Energy Insights

Energy Insights speaks with Afu Utami about the recent Indonesian elections and energy policy in one of Asia’s fastest-growing countries.

Afu is one of the founders of the technology-based political education movement Bijak Pemilu. This initiative aims to encourage voters to become politically engaged and educated, and it won the MIT Solve Global Competition in 2023.

Afu is also the founder and CEO of Think Policy, an organization that aims to encourage policy ecosystem improvement and innovation in public policy in Indonesia. It also supports the general public to understand public policy in an accessible way through an evidence-based approach.

Prior to these roles, Afu served as an environmental economist at the World Bank and a researcher at the World Resources Institute. She has also collaborated with the Indonesian government on several projects, including those related to energy and ecosystem management.

Topics include the recent Indonesian elections and the subsequent energy policies of the new incoming government, Indonesia’s coal use, nickel processing facilities, China’s influence, how young voters are perceiving the government’s energy policies and environmental issues in Indonesia and how voters are responding to current challenges and changes in Indonesia’s energy and political landscape.

X (Twitter): @Afutami

LinkedIn: Afu Utami

We speak with Katrin Wu about supply chain decarbonisation in the technology sector. We cover topics like what supply chains include, Apple's decarbonisation strategy and its new commitments, how Microsoft and Samsung compare to Apple with supply chain decarbonisation commitment, the price of consumer goods during the energy transition and other topics.
Katrin is a climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace East Asia. She focuses on corporate energy transition and the technology industry's supply chain. She leads Greenpeace East Asia's campaign that calls for technology company suppliers to transition to renewable energy.

Energy Insights speaks with Kian Min Low, the Chief Renewables Officer at Malaysian renewable energy company Gentari about all things renewables, Malaysia and Southeast Asia.
Other topics include who Gentari is and what kind of projects it's working on, the current state of renewables in Southeast Asia, Malaysia's renewable energy push and net zero goals, Malaysia's energy policy, foreign investment support for clean energy expansion in Southeast Asia, energy security in Malaysia, energy subsidies and the role of gas in the energy transition.
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LinkedIn

We speak with Susanne Wong and talk about the upcoming G7 Summit in Hiroshima and go over issues related to Japan's insistence on seeing more investments in gas-related infrastructure, the recent G7 energy ministers meeting that took place in Sapporo in the run up to the G7, Japan's foreign energy policy and its impacts on Southeast Asian countries, the problems with an over-reliance of gas for countries like Bangladesh where Japan is now supporting its energy development, and other topics.
Susanne is the Asia Program Manager at research, communication and advocacy organisation, Oil Change International, and she works with an international and Japanese-led coalition in pressuring the Japanese government to change course on fossil fuels. Previously, Susanne worked on issues and campaigns that affected communities by mega projects in marginalised countries and regions from Laos to the United States.
LinkedIn: Susanne Wong
Twitter: @susanneir
Oil Change International Twitter: @priceofoil

Energy Insights speaks with Duncan McLaren on carbon capture technologies and the implications they may have on the future of the planet, along with the technologies propertied promises, drawbacks and other governmental and policy issues such as its mentioning in the recent IPCC synthesis report.
Duncan is a postdoctoral Climate Intervention Fellow in Environmental Law and Policy at UCLA's School of Law. Much of his research follows climate politics and governance regarding geoengineering technologies and interventions.
Previously, he was a research fellow at Lancaster University and focused on the role of carbon removal techniques, governance on net zero and security politics of climate engineering. Duncan also completed his PhD at Lancaster University that looked into the justice implications of climate geoengineering.
From 2003 to 2011, Duncan was the Chief Executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland. His research has also been published in journals that range from the likes of Nature Climate Change, Global Policy, Energy Research & Social Science and the Anthropocene Review.
Twitter: @mclaren_erc
UCLA Law Profile
LinkedIn: Duncan McLaren