Boosting regional energy security

As the Asia-Pacific region accelerates its transition toward a low-carbon future, industry experts and government officials are calling for deeper collaborative governance, unified technical standards and resilient supply chain integration to ensure regional energy security and sustainable growth.

The push for such synergy comes as the global energy landscape undergoes rapid restructuring, making issues of energy security, green transition and supply chain resilience deeply intertwined, they said.

"It is of great significance to strengthen policy communication and pragmatic cooperation, and give full play to the comparative advantages of all parties," said Xiong Minfeng, deputy director-general of the department of international cooperation at the National Energy Administration.

"These efforts will help build an inclusive, innovative and collaborative APEC energy community," he said recently during the Symposium on Deepening Asia-Pacific Energy Collaborative Governance in Beijing.

During the symposium, a key event of the 2026 APEC Beijing Energy Week, Xiong also urged economies to deepen industrial and technological cooperation in emerging fields such as new energy, energy storage and green hydrogen.

To provide a roadmap for this integration, a flagship report titled From Industrial Practice to Regional Synergy — Practice and Outlook of Asia-Pacific Energy Collaborative Governance was officially released during the symposium.

Yang Lei, vice-president of the Peking University Energy Research Institute, highlighted a fundamental shift in regional energy collaboration.

"Regional energy cooperation is evolving from simple equipment trade and individual project development toward deep, localized supply chain integration," Yang said. "However, to make this collaboration sustainable, we must address institutional bottlenecks and shift our focus to regional collaborative governance."

According to Yang, while enterprise-level practices are advancing rapidly, cross-border cooperation faces notable hurdles. These include inconsistent market access rules, a lack of mutual recognition for technical standards, lagging local infrastructure and the need for long-term investment return mechanisms.

These concerns resonate strongly with corporate stakeholders operating across the region. Representatives from leading enterprises, including Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd and equipment manufacturer CIMC Enric, shared successful regional practices, ranging from off-grid solar-storage microgrids in Southeast Asia to green methanol bunkering initiatives in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

However, corporate leaders noted that while clean technologies are maturing, the lack of unified carbon accounting and certification systems remains a major obstacle. Energy equipment often requires redundant testing to meet differing local standards, driving up project costs and delaying deployment.

To overcome the barriers, industry insiders suggested establishing mutual recognition of standards — particularly for green fuels and grid-forming energy storage — and setting up international green trade corridors to facilitate the seamless flow of renewable energy products and services.

Showcasing the potential for such regional synergy, representatives from Singapore's Energy Market Authority highlighted deepening bilateral cooperation with China.

Recent milestones include a partnership with a subsidiary of China Huaneng Group to develop a 670-megawatt hydrogen-ready power plant, as well as joint capacity-building initiatives with China Southern Power Grid, underscoring the vast prospects for cross-border collaboration in advancing the region's green transition.

zhengxin@chinadaily.com.cn