The APAEC is not a symbolic document. It is ASEAN’s central framework for energy cooperation, shaping national policies, investment decisions, and regional collaboration across its 11 member states. The stakes are, therefore, high.

Communities have been told that renewable energy is the solution to the country’s overlapping crises of climate vulnerability, high electricity costs, and dependence on fossil fuels. But for many Filipinos, the transition has not felt clean, safe, or fair. Across urban-poor communities, lakeshore villages, provincial schools, and agricultural barangays, people are asking the same questions: Who decides what kind of energy projects are built? Who benefits? And who bears the cost?

Oxfam Pilipinas shared its work on Just Energy Transition and RE-Start Campaign 4 with youth leaders, climate champions, and the local government of Salcedo, Eastern Samar in an Earth Day youth caravan.

Oxfam Pilipinas, together with researchers from the University of Technology Sydney - Institute for Sustainable Futures (UTS-ISF), engaged fisherfolk, women’s cooperatives, civil society organizations, and local government representatives in Laguna and Camarines Norte to share the goals of renewable energy (RE) projects.

The government must think of long-term solutions to transition away from fossil fuel dependence and accelerate the renewable energy transition.

In a significant move toward just energy transition, the Eastern Samar Provincial Government, the Local Governments of Borongan City and Dolores, and Oxfam Pilipinas signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will integrate renewable energy and just energy transition into local development plans and activities.

Over 50 civil society leaders from across Southeast Asia gathered and bared their key policy demands for a just energy transition in ASEAN at the 4th Southeast Asia Collaborative Convening of Civil Society Organizations on Just Energy Transition, held on 10-12 February 2026 in Manila, Philippines. The activity was organized by the Asia Network for People’s Energy (ANPE), Fair Finance Asia (FFA), and the Influencing a Just Transition in Asia (IJET) Program. (Photo by Oxfam Pilipinas)

Among all surveyed countries, the Philippines ranked first in terms of the highest number of respondents (85%) who would support political candidates who prioritize taxing the super rich and polluting corporations such as oil, gas and coal companies.

The 3rd Southeast Asia Collaborative Convening of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) on Just Energy Transition was participated by about 50 CSOs in June 2025 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo from Fair Finance Asia and Oxfam Pilipinas.

At AEBF-24, Oxfam joined the call of civil society organizations in urging ASEAN leaders for more ambitious targets on RE and to implement a fast transition to these sources.