The donors funding Just Energy Transition Partnerships in Asia misunderstand the scale of the “decades”-long process amid a push for short-term announceables, according to a senior expert at the Asian Development Bank.
“These are going to be messy, difficult programs, and, and that's normal,” said Andrew Jeffries, an adviser on Just Energy Transition Partnerships at ADB. The bank is providing technical support to countries embarking on Just Energy Transitions Partnerships, known as JETPs, including advising on mitigating the myriad risks.
JETPs involve weaning large developing countries with a high-growth trajectory and coal dependency off fossil fuels in favor of greener energy sources while addressing the economic and social fallout of such a transition. Financial support is provided by donors, called the International Partners Group, or IPG, and multilateral development banks, with the aim of catalyzing private sector investment.