There is a vicious circle between economic growth, energy, and climate change. In this context, the south Asian region is in a dilemma on how to reconcile these three issues given its high vulnerability. In addition to that the region is moderately integrated despite sharing many common issues. The member countries face common challenges like the effects of climatic-induced disasters, pandemics, energy dependency, economic crises, etc.

 

The Ukraine war in February 2022 has aggravated the energy supply scenario worldwide and especially for the smaller countries of South Asia recovering from the shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic.  The countries have realized that complete dependence on one source of energy could jeopardize the economic development and livelihood of their people.

 

Since the countries located in the eastern south Asian region—Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal—have different levels of potential to generate green energy and they currently exchange energy under the bilateral framework, a sub-regional approach to energy cooperation would facilitate rapid carbon-free economic growth. Therefore, the existing bilateral arrangements need to be upgraded into a sub-regional framework as a step forward toward regional integration.