Asean energy policy needs more youth voices

The energy ministers of the 11 ASEAN member-states convened in Manila in early October for the 44th ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting, but the outcome still lacks mentions and concrete institutional follow-through to give seats to the people who will live longest with these decisions: the region’s youth.

With ASEAN’s youth making up a third of the population – 30 million in the Philippines alone – we expect mentions of youth in forward-looking announcements and documents as the bare minimum, and for those mentions to translate into real youth participation. At last year’s 46th ASEAN Summit, we applauded ASEAN leaders for the ASEAN Community Vision 2045. The vision document includes sectoral strategic plans with multiple mentions of “youth” (we count 36), which we thought signals the significance and recognition of this age bracket in the region’s future.

One area where youth could play an integral role is the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC), the framework steering the region’s energy transition. The transition is inevitable and already underway, and as it will run for decades, it requires iterative decisions across generations as its infrastructure takes shape. Leaders today are deciding on behalf of young people who will live with the results, for better or worse.

The APAEC is the region’s core energy blueprint, designed through a top-down approach. Its latest cycle sets more ambitious energy targets for ASEAN, including a 30 percent renewable energy share of total primary energy supply and a 45 percent renewable energy share of installed power capacity by 2030.

However, the plan also misses its human element, focusing instead on policies for technological shifts, infrastructure building, innovation and financing. Meanwhile, it barely acknowledges the social dimension that ensures the continuity of such transition plans – particularly for the youth.

Although ambitions to accelerate clean energy deployment are undeniably important to the energy transition, they remain a glass-half-full story without deeper integration of socio-economic considerations, including equity, public participation, behavioral change and community empowerment. The energy transition is a long-term project, a relay race where each stage affects the next. Placing youth early in decision-making today is one baton pass in the race, before they pass it to younger generations.

The youth demographic in ASEAN, spanning ages 15 to 34, includes high school students, university students and young professionals, some with up to 15 years of experience. In the Philippines, they have an 84.3 percent employment rate. The spectrum is broad, reflecting a wide range of skills, interests and capacities. This group’s demographic density means young people are increasingly influential in households and communities.

Their ability to speak out, question the status quo and push for change places them well to contribute meaningfully to policymaking, even in complex, high-level settings. Engaging young people early builds long-term buy-in, defusing future social opposition and averting intergenerational policy myopia – where decisions are made for the short term rather than the long term.

The potential of this influence was evident at the Southeast Asia Youth Energy Forum (SAYEF), a Y4E-SEA-organized annual gathering where youth from across the region came together to show ASEAN policymakers their readiness to join the energy conversation. While these may not capture every youth perspective, they represent an important first step in building an ecosystem that bridges the gap between ASEAN institutions and the region’s young citizens.

At SAYEF 2026 in Manila, we hosted the HELIX Energy Council, a simulation in which selected youth delegates role-played as energy lobbies and interest groups deciding ASEAN’s energy future amid a crisis scenario. The outcomes showed how ready young, energy-passionate people are to take part in real-world decision-making as policy counterparts.

Yet we believe a power asymmetry remains that needs addressing. Contributing to the International Energy Agency’s Southeast Asia Indicators Handbook for Just and Inclusive Energy Transitions, Y4E-SEA proposed adding age-disaggregated youth metrics that show how wide the generational divide is in energy decision-making circles. This draws on the gender and diversity tracking already present in just and inclusive energy transition metrics.

These are offered as a starting point. ASEAN member-states can use them directly or modify them for local conditions. Once we’ve established how shut out youth are from the rooms where big decisions happen, we ask not for a ceremony slot at next year’s forum, but for structural seats on a youth advisory council where the work of turning promises into proof actually happens.

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Ardhi Arsala Rahmani is Director of Research and Development at Youth for Energy Southeast Asia (Y4E-SEA) and teaches at Universitas Ibnu Sina in Batam, Indonesia. With contributions from Amira Bilqis, managing director of Y4E-SEA.ae