Project Title

APEC Workshop on Pathways for a Just Energy Transition 

Project Year

2024   

Project Number

EWG_101_2024A 

Project Session

Session 1   

Project Type

Standard 

Project Status

Project in Implementation   
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Project No.

EWG_101_2024A 

Project Title

APEC Workshop on Pathways for a Just Energy Transition 

Project Status

Project in Implementation 

Publication (if any)

 

Fund Account

APEC Support Fund 

Sub-fund

ASF: Energy Efficiency, Low Carbon and Energy Resiliency Measures (EELCER) 

Project Year

2024 

Project Session

Session 1 

APEC Funding

100,000 

Co-funding Amount

20,000 

Total Project Value

120,000 

Sponsoring Forum

Energy Working Group (EWG) 

Topics

Energy 

Committee

SOM Steering Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation (SCE) 

Other Fora Involved

 

Other Non-APEC Stakeholders Involved

 

Proposing Economy(ies)

United States 

Co-Sponsoring Economies

Australia; Canada; Chile; Chinese Taipei 

Expected Start Date

01/10/2024 

Expected Completion Date

31/12/2025 

Project Proponent Name 1

Bethel W. Tarekegne 

Job Title 1

Systems Engineer 

Organization 1

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory 

Postal Address 1

Not Applicable 

Telephone 1

+1-509-372-4417 

Fax 1

Not Applicable 

Email 1

Bethel.Tarekegne@pnnl.gov 

Project Proponent Name 2

Not Applicable 

Job Title 2

Not Applicable 

Organization 2

Not Applicable 

Postal Address 2

Not Applicable 

Telephone 2

Not Applicable 

Fax 2

Not Applicable 

Email 2

Not Applicable 

Declaration

Bethel W. Tarekegne 

Project Summary

This project aims to convene APEC members to share ideas and build capacity on just energy transition. Just transitions are a continuous process of moving toward a sustainable, resilient, and equitable economy that provides decent, productive, and ecologically responsible livelihoods; and equitably distributes costs and benefits of the energy system within APEC economies consistent with their domestic circumstances. The project implementer will organize and conduct a workshop on just energy transition to discuss APEC economies’ experiences, lessons learned, and best practices related to just energy transition initiative. The project will 1) highlight how economies can support just transition domestically and/or in their ongoing APEC projects, 2) discuss possible follow- on workshops, and 3) develop potential areas of future collaboration under the Just Energy Transition Initiative.

Relevance


Region
Economies across the APEC region are experiencing growing demand for electricity coupled with the need to build more sustainable, resilient, and low-carbon energy infrastructures. However, there is still uncertainty on how to go about achieving a just energy transition to meet domestically set targets. Energy security, coal power plant retirements, gender equality, sustainable development, and identification of technical solutions to achieve a just transition are still under development.

Eligibility and Fund Priorities

This project is eligible for Energy Efficiency, Low Carbon and Energy Resiliency Measures Sub-fund since Category 2 projects are defined as all other energy efficiency, energy access and low carbon measures projects, including renewable energy projects.

Information and experiences shared in the Workshop will contribute to achieving APEC's aggregate energy intensity reduction goal of 45% by 2035 which was agreed at the APEC Leaders Meeting in Honolulu in 2011.

Capacity Building
The project aims to support all developing APEC economies’ ability to pursue just energy transition by understanding and gaining access to information and capacity building resources on issues surrounding energy security, lower carbon use, social well-being, and clean energy policy. Sharing technology solutions and best practices on policy and regulatory mechanisms, the project will build capacity building that incentivizes sustainable and equitable development. The project also emphasizes a collaborative approach to capacity building by facilitating information exchanges with public and private sector participants across the APEC region.

Objectives

The project’s main objectives are enhancing participation, information sharing, and policy best practices on just energy transition across APEC economies. Responding to APEC Leaders commitment in APEC Putrajaya Vision 2040 to promote strong, balanced, secure, sustainable, and inclusive growth, and in recognition that more intensive efforts are needed for economies to accelerate their clean, sustainable, just, affordable, and inclusive energy transitions, this project aims to provide capacity building on just transition to member economies.

Alignment

APEC
This project is in line with APEC Leaders’ commitment in Putrajaya Vision 2040 to promote strong, balanced, secure, sustainable, and inclusive growth, and in recognition that more intensive efforts are needed for economies to accelerate their clean, sustainable, just, affordable, and inclusive energy transitions.

Forum
This project is in line with the Non-Binding Just Energy Transition Principles that were approved at the 13th APEC Energy Ministers’ Meeting (EMM13) in August 2023 in Seattle, WA, USA. The principles for APEC cooperation include: take into account domestically defined economic growth priorities; pursue positive environmental, social, and economic outcomes; deliver domestically defined equitable benefits; support inclusion and gender equality; create resilient firms, institutions, and communities; provide support for decent work and workforce development; and promote healthy lives and well-being for all.

TILF/ASF Justification

Not Applicable.

Beneficiaries and Outputs

Outputs

1) Workshop

The workshop will convene experts to speak on best practices and activities relevant to the APEC just energy transition principles endorsed at EMM13. It will serve as an opportunity for participants to share their experiences identifying and addressing barriers to implementing plans that advance just energy transition in their economies. The project will issue a Workshop survey to collect speaker and participant feedback on the workshop, including their recommendations and conclusions from the sessions, in addition to whether the workshop has satisfactorily addressed gender issues related to its topics. The survey results will be disaggregated by gender to evaluate the variation in levels of satisfaction according to participant gender.

Expected timeline: May 2025.

Tentative location: The workshop will be hosted on the sidelines of relevant meetings at SOM 3 in Korea. Should SOM 3 not be a suitable venue for the workshop, the project will shift timelines to host the workshop on the sidelines of a later meeting of the EWG.

Rough agenda and examples of potential sessions:

1. Introductory panel and Q&A sessions on APEC just energy transition principles.

2. Expert presentations on the just energy transition initiative thematic areas: energy security; gender equality, well-being, and sustainable development.

3. Expert presentations on existing successful just energy transition plans and implementation strategies in the APEC region and beyond for lessons learned.

4. Expert panels and Q&A sessions to discuss current challenges and best practices to advance just energy transition. This includes case studies in APEC economies.

5. Breakout sessions to brainstorm innovative approaches to public policy alignment, technical solutions for just energy transition, and overcome challenges identified in other sessions.

6. Final session to consolidate key learnings and facilitate a discussion among participants to identify next steps for applying new information/resources in their roles.

2) Project Summary Report

A final report will be produced that synthesizes the feedbacks and comments from the workshop in addition to synthesizing the recommendations and best practices identified to help support APEC economies in pursing locally- relevant just energy transition plans.

Expected timeline: August 2025-December 2025.

The project team will produce a final APEC Published report (minimum 30 pages excluding annexes) with:

i.A synthesis of key takeaways from the workshop on progress on just energy transition

ii. An assessment of identified barriers to just energy transition planning and implementation

iii.  Recommendations towards addressing those identified barriers and synthesis of best practices

iv. An annex containing anonymized responses from the workshop survey and any materials produced in the execution of this project in accordance with the APEC publication guidelines.

Outcomes

The outputs of the project would serve to help build capacity in APEC economies to promote the implementation of just energy transition plans and integration of the just energy transition principles in existing and future workstreams. As a result, the outputs should increase just energy transition knowledge, lower carbon use, encourage clean energy policy, improve social-wellbeing, and cultivate knowledge sharing among economies.

Through this project member economies could create local infrastructure to track progress on just transition, identify locally relevant just transition metrics, and draft locally relevant just transition plans and implementation strategy.

Beneficiaries
Direct project participants will include: 1) APEC economy government officials – in each APEC economy, there are government officials of all genders responsible for overseeing, designing, and implementing energy transition policies and plans related to energy generation sources, energy infrastructure siting, and community engagement and benefits. For all levels of responsibility, this project enables those officials participate in capacity building to either change/strengthen economies’ existing policies or develop new ones in accordance with the project’s recommendations. 2) Non-government organizations (NGOs) and academia – NGOs and academia bring important insights and perspectives that may strengthen the results and recommendations of the project. This, in turn, benefits all APEC economies. 3) APEC Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy, APEC Sustainable Development participants – There are important linkages to the work conducted by this project and that of Sustainable Development and Women issues. Participants from these two groups will be invited to participate in all phases of the project, including the workshop and subsequent report publication. Benefits will also extend to citizens of APEC economies and beyond. This is particularly true for vulnerable populations who lack access to safe, sustainable electricity and stand to gain from just energy transition plants that are intended to improve wellbeing and quality of life for all.

Dissemination

The Project Summary Report will be sent to all project participants, APEC EWG and and workshop attendees free of charge at the conclusion of the project. The report will be published on the APEC Publications Database.

Gender

Please see Project Proposal in Supporting Documents folder.

Work Plan

Please see Project Proposal in Supporting Documents folder.

Risks

Please see Project Proposal in Supporting Documents folder.

Monitoring and Evaluation

Please see Project Proposal in Supporting Documents folder.

Linkages

Information dissemination will happen through the EWG to APEC member economies. The outcomes of the Workshop will be submitted to EWG for consideration and further action. The project will also enhance collaboration by including the Expert Group on New and Renewable Energy Technologies (EGNRET), the Expert Group on Energy Efficiency and Conservation (EGEEC), and research centers, and take into account results from other relevant EWG projects, including Microgrids for a Just Energy Transition, Promoting Technology to Contribute to Sustainable Energy Transition, and Promoting Sustainable Energy for Small Farmers Towards Climate Friendly Agri Value Chains.

Sustainability

There are two ways through which the project will continue to have an impact:

1. This project will be a part of the Just Energy Transition Initiative under EWG and will serve as an important foundational convening to se the stage for the work under the initiative. The outputs/outcomes of the project will continue to support and grow under the initiative.

2. The workshop summary report publication will be a key resource on just energy transition for APEC economies and will serve as a resource material or guiding tool for years after the project completions.

Project Overseers

The Project Overseer is Dr. Bethel Tarekegne, a systems engineer with the Electricity Infrastructure and Buildings Division at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Bethel has led and participated in a wide range of projects related to just energy transition and energy justice for the US Department of Energy. Her current research and project portfolio focuses on understanding the social impacts of renewable and distributed energy systems. Bethel leads research projects on energy equity and justice (EEJ) and energy storage solutions. In addition to technology-based EEJ studies, she leads broad EEJ efforts including advancing the application of EEJ in power systems and grid planning through electric utility technical assistance, integrating EEJ values in coal power plant redevelopment and community revitalization processes, and assessing EEJ impact projections on national decarbonization scenarios. Bethel received her doctorate in Energy & Environmental Policy from Michigan Technological University. She also holds a master’s degree in Energy Policy from University of Maryland, College Park and a bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering from Benedict College.

Cost Efficiency

Not Applicable.

Drawdown Timetable

Not Applicable.

Direct Labour

Not Applicable.

Waivers

Not Applicable.

Are there any supporting document attached?

Yes 
Attachments
Version: 4.0 
Created at 14/09/2024 12:02  by Lucy Phua 
Last modified at 14/09/2024 12:15  by Lucy Phua 
Version HistoryVersion History

Project No.

Project Title

Project Status

Publication (if any)

Fund Account

Sub-fund

Project Year

Project Session

APEC Funding

Co-funding Amount

Total Project Value

Sponsoring Forum

Topics

Committee

Other Fora Involved

Other Non-APEC Stakeholders Involved

Proposing Economy(ies)

Co-Sponsoring Economies

Expected Start Date

Expected Completion Date

Project Proponent Name 1

Job Title 1

Organization 1

Postal Address 1

Telephone 1

Fax 1

Email 1

Project Proponent Name 2

Job Title 2

Organization 2

Postal Address 2

Telephone 2

Fax 2

Email 2

Declaration

Project Summary

Relevance

Objectives

Alignment

TILF/ASF Justification

Beneficiaries and Outputs

Dissemination

Gender

Work Plan

Risks

Monitoring and Evaluation

Linkages

Sustainability

Project Overseers

Cost Efficiency

Drawdown Timetable

Direct Labour

Waivers

Are there any supporting document attached?

hdFldAdmin

Project Number

Previous Fora

Secretariat Comments

Reprogramming Notes

Consolidated QAF

Endorsement By Fora

PD Sign Off

Batch

Forum Priority

Committee Ranking Category

Committee Priority

PDM Priority

Priority Within Funding Category

Monitoring Report Received

Completion Report Received

PMU Field 1

PMU Field 2

PMU Field 3

On Behalf Of

Proposal Status

Originating Sub-Forum

Approval Status
Attachments
Content Type: Standard Proposal
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