This report draws on the presentations and discussions of the two day Clean Energy, Good Governance and Regulation Forum organized by the World Resources Institute, Prayas Energy Group and REEEP in March 2008. Hosted by the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore, the Forum brought together regulators from India, the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, the US and Australia to share information about initiatives launched by their respective institutions to promote sustainable energy.
The report highlights the wealth and range of experience that regulatory institutions in Asia are accumulating on the question of how to advance and implement sustainable energy solutions. It provides a unique articulation of the challenges that regulators confront at an operational level, including an in-depth analysis of the space for regulators to be proactive on this front and the limitations on this space.
The report includes the background materials that informed the Forum discussions along with the case studies prepared by the participating regulators. Also available on the EGI website are civil society responses to the regulators’ presentations, providing a sense of the fullness of discussion at the Forum and the potential for constructive collaboration between regulators and public interest organizations.
Partners
Alberto Luiz Coimbra Institute and Graduate School of Research and Engineering (COPPE) focuses on basic engineering research, graduating highly qualified engineers, as well as generating state-of-the-art concepts in the social, technical, and economic development of Brazil.
Instituto Brasileiro de Defesa do Consumidor (Brazilian Institute for Consumer Defense) is a Brazilian non-profit consumer organization, founded in 1987. Idec’s main objectives are to contribute to: the balance of market relationships; to the enforcement and enhancement of consumer’s legislation; to improve access to and quality of services and products; to improve the standards of sustainable consumption; and to strengthen democracy, by stimulating citizen awareness and participation.
Renove, The National Network of Civil Society Organization for Renewable Energy, is the largest network of Brazilian non-governemntal organizations dedicated to the promotion and inclusion of renewable energy in the agenda of sustainable development in Brazil.
International Energy Initiative is a Southern -conceived, Southern-led and Southern-located South-South-North partnership. It is a small, independent,international non-governmental public-purpose organization led by internationally recognized energy experts, and with regional offices, staff and programs in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Its mission is to build local capacity and analysis, and to engage locally and globally, so as to promote energy for sustainable development.
Created in 1996, WWF-Brasil is an non-governmental organization dedicated to conserving nature, with the objective of harmonizing human activity with that of conserving biodiversity and promoting the sustainable use of natural resources in Brazil.
CEC undertakes public interest and works on environmental issues, and has an established record working to advance the interests of rural communities in Andhra Pradesh.
Center for Policy Research is an autonomous institution and a think tank. The Centre is one of the 27 national social science research institutes recognized by the Indian Council of Social Science Research, Government of India.
Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group (CAG) is a nonprofit, nonpolitical, and professional citizens group that seeks to make critical policy changes through strategic interventions to benefit the citizen-consumer.
Praja is an NGO working on promoting public accountability in the electricity sector. Dr. Surinder Kumar, a professor, and Mr. Rajesh Kumar, a Ph.D. student at the Maharishi Dayanand University in Haryana, are affiliates of Praja and will be leading its contribution to the electricity governance assessment in India. Dr.
Indonesian Center for Environmental Law specializes in research and capacity building, advocacy, and community empowerment. It seeks to defend public interests by pursuing the recognition of their rights with respect to the environment and natural resources.
The Indonesian Institute for Energy Economics (IIEE) was established in 1995 in Jakarta as a nonprofit, nongovernment, independent organization. Its primary objective is to enhance energy economics studies that motivate and support national policies for prudent development and utilization of energy resources in Indonesia.
Institute for Essential Services Reform, established in 2001 in Jakarta, is a group of NGOs conducting advocacy in the energy sector in Indonesia, particularly the power sector. IESR aims to enhance transparency and accountability in the Indonesian energy sector and increase public participation in the decision-making process.
Pelangi Indonesia is a global environmental think tank that seeks to form a society that self-governs and secures the quality of its natural resources and environment while pursuing equitable and democratic socio-economic well-being. It has a long-standing program on climate change and energy.
IBEKA’s main objective is to work in rural areas with village communities to make environments more conducive to the growth of people-centered economic systems, with an emphasis on energy and electricity services. IBEKA has extensive experience setting up micro-hydro systems for rural communities in Indonesia.
WWF-Indonesia has been working on climate change and renewable energy. It is also part of WWF Asia’s “Our Power” campaign, which looks to promote democratization in the electricity sector.
Founded in 1996 by a group of progressive scholars and activists, AER is an independent, reform-oriented public interest organization that conducts policy analysis and advocacy on key economic issues.
The Ateneo School of Government, based in Manila, Philippines, provides quality graduate education and training for current and future public sector leaders; offers research and consulting services for public and civil society; and convene seminars, fora and other venues for stakeholders’ dialogues, consensus building and cooperation among the various sectors.
The Development Academy of the Philippines is the national productivity organization (NPO) of the Philippines. As NPO, DAP fulfills the country’s commitment to the Asian Productivity Organization (APO) by spearheading the development of productivity consciousness and promoting the principles, techniques, and practice of productivity and quality in key sectors of the economy. It has assisted in shaping new government policies, crafting innovative development programs, and modernizing the management of government agencies and private enterprises.
Green Independent Power is a collaborative undertaking of various local and international stakeholders, including Preferred Energy Incorporated, Greenpeace-Southeast Asia Energy Campaign, Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement, and Solar Electric Company, Inc. It aims to facilitate multi-stakeholder inputs in power sector decision-making to develop green energy.
The Center for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies is housed within Stellenbosch University. The University was awarded the responsibility to act as the hub of a Postgraduate Programme in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies by the South African National Energy Research Institute (SANERI), a division of the Central Energy Fund (CEF).
Earthlife Africa’s Johannesburg (ELA Jhb) branch was founded in 1988 to mobilise civil society around environmental issues in relation to people. The organisation has since grown to include Branches in Cape Town, eThekwini (formerly Durban) and Tshwane (formerly Pretoria), as well as in Windhoek, Namibia. Branches are autonomous, but linked through the ELA Statement of Belief and common campaign activities. ELA Jhb is a largely volunteer-driven organisation, however, in recent years, funding has been acquired by some branches to staff and facilitate specific campaigns.Earthlife Africa Jhb’s largest campaign is the Sustainable Energy and Climate Change Project.
The Energy Research Centre is the result of the logical merger of activities of the Energy Research Institute and the Energy Development Research Centre at the University of Cape Town. The Centre is an African-based multi-disciplinary energy research centre which pursues excellence in technology, policy and sustainable development research, education and capacity building programmes at a local and international level.
Green Connection aims to provide practical support to both the government and non-government sector as an as an integral part of sustainable development. The Green Connection believes that empowering people to participate in their environment is the only way that truly sustainable development can take place. The Green Connection believes that economic growth and development, improvement of socio-economic status and conservation of natural resources can only take place within a commonly understood framework of sustainable development.
Idasa is an independent public interest organisation committed to promoting sustainable democracy based on active citizenship, democratic institutions, and social justice. IDASA’s Economic Governance Programme (EGP)aims to address the current democratic deficit in the way that decisions are made about economic policy, broadly defined as the allocation and distribution of scarce resources, and access to, and regulation of,markets.
International Labour Resource and Information Group is an NGO providing education, publications and research for the labour and social movements in South and Southern Africa. The main focus of our work is globalisation. Our work on globalisation is informed by the view that globalisation is not a heightened form of international integration but an attempt to restructure class relations so as to restore capitalist profitability. Globalisation is neither neutral nor inevitable. There is an alternative!
Sustainable Energy Africa promotes sustainable energy and sustainable development approaches and practices in the development of South Africa and Africa through research, capacity building, information dissemination, project implementation, lobbying and networking. The national capacity building programme, Sustainable Energy for Environment and Development (SEED),has transformed who makes energy decisions, and how these are made, by building the capacity of those making energy service decisions at the local level.
The Confederation of Consumer Organizations of Thailand is comprised of 21 member organizations from around the country that represent such areas as labor, farmers, health, and women’s rights.
The Healthy Public Policy Foundation is an autonomous branch of the Thai Ministry of Public Health, with a longstanding research program exploring the environmental health implications of the energy sector.
King Prajadhipok’s Institute is is an independent, academic, public organization under the supervision of the National Assembly. The institute undertakes academic work including research, training, and seminars; disseminates information on development of democracy and governance; and provides consultation on effective governance at the local and national level.
Palang Thai is a Thailand-based nonprofit organization that works to ensure that the transformations that occur in the region’s energy sector are economically rational and that they augment, rather than undermine, social and environmental justice and sustainability.