Kuala Lumpur, 17 October 2025: ERIA participated in the 3rd Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC) Ministerial Meeting, held on 17 October 2025 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. ERIA President Tetsuya Watanabe delivered a presentation highlighting the activities of the Asia Zero Emission Center (Center) and its core principle of achieving a triple breakthrough – advancing decarbonisation, sustaining economic growth, and ensuring energy security.

During the meeting, President Watanabe reaffirmed ERIA’s strong commitment to supporting regional energy transition. He outlined the Center’s wide-ranging research initiatives under three strategic pillars – Decarbonisation Roadmaps, Sector-Specific Actions, and Market Enablers – designed to produce actionable policy insights for achieving net-zero goals. These projects include studies on the ASEAN Power Grid, transition finance, and carbon markets, underscoring ERIA’s pivotal role in shaping Asia’s sustainable energy future.

President Watanabe also presented the AZEC Progress Report 2025, published by the Center, which outlines recent energy transition trends and policy developments in AZEC partner countries. The report reaffirms ERIA’s commitment to advancing tangible, evidence-based progress toward a sustainable and low-carbon future in the region.

In addition, Mr Hideaki Iwasaki, Director General at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), presented the joint ERIA–ADB–METI report titled Decarbonising Southeast Asia’s Hard-to-Abate and High-Emitting Sectors: Transition Finance, Technologies, and Policy Approaches’. The report explores the evolving roles of finance, technology, and policy in supporting the decarbonisation of Southeast Asia’s energy-intensive sectors such as power and heavy industry.

Meanwhile, the AZEC Advocacy Group – comprising ASEAN-BAC, Keidanren, and ERIA – submitted a Joint Policy Recommendation calling for greater coordination between governments and the private sector in achieving AZEC’s decarbonisation goals.

ERIA’s contributions were welcomed by ministers from AZEC partner countries. Moving forward, ERIA will continue to advance AZEC’s objectives through the research and policy work of the Asia Zero Emission Center.

Links :

AZEC Progress Report – Main Body

AZEC Progress Report – Annex

Joint Recommendation