KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -The Southeast Asian regional bloc ASEAN has endorsed an action plan to increase the share of renewable electricity to 45% of total capacity over the next five years, as part of its energy transition efforts.
The plan will increase the share of renewables in its total primary energy supply to 30%, the Malaysian Ministry of Energy Transition and Water Transformation said in a statement on Thursday.
The 2026–2030 ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation was endorsed by member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations during a meeting of energy ministers on Thursday.
The plan also includes a target to boost efficiency by cutting the amount of energy consumed per unit of economic growth – known as energy intensity – by 40% from the 2005 level.
Under a previous action plan covering 2016-2025, the bloc aimed to bring the share of renewables in total primary energy to 23% by 2025, and to 35% of power generation capacity.
It also aimed to cut energy intensity by 32% from the 2005 level.
Malaysia is currently the chair of ASEAN.
(Reporting by Ashley Tang and Sudarshan Varadhan; Editing by David Stanway)
