Technology and innovation can play a significant role in Asia and the Pacific's push towards a low-carbon energy future, with the potential to provide countries in the region with universal access to cleaner and more affordable energy sources, according to participants of an international forum held at Asian Development Bank (ADB) headquarters.

Co-hosted by ADB, the United States Agency for International Development, the Korea Energy Agency, and the ADB Institute, the Asia Clean Energy Forum (ACEF) 2018 is being held from 4-8 June under the theme "Harnessing Innovation to Power the Future." It brings together over 1,000 participants from more than 50 countries, including entrepreneurs, policymakers, financial institutions, NGOs, and academia. ACEF began in 2006 as an annual event to provide a platform for collaboration in promoting clean energy in Asia and the Pacific.

"New technologies such as smart grids, large-scale battery energy storage, renewable energy-based microgrids with storage, waste-to-energy, carbon capture and storage, and artificial intelligence have huge potentials to accelerate the clean energy transformation," said ADB President Takehiko Nakao. "But technology by itself is not enough. Projects with advanced technologies must be accompanied by viable business models, stable regulation, and smart policies to deploy the technologies."

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