Global Shocks, Just Transitions: Asian Views of the World Energy Crisis

11:00 AM Beijing / 8:30 AM New Delhi / 11:00 PM ET

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the broader 2026 energy shock have reverberated across the world economy, but nowhere more sharply than in Asia. The Philippines has declared a national energy emergency. India is expanding coal to meet summer demand. Shortages of oil, LNG, and even fertilizer inputs are disrupting households, workers, and industries across the region. These pressures arrive on top of a structural challenge: the Global South must deliver the bulk of climate mitigation, yet it attracts only a fraction of global clean energy investment. 

In this public webinar, the RESET Network – Solutions for South-led just energy transitions brings together researchers and decision-makers to examine what a just transition looks like when the world is in crisis. Drawing on RESET’s core strengths, frontier economic and policy analysis, open-source modeling tools, and locally led research, panelists will explore how Asian countries are responding to the shock, how modeling can inform decisions under stress, and how evidence-based, locally tailored solutions can help unlock finance and protect workers and communities. Featuring senior international experts, this conversation centers Global South voices on one of the defining challenges of our time.

Panelists

Joyashree Roy: Joyashree Roy is currently the Distinguished Professor at the Asian Institute of Technology and the Founder Director of the Centre on South and South East Asia Multidisciplinary Applied Research Network on Transforming Societies of Global South (SMARTs). She is the Founding advisor of the two multi-year projects at Jadavpur University: Global Change Programme and SYLFF-JU programme. She is a national fellow of the Indian Council of Social Sciences Research (ICSSR). She is the former Professor of Economics in Jadavpur University, India. Previously, Dr Roy was a Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at LBNL, Berkeley, USA and 2021 recipient of the Paradigm award of The Breakthrough Institute, USA. She was in IPCC-2007 Nobel Peace Prize winning panel and continues as Coordinating Lead Author in Fifth and Sixth assessment cycles of WGIII of IPCC.

Duan Maosheng: Professor Duan Maosheng is deputy director of Institute of Energy, Environment and Economy of Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. He has bachelor’s degrees in mechanical engineering and economics, and master’s and doctor’s degrees in management. He has specialized in research related to climate governance, carbon market and carbon tax since 2000. He has been a member of the Chinese climate delegation since 2001 and was a member/alternate of the Kyoto Protocol’s Joint Implementation Supervisory Committee or of the Clean Development Mechanism Executive Board between 2006 and 2020. He has been intensively involved in the design of China’s domestic carbon market. He has served as a member of various committees including the World Bank’s High-Level Commission on Carbon Prices, and is one of the editors of the World Bank/ICAP Handbook on ETS. He was a lead author of the IPCC’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment Report. He has published articles on various journals such as Science, Ecological Economics, Energy Economics, Energy Policy, Climate Policy, iScience and Applied Energy.

Ashwini Swain: Ashwini K. Swain leads and coordinates the Regulatory Assistance Project’s initiatives in India. His interests and expertise include in political economy of electricity, regulatory governance, and subnational preparedness for energy transition. He has been engaging with public agencies and civil society organizations at national and subnational level on these issues. Prior to joining RAP, Swain worked at the Sustainable Futures Collaborative, which he co-founded with colleagues. He has also worked at Centre for Policy Research, Energy for Growth Hub, CUTS Institute for Regulation & Competition, and National Institute of Public Finance and Policy. Swain holds a doctorate in politics from University of York and Master of Philosophy and Master of Arts degrees in political studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Qin Hu (Moderator): Dr. Qin Hu draws on nearly twenty years of research, policy advocacy, and management experience within EDF’s China program to advance environmental progress in China and around the globe. As Chief Representative, Qin Hu leads the development and execution of EDF’s China program strategy. He has actively participated in policy research, capacity building and international exchanges in the field of environmental legislation and enforcement, emission trading, air pollution and methane reduction, energy transition, and climate innovation. He has authored or co-authored more than 20 research papers.