Energy is critical to economic growth and prosperity.Recently,Asia Pacific—a dynamic developing region with industrialization,urbanization,and increasing populations,is leading the charge in global economic growth and energy demand.The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) region accounts for approximately 60 per cent of the global energy demand.By 2050,the energy demand of the APEC region is expected to be 21 per cent above the 2016 levels.The APEC region is already a net importer of energy; hence,access to secure,reliable,and affordable energy supplies remains critical to future prosperity.Moreover,APEC leaders have committed to two aspirational goals for APEC economies:reduce aggregate energy intensity by 45 per cent,from 2005 levels,by 2035,and double the share of renewable energy—including power generation—from 2010 levels,by 2030.

It is evident that cooperation on energy transition efforts is an increasingly important priority for APEC economies.Therefore,sharing lessons in effective energy policies and governance,promoting technology development,and a renewed focus on innovation can realize seamless energy transition.To achieve the above goals,APEC Sustainable Energy Center (APSEC) was established at the 11th APEC Energy Ministerial Meeting (EMM) during APEC China Year 2014.APSEC is the first international energy organization led by the Chinese government and has established broad international impact.APSEC has increasingly focused on energy development trends,aiming at frontier research topics in the Asia-Pacific region.The annual flagship event,Asia-Pacific Energy Sustainable Development Forum,is organized to promote sustainable energy development in the APEC region.Representatives from 21 member economies and international organizations have joined together to discuss the pressing energy issues.

In this context,the Global Energy Interconnection worked together with APSEC for the special issue “Energy sustainable development in the APEC region”.This special issue includes 12 papers by authors from various renowned universities and research institutes in the field of sustainable energy and climate change,including Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL,USA),Australian National University (ANU,Australia),National University of Singapore (NUS,Singapore),University of Technology Sydney (UTS,Australia),Tianjin University (China),and State Grid Energy Research Institute (China).

This special issue covers various diverse and relevant topics such as energy sustainable development strategy and planning in the APEC region,energy transformation and technology for APEC regional energy sustainability,development and utilization of renewable energy in APEC region,and energy economy and climate change in APEC region.

We believe this special issue will be an apt contribution to help the APEC members and the global community to reach a shared vision of achieving affordable,reliable,secure,and sustainable energy that is accessible for all,while supporting the global transition to a low carbon economy.

Chengshan Wang received the Ph.D.degree in electrical engineering from Tianjin University,Tianjin,China,in 1991.From 1994 to 1996,he was a Senior Academic Visitor with Cornell University,Ithaca,NY,USA.From 2001 to 2002,he was a Visiting Professor with Carnegie Mellon University,Pittsburgh,PA,USA.He is currently a Professor with the School of Electrical and Information Engineering,Tianjin University,where he is also the Director of the Key Laboratory of Smart Grid of Ministry of Education.His current research interests include distribution system analysis and planning,distributed generation system and micro-grid,and power system security analysis.

Li Zhu received the Ph.D.degree in chemical engineering from Tianjin University,Tianjin,China,in 2005.She visited Nevada State University from 2007 to 2008 and Australian National University in 2010 as a visiting scholar.She was selected as the New Century Talent of MOE in 2012.She was selected as the Peiyang Young Scholar and visited Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as a senior visiting scholar.She is the professor and doctoral supervisor of Tianjin University,and the first president of APEC Sustainable Energy Center.Her research interests are sustainable energy system planning for low carbon towns and building integrated solar energy utilization technology.