By Mehmet Enes Beşer The search for an integrated ASEAN electricity market reflects the quest for creating a regional power system that would satisfy increasing electricity demands, protect the region from exposure to fossil fuels, and speed up renewable energy deployment. As electricity demand in the ASEAN region is expected to grow by about 60 percent by 2040 due to ...
By Mehmet Enes Beşer As Southeast Asian countries attempt to adopt sustainable practices to meet energy demands and cut back on emissions, hydrogen energy presents itself as a potential game-changer. No longer seen as remote and impossible, hydrogen appears as a real alternative in the current discussion on energy and as a realistic multilateral reaction to global challenges associated with ...
By Mehmet Enes Beşer While the drive towards carbon neutrality is gathering pace around the world, the ASEAN community stands at a unique intersection of development and climate stability. The traditional goal of achieving carbon neutrality has been considered the domain of industrialized and wealthy countries. However, today, more and more middle income and developing nations view it as an ...
By Mehmet Enes Beşer Electric vehicles have been synonymous with eco-friendly modernity and are seen as integral to the future of sustainable transport. For ASEAN countries faced with air pollution issues, increased oil imports, and climate obligations, a shift towards electric propulsion represents an opportunity for sustainable development. Many of the ASEAN nations have adopted innovative measures in support of ...
By Mehmet Enes Beşer Renewable energy conversion and utilization in ASEAN represent an integral part of the transition to energy production and consumption systems of the future. Rising demands for electricity due to economic development, population growth, and urbanization lead to higher reliance on renewable energy in the region as the cornerstone of energy sustainability, energy security, and resilience. Still, ...
By Mehmet Enes Beşer As the Indo-Pacific region faces fundamental changes in its geopolitics, the interplay of great-power competition, the declining effectiveness of multilateralism, and the growing importance of minilateralism complicates regional diplomacy. Amidst these shifts, the Quad—a forum uniting the United States, India, Japan, and Australia—is seen with suspicion by ASEAN countries that consider its implications. Is it a ...
By Mehmet Enes Beşer Throughout ASEAN’s existence, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has always been a cornerstone in terms of regional stability and development in Southeast Asia. With the advent of new global political developments, the ability of ASEAN to adapt and retain its centrality is put to the test. During its Chairmanship in 2025, ASEAN faces various problems ...
By Mehmet Enes Beşer People often call ASEAN the “central” player in the region — a forum that helps Southeast Asia avoid getting caught up in the games of bigger powers. But behind the rituals of summit diplomacy, one problem keeps coming back, and ASEAN has never really cracked it: leadership. Not charismatic, personality-driven leadership, but the sort that can ...
By Mehmet Enes Beşer Southeast Asian maritime security is usually discussed in the blunt language of hardware: ships, missiles, bases, patrol days, tonnage. It’s the language of what you can float and what you can threaten. But the next big shift in the region’s waters may arrive without a single new hull. It may arrive as a change in what ...
By Mehmet Enes Beşer ASEAN has spent much of its life doing a particular kind of political magic: holding a diverse region together by refusing to pretend its members are the same. Different systems, different threat perceptions, different economic models—yet a shared habit of consultation. For decades, the “ASEAN way” wasn’t a punchline. It was a practical technology for preventing ...