A PPT describing the impacts of ASEAN's economic blueprint on climate change

1. ASEAN ECONOMIC
COMMUNITY (AEC)
BLUEPRINT: A ROAD TO
CLIMATE PERDITION
Mayang Azurin
Policy and Communications Coordinator
CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness
Presented to ASEAN Civil Society Conference / ASEAN Peoples Forum PH 2017,
14 November 2017,
Parallel Session on ASEAN and Climate Change
ASEAN Economic Blueprint:
A road to climate perdition

2. Key takeaways:
1) ASEAN’s vision for a single economic and
production base is for capitalist efficiency
and increased accumulation of wealth
1) ASEAN’s policies on climate change is
tokenistic, fragmented and even meant to
rake in more profits from the climate crisis
1) AEC is a road to increased climate injustice

3. High vulnerability, low readiness
• ASEAN is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change impacts
• Low contribution to C02 emission but FASTEST CO2 emission growth in the world
• annual increase of 5% in C02 emissions from 1990-2010
• 90% of regional GHG emissions come from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines,
Thailand and Vietnam
• Root causes of C02 emissions: 1) deforestation 2) land usage 3) low
improvement in energy intensity 4) increased reliance on fossil fue
• 2.5%-3.5% of regional GDP used between 2010-2015 to mitigate GHG emissions
• Factors increasing vulnerabilities: 1) growing urban population,2) long coastlines,
3) as well as high concentration of people and economical activities along coastal
areas.

6. ASEAN work on climate change:
too many to mention
• ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) Blueprint. “Ensuring
Environmental Sustainability” along with key of actions to be
taken to address the impacts of climate change.
• 2009 ASEAN established ASEAN Working Group on Climate
Change (AWGCC) to implement the ASEAN Climate Change
Initiative (ACCI)
• ASEAN also has ASEAN Humanitarian Assistance (AHA)
Center that deals with disaster management.
• One ASEAN One Response, September 2016
• ASEAN statements on Conference of Parties (climate talks)
• Declaration on Climate Change in 2007

7. Gaps in policies: Why?
• No bold and clear actions
• Affirmation and establishment of related institutions not enough to
overcome the climate change impacts
• No unified interventions due to differing climate vulnerabilities and
priorities in ASEAN
• Focus of individual national communication is mitigation more than
adaptation
• Highly fragmented framework of ASEAN despite a number of
climate change policies
• Reduction of energy efficiency is not enough to keep global
average temperatures to “well below 2°C above pre-industrial
levels and pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C
above pre-industrial levels.”
• Not able to make a unified voice in IPCC negotiations
• In fact, it is intensifying energy use

8. AEC and climate change:
token languages
• “Create a more dynamic and resilient ASEAN, capable of
responding and adjusting to emerging challenges through
robust national and regional mechanisms that address food
and energy security issues, natural disasters, economic
shocks, and other emerging trade-related issues as well as
global mega trends “
• Enable sustainable production and equitable distribution
Increase resilience to climate change, natural disasters and
other shocks
• Reduce energy intensity in ASEAN by 20 percent as a medium-
term target in 2020 and 30 percent as a long -term target in
2025 based on 2005 level – AEC Blueprint 2025

9. ASEAN is about capitalist efficiency at the
risk of people and the planet
Global Value Chains - the heart of ASEAN’s single market and production base
which is the TNC’s for efficient value chains and therefore increasing profits and
accumulation of wealth

10. • Setting up a conducive ecosystem for regional value chains (RVC) /
GVCs controlled by TNCs:
• Trade policies to make a single production and economic base such as
comprehensive economic partnership agreements (CEPs) with China,
Japan, Republic of Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand. RCEP,
FTAs, ASEAN++ following the same coherence and even beyond the
rules set by WTO
• Energy requirements – setting up of ASEAN Power Grid and Trans-
ASEAN Gas Pipeline
• Infrastructure requirement – network of road and railway)integration
and inter-modal interconnectivity, with principal airports, ports, and inland
waterway and ferry links and support for China’s One Belt One Road
ASEAN is about capitalist efficiency at the
risk of people and the planet

11. • Capitalist efficiency complemented by lessening the trade
restrictive effects and costs of non-tariff measures (NTM) that
address regulatory objectives such as environmental, health and
safety, security or cultural considerations
• Increasing vulnerabilities of the poor peoples’ livelihood by providing
for progressive liberalisation of existing investment restrictions
in manufacturing, agriculture, fishery, forestry and mining and
the services incidental to these sectors
• Intensively fuelling an economy based on dirty energy through the
promotion of carbon technologies, biofuels, clean coal
technologies and building civilian nuclear energy
ASEAN is about capitalist efficiency at the
risk of people and the planet

12. Current responses from people
• Resist ASEAN and assert for climate justice
• Hold your governments to account (climate
commitments, effective use of financing for
development not realign public funds as
leverage for private investments
• Mobilise against CEPs and FTAs
• Support for sustainable smallholders and
local producers
• Move for systems change

13. Thank you!
Mayang Azurin
comms@csopartnership.org
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