On May 21, GGGI and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation (MONREC) of Myanmar organized a workshop on “NDC Implementation in the Energy Sector: Investment Opportunities through EU China South-South Cooperation and Energy Sector MRV”. The workshop was attended by high-level policy and decision makers, including representatives from Ministry of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations, Ministry of Planning and Finance, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation, Ministry of Electricity and Energy, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Education, and the Second National Communication Energy Working Group. The workshop was opened by Mr. Hla Maung Thein, Director General, MONREC.

The key areas of discussion were on the policy and regulatory frameworks and main challenges for promoting investments in renewable energy in Myanmar, the needs to accelerate renewable energy deployment in the country, and key trends in renewable energy investment in Myanmar. The workshop presented best practices from other Mekong region countries for renewable energy deployment (i.e. Laos & Cambodia) and discussed the status of Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV). During the breakout session discussions were concentrated on: (i) Gaps in Regulation & policy; (ii) Capacity Building/ Technical Assistance/ Technology transfer; (iii) Finance means & mechanisms; and (iv) Data gaps & information-sharing. The findings will help to build consensus around critical challenges around renewable energy and energy efficiency in Myanmar and feed into the GGGI’s on-going support to the Myanmar government in promoting green cities investment and in tackling the rural energy insecurity drivers that lead to landscape degradation.

The South-South Cooperation is a key component of GGGI’s Green Growth programs which focus on enabling governments to independently develop and implement green growth projects in sectors such as Renewable Energy (RE) and energy efficiency. Drawing on its track-record of policy reform and investment facilitation in the energy sector, GGGI has been engaged by the EU to formulate recommendations on how to support, facilitate and expand South-South Climate Cooperation. This project will explore potential project bankable project financing modalities opportunities for Myanmar focused to be delivered through a trilateral cooperation between the Myanmar government, the EU through innovative climate finance modalities, and China through technology transfer and capacity building.