Within the framework of collaboration under the memorandum of understanding signed in 2021, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have made available the Global Agro-Ecological Zoning version 4 (GAEZ v4) to advance the development of sustainable bioenergy.

This report focuses on the potential for bioenergy in Southeast Asia through studying five countries in the region: Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. 

Southeast Asia has considerable resources to produce liquid biofuels sustainably, using biomass feedstocks that would not cause carbon-dioxide emissions or interfere with food supply. This report offers detailed estimates of biomass resource potential for Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam. According to an IRENA assessment, advanced biofuels could provide as much as 7.3 exajoules of primary energy per annum in Southeast Asia by 2050, or half of the region’s total primary bioenergy potential.

This report presents the status of renewable energy employment, both by technology and in selected countries, over the past year. In this fourth edition, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) finds that renewable energy employed 9.8 million people around the world in 2016 – a 1.1% increase over 2015.

This working paper provides a perspective on the changes needed for India to further accelerate the adoption of renewables, and achieve an affordable, secure, inclusive and environmentally friendly energy system that can address expanding energy demand and socio-economic needs.

Indonesia is the largest country in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), accounting for around two fifths of the region’s energy consumption. Energy demand across the country’s more than 17,000 islands could increase by four fifths and electricity demand could triple between 2015 and 2030.