The recent Gulf shock should push Southeast Asian governments to see the energy transition less as a climate silo and more as a long-term resilience strategy. Disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz have exposed the region’s vulnerability to external fuel shocks. Southeast Asia still sources 60% of its oil imports from the Middle East and remains heavily reliant on liquefied natural gas, leaving many economies exposed to supply disruptions and price volatility.

In this context, the energy transition is about reducing structural exposure. That is no simple task for governments already balancing affordability, energy access, industrial growth, and emissions goals.

ASEAN policymakers are not blind to this. In a joint statement issued on 13 March 2026, the region’s economic ministers linked energy market turbulence directly to economic stability and called for diversification, faster renewable deployment, stronger strategic reserves, and renewed momentum behind the ASEAN Power Grid and the Trans-ASEAN Gas Pipeline.

The problem is not a lack of awareness, but the gap between stated priorities and collective execution. ASEAN has identified many of the right objectives, but still lacks the cross-border instruments, financing........

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