one of the most highly vulnerable regions to climate change impacts. Extreme weather events have become more frequent and more intense in recent years, significantly impacting communities, livelihoods, and ASEAN economies. Projections indicate impacts on human health, agriculture and fisheries, food security and the economy will worsen significantly in the coming years if  action is not taken – that is, if the ASEAN region does not transition away from coal to renewable-based efficient energy systems.

We urge ASEAN member states, under Malaysia’s leadership, to end persistent dependence on coal, the most polluting power source, and pave the way for a swift, equitable and just transition direct to renewable energy systems. Frontline communities in coal-impacted areas in the ASEAN, together with civil society organizations across the region, are calling for ambitious action on coal phase-out at the regional and national levels.

Specifically, we call for the following policy actions:

• No new coal power plants

While coal expansion has slowed down globally, significant expansion is happening in Southeast Asia, particularly in Indonesia and the Philippines – this, despite ASEAN’s strong commitment to achieving low-carbon development or carbon neutrality by 2050. Member states have also made commitments to significantly reduce emissions and transition to a low-carbon economy in the next ten to twenty years. Ending the development of new coal-fired plants for power generation is a crucial step in fulfilling these commitments and rapidly reducing coal use and dependence.

Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos and Philippines are among the 10 countries that account for 96% of global coal plant development. Indonesia, which has one of the largest coal power fleets in Asia, has 13.4 GW of coal pipeline despite a recent announcement to advance its coal phase-out target from 2056 to 2040. The Philippines also has a 3.6 GW pipeline of new coal projects despite a moratorium on new coal in 2020. 

ASEAN members must end the construction of new coal immediately. This should include captive coal plants built to serve specific industries and are no less harmful than grid-connected plants. New coal power would lock in decades of emissions and hinder efforts to reach climate goals regionally and globally. We call on member states to move beyond coal moratoriums to a permanent ban on new coal and outline on their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) no new coal targets and timelines in line with the Paris Agreement. 

• Phase out existing coal power plants

We likewise call for NDCs to outline targets for the rapid phase out of existing coal-fired power plants. A rapid reduction in coal use in line with the Paris Agreement means retiring currently operating coal-fired power generation by 2040 or sooner. Analysis of how Southeast Asia and South Asia can transition away from coal to a renewable-based energy system compatible with the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) find that coal-fired power should have already peaked by 2020 and be rapidly decreasing at this time; and coal-fired power generation should be reduced by 60 per cent per cent (South Asia) to 70 per cent per cent (South-East Asia) from 2020 levels by 2030 and phased out by 2036.

The peoples and communities in Asia call for a rapid and just phase-out of existing coal to be completed by 2035, including captive coal power plants. In line with this, we call for the immediate shut down, within the next three years, of coal plants past their operational lifespan and aging plants that have become increasingly unreliable. We likewise call for the immediate shutdown of mothballed plants or plants that have been deactivated but can still be used or sold in the future; plants financed by odious debt, incurred without the consent of the people and not benefiting the community; and plants that have made the most harmful impacts on communities.

We call on ASEAN to collectively urge Global North countries to deliver their fair share of climate finance for fossil fuel phaseout in Asia—through adequate, predictable, and grant-based funding that enables a just and equitable energy transition.

• Stop promoting gas as transition fuel

We vehemently object to gas being promoted as a transitional fuel in Asia to help countries move away from coal-fired power generation towards renewable energy sources. Gas as transition fuel reinforces continued reliance on fossil fuel infrastructure. The ongoing expansion of gas and LNG risks locking ASEAN countries into prolonged greenhouse gas emissions throughout the operational lifespan of gas power plants and terminals. Gas infrastructure can last up to 30 years, meaning three decades more of continued GHG emissions and no hope of reaching zero emissions by 2050.

There is no more room now for new gas, oil, and coal in keeping global temperature rise to 1.5°C, which means significantly reducing the risks of severe climate change impacts. Renewables are crucial in meeting global energy demand and reducing carbon emissions. Governments must ban new fossil fuel projects and begin a managed decline of the fossil fuel industry, while encouraging investment in clean energy alternatives. Continued investments in fossil gas takes away critical resources from renewable energy alternatives. By switching from one fossil fuel to another, we risk wasting the narrow window left to transition to renewable energy and avoid a climate catastrophe.

• Ramp up renewable energy and grid upgrades to replace fossil fuels and address energy poverty

Southeast Asia is primed for renewable energy development, primarily solar and wind energy. Scaling up renewable energy systems and developing modern grid and storage infrastructure (utility-scale and decentralized systems), including cross-boundary transmission used exclusively for renewable energy and not for fossil fuel expansion, is essential to replace coal and fossil fuels and ensure universal energy access for people and communities in the region. We call on ASEAN governments to harness the estimated 30 terawatts of solar and wind energy potential by setting and implementing more ambitious, quantifiable, and actionable RE targets within their NDCs and other energy plans towards a 100% RE system before 2050. 

Transitioning to renewable energy sources bolsters long-term economic resiliency by capitalizing on their increasing cost competitiveness, thereby significantly enhancing energy security. This shift eliminates the reliance on expensive imported fossil fuels and vulnerability to volatile global fossil fuel markets, and strengthens a nation’s control over its energy future. 

• Reject false solutions

We strongly oppose the promotion of hydrogen, ammonia, and CCUS (Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage) projects as technologies for mitigation and decarbonization. We are deeply concerned that Japan is actively pursuing bilateral collaborations on these technologies in the guise of developing clean energy – this despite the lack of technological and economic viability and concerns about their negative impacts. These technologies are false solutions to the climate crisis. They are designed to perpetuate the use of fossil fuels and hinder the decarbonization of ASEAN member countries. 

Biomass for energy is another false solution. As more biomass needs to be burned to produce the same amount of energy as coal,  biomass power plants release more carbon dioxide per unit of energy than coal-fired power plants. Additionally, harvesting trees for biomass power plants have destroyed forests and communities, disrupted livelihoods and impacted water quality. 

Coal downstreaming is another false solution peddled by the industry that wants to extend the life of coal. It is claimed that the application of advanced technologies, such as coal gasification and liquefaction, can improve the efficiency of coal and reduce air pollution. Unfortunately, these technologies have a high carbon footprint, water consumption, and potential environmental risks.

We also reject claims that mega and large-scale hydropower projects are crucial in providing reliable and low-carbon electricity. These projects have a track record of displacing communities, disrupting ecosystems, and releasing significant greenhouse gases during their lifespan.

• Ensure an Equitable and Just Transition

The transition away from fossil fuels towards 100% renewable energy systems must adhere to principles that address the various concerns, challenges, risks, and possible harms that a transition may cause. The success of this transition hinges significantly on adequate climate finance and reparations. Therefore, the ASEAN governments must demand that industrialized countries in the Global North provide substantially increased, adequate, accessible, and non-debt-creating climate finance. We urge ASEAN governments to ensure the social protection and empowerment of all workers, communities, and sectors affected by the transition. This can be done by establishing national mechanisms that facilitate and ensure the consultation and participation of all affected peoples in the planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of just transition measures and policies. We likewise call on all ASEAN governments to outline Just Transition measures and policies in their NDCs.

We appreciate Malaysia’s leading efforts to propose an ASEAN Declaration on Promoting the Right to Development and Peace Towards Realising Inclusive and Sustainable Development. With this declaration, we recognize Malaysia’s strategic responsibility to lead member states towards a transition away from coal as ASEAN Chair 2025. The phase out of fossil fuels in the region is crucial in solidifying the right to development as an inalienable human right and guiding ASEAN’s future actions toward inclusive and sustainable development. 

We thank you for your time and cooperation, and look forward to your leadership in providing sufficient, reliable and affordable energy to people and communities, and achieving sustainability in ASEAN’s power generation.

Signed by: regional movements and networks, peoples’ organizations, and CSOs in Asia