Political economy of carbon pricing in Southeast Asia

TPP Director Neil McCulloch led a three-country political economy assessment of carbon pricing in Indonesia, the Philippines and Viet Nam. The work forms part of Emissions Ambition for Sustainable Economies, a five-year initiative led by the International Institute for Sustainable Development to support inclusive carbon pricing across Southeast Asia.

The assessment examines the political feasibility of carbon pricing options in each country: the actors, interests, incentives and institutions that shape whether reform advances, and the implementation constraints and enabling conditions that determine what is workable in practice. It combines desk research, key informant interviews and focus group discussions with a series of contextual clinics in each country, framing the analysis, testing emerging findings and drawing out implications for programming. Gender equality, social inclusion and just transition questions run throughout, and the analysis is designed to sit alongside modelling of the regional impacts of carbon pricing. A consolidated report is due in early 2027, with a public version to follow, published jointly.