Today, a Green Team Europe Initiative in partnership with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)/South East Asia, was launched by Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, during the 3rd ASEAN-EU Dialogue on Sustainable Development. The initiative, backed by an initial €30 million grant from the EU budget, will strengthen the EU's partnership with the region in areas including climate action, environmental and biodiversity protection, clean energy transition, disaster resilience, prevention of illegal logging, wildlife trafficking and air pollution.

As part of the EU's overall Green Deal diplomacy, this initiative provides the framework for coordinated green action between participating Team Europe partners (Austria, Denmark, France, Germany and Romania, as well as the European Investment Bank) and ASEAN and its Member States, seeking synergies between their respective political frameworks: in particular the European Green Deal and the ASEAN Community Vision 2025. The Initiative will be implemented both at national and regional levels in the ASEAN region.

The EU will allocate a grant of €30 million from the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation (NDICI) - Global Europe to cover programmes and projects to support the implementation of the Team Europe Initiative. This is only a part of the funding that Team Europe partners will mobilise in the context of this Initiative.

In December 2020, the EU and ASEAN elevated their relations to a Strategic Partnership with ASEAN. South-East Asia (SEA) is among the most vulnerable regions in the world to the impacts of climate change, with five of the 20 countries most affected by climate change in SEA. To address this challenge, this Team Europe Initiative (TEI) offers a framework for a Green Initiative in South East Asia, seeking synergies between the European Green Deal and the ASEAN Community Vision 2025, promoting the joint commitment to a lasting and sustainable transformation towards circular, climate-neutral and environmentally sustainable economies and resilient ecosystems.

In support of this initiative, the entire EU external action toolbox can be mobilised: diplomacy, policy dialogue, trade policies and development cooperation including budget support, blending (EFIs) and the investments fostered under the ESFD+.

The TEI will help ensure the continuation and strengthening of relevant regional and bilateral EU initiatives (EU-ASEAN High-level Dialogue (HLD) on Environment and Climate Change, FLEGT, ASEAN Catalytic Green Finance Facility (ACGF), etc.) and will be coordinated with all relevant Commission services and EU Delegations in the region.

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