Energy transition policies in southeast Asia and China: scoping out the ‘just’ aspect

The report finds that while energy transition policies in China and Southeast Asia acknowledge justice indicators in some form, the overall representation is low, with all countries scoring below 50% of the maximum possible score. Environmental, restorative, and distributional justice are particularly underrepresented, while procedural justice and energy access score relatively higher. The study highlights a significant gap between policy goals and actual implementation, especially regarding land rights and labour protections for fossil fuel workers.

• Overall representation of justice elements in the analysed energy and development policies across all target countries was low, with every country scoring below the 50% threshold of maximum possible scores.
• Environmental and restorative justice scored particularly low across the region, specifically regarding land rights recognition, recycling and waste management, and the reclamation of former fossil fuel production sites.
• Distributional justice, including revenue sharing with local communities and remuneration for community energy projects, was among the worst-performing indicators across the sampled policies.
• While labour justice was slightly better represented, there is a critical gap in unemployment provisions for workers displaced by the closure of fossil fuel mines and power plants.
• Energy justice (access and affordability) and procedural justice (multi-stakeholder dialogues and feedback) scored better than other justice dimensions, though they still remained far from high scores.
• Recognition justice, including gender aspects and the consideration of diverse stakeholder visions and local community needs, was poorly represented in the analysed policies.
• Structural and market reform provisions achieved mediocre scores, with many policies failing to acknowledge the reforms necessary to support energy transitions.
• China's rapid expansion of renewable energy capacity is not matched by the integration of justice elements in its policies, particularly regarding labour and environmental protections.
• In Indonesia, contradictory policy approaches exist where some documents embrace renewables while others argue that keeping coal prices artificially low incentivizes renewable energy uptake.
• Viet Nam's policy scores are heavily skewed by the JETP Resource Mobilisation Plan, which was the highest-scoring policy in the entire study, though it is unclear if externally drafted documents carry the same weight as national policies.

APA

Bößner, S., Zhu, H., Deitsch, C., & Babis, W. (2025). Energy transition policies in southeast Asia and China: scoping out the ‘just’ aspect. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/energy-transition-policies-southeast-asia-just.pdf

Chicago

Bößner, Stefan, Huiling Zhu, Carly Deitsch, and William Babis. Energy transition policies in southeast Asia and China: scoping out the ‘just’ aspect. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2025. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/energy-transition-policies-southeast-asia-just.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bößner |first1=Stefan |last2=Zhu |first2=Huiling |last3=Deitsch |first3=Carly |last4=Babis |first4=William |title=Energy transition policies in southeast Asia and China: scoping out the ‘just’ aspect |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=June 2025 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/energy-transition-policies-southeast-asia-just.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bner2025energy, author = {Bößner, Stefan and Zhu, Huiling and Deitsch, Carly and Babis, William}, title = {{Energy transition policies in southeast Asia and China: scoping out the ‘just’ aspect}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2025}, month = jun, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/energy-transition-policies-southeast-asia-just.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }