Ahead of the Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC) Summit in Kuala Lumpur on 26 October 2025, we, the undersigned 36 organizations, urge Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and ASEAN leaders to take steps to ensure that AZEC becomes a genuine platform for accelerating the region’s energy transition future, not a vehicle to prolong fossil fuels and corporate profits.
Instead of phasing out coal and gas, AZEC promotes dangerous distractions such as ammonia co-firing in coal plants, hydrogen blending in gas plants, and carbon capture and storage (CCS). These technologies do not cut emissions at the scale or speed required. Instead, they lock countries into long-term fossil fuel use, expensive infrastructure and debt while delaying the renewable energy transition.
Japan uses AZEC to keep Southeast Asia dependent on fossil fuels under the guise of “decarbonization.” AZEC Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) signed with ASEAN countries and Australia are currently designed to promote Japan’s fossil fuel technologies rather than genuine solutions. Around 30% of the 217 MoUs signed between March 2023 and October 2024 are for fuels, including hydrogen and ammonia (many linked to coal power plants), LNG, and biomass, most of which are directly tied to fossil fuel-based technologies.
Japan’s promotion of LNG and CCS through AZEC exacerbates financial and energy security risks. LNG infrastructure is volatile to global price shocks and risks becoming stranded assets, while CCS has a 50-year record of failure and currently captures only around 0.1% of global emissions. By wasting public resources, AZEC undermines Asia’s energy transition and diverts attention from the region’s vast renewable potential.
We are further concerned by Japan’s plan to transport and inject carbon waste captured from Japan into Malaysian and Australian sites. This practice risks turning the region into a dumping ground for Japan’s pollution, while sidelining real support in affordable, community-based renewable energy.
ASEAN governments and Japan’s new leadership must not allow AZEC to become a tool for fossil fuel expansion nor their reliance on fossil fuels. Instead, AZEC should:
- End support for fossil-based technologies such as LNG, ammonia/hydrogen co-firing, biomass, and carbon capture and storage.
- Redirect public finance as grants toward scaling up community-based renewables, alongside energy efficiency.
- Respect communities and ecosystems, ensuring that ASEAN is not used as an outlet for Japan’s carbon waste or outdated technologies.
Prime Minister Takaichi, Asia has the resources and potential to lead the global renewable energy transformation. But this requires political courage and a decisive break from short-sighted fossil fuel interests. We call on you to seize the opportunity of the AZEC Summit in Kuala Lumpur to demonstrate true climate leadership and position AZEC as a true partnership for swift, just, and equitable energy transition and climate justice.
Signed,
Australian Conservation Foundation, Australia
Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARRCC), Australia
Climate Action Network Australia, Australia
Climate Analytics, Australia
Jubilee Australia Research Centre, Australia
Peoples Climate Assembly, Australia
Coastal Livelihood and Environmental Action Network (CLEAN), Bangladesh
Dhoritri Rokhhay Amra (DHORA), Bangladesh
Waterkeepers Bangladesh, Bangladesh
Auriga Nusantara, Indonesia
CELIOS, Indonesia
Don’t Gas Indonesia, Indonesia
Eksekutif Nasional Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia (WALHI), Indonesia
Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR), Indonesia
JATAM, Indonesia
Kanopi Hijau Indonesia
KRuHA, Indonesia
SEMATA Indonesia, Indonesia
Serikat Nelayan Indonesia (SNI) / Indonesia Fisherfolk Union, Indonesia
Trend Asia, Indonesia
Yayasan Bintang Gana Bali, Indonesia
Friends of the Earth Japan, Japan
Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society (JACSES), Japan
Kiko Network, Japan
Mekong Watch, Japan
Greenpeace Malaysia
Monitoring Sustainability of Globalisation, Malaysia
Indus Consortium, Pakistan
Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED), Philippines
Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC), South Korea
RE Generation, Thailand
The Artivist Network
Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD)
EKOenergy ecolabel
Energy Shift Southeast Asia
Oil Change International