E-READI is a cooperation programme facilitating dialogues between the EU and ASEAN on policy areas across all three ASEAN Community pillars. It responds to the needs and priorities of ASEAN and aligns with the mutually identified EU-ASEAN priorities. On 8 July 2019, ASEAN and the EU launched the High-Level Dialogue on Environment and Climate Change to facilitate and further enhance the European Commission and ASEAN dialogue. Action lines of mutual interest to be addressed under the Climate Action Dialogue (as agreed in the Consultative Working Meeting between the EU and ASEAN Working Group for Climate Change (AWGCC) on 29 April 2019 in Jakarta, Indonesia) include, inter alia, Action Line II ”Best practices on climate change finance management in the region” (Brunei Darussalam) complemented by the ongoing project of the ASEAN Climate Finance Strategy under the United Nations (UN) Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Needs-based Finance (NBF) Project. This study is a part of the implementation of the activities under this Action Line and also reflects the European Commission’s priorities focusing on concrete EU and ASEAN sustainable finance initiatives that already exist or are in the pipeline. This study, alongside the published Technical Assessment of Climate Finance Flows and Needs in Southeast Asia (published in January 2022)27 and the Climate Finance Guidebook for ASEAN (published in February 2023)28 under the NBF project, compliments Core Theme 6 of the Revised AWGCC Action Plan (2019-2025) in facilitating and enhancing climate finance in the region.

The study describes and analyses the status quo and outlines future prospects for mobilising private sector involvement in ASEAN climate-related investments – capital flows from the private sector into climate related areas like sustainable energy and transport, green infrastructure and climate-resilient agriculture, both within AMS and at the ASEAN regional level. It aims to increase the engagement of the private sector in ASEAN climate-related finance for the implementation of priority mitigation and adaptation actions based on the needs identified by ASEAN countries in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and Long-term Low-emission Development Strategies under the Paris Agreement as well as other national climate policy documents.