Q&A with GEAPP’s new CEO, Woochong Um

What inspired you to join GEAPP and lead its mission to unlock green energy access in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean to secure an inclusive and resilient future for all?

There are so many signs of climate change happening around the world right now. Rhetorical comments like “what used to be once in 100-year events, once in a 50-year events” are happening more often. In Manila, it was 48 degrees recently. This is a hot season but it never normally goes that high. This is unbearable and inconvenient for me but for many people out there in the world it is going to be much more devastating, especially in places where people are already low-income. We need to do something urgently.

There are so many people and entities out there working on the same topic – reducing greenhouse gas and providing access to green energy, the just transition and green jobs. There are so many agencies working in the same direction but I am afraid we are not coordinating enough, we are not all putting energy into the same focus so we can be much more impactful. We really have to get our act together as we are running out of time.

So this is where GEAPP’s vision is in the right place to galvanise all players out there to come on this journey together, to do it together so we can be much more impactful. That really caught my attention.

Secondly, I’ve done a lot of work in development and transforming the way development is seen in the region to integrate the climate element into it. We made a lot of progress. I feel like I have got ADB to where they need to be so they can continue the journey without me. We have set up the system and the people and set them in the right direction. I wanted to take this experience and bring it to other parts of the world. Because this whole global community is one! That’s my inspiration.

I believe GEAPP can be the trigger to mobilize private sector finance – we need to be the trigger to capitalise the investment. We can provide the confidence these investors need to put their money into the green space, confidently in the developing world.

What do you see as the biggest challenges facing renewable energy adoption in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean, how do you think GEAPP and our Alliance can address them?

There are many things. One big thing is the polycrisis that is happening everywhere. It is causing distraction, especially for the public sector. The normal traditional lenders are being pulled everywhere whether it is a food crisis, the climate crisis or COVID-19. These geo-political tensions everywhere causing other socio-economic problems could serve as a distraction. It’s a big challenge; because of this gaining the concessional financing that is needed to demonstrate good practice is so challenging.

There isn’t much we can do about the polycrisis. But at least the Alliance can help everyone focus on arguably the biggest existential problem out there. This Alliance will help all of us keep our eyes on the ball for the long term. We can’t afford to take our eyes off.
I always use the analogy of sports players – the best players catching the ball or scoring. They never take their eyes off the ball. So this is what the alliance needs to do – ensure we never take our eye off the ball in order to achieve a sustainable future for our children and their children.

Financing is critical to this. We have to make sure we maximize the impact of whatever money is out there. GEAPP can play a critical role in bringing different funders and changemakers together. Making sure everyone has a coherent storyline and vision, eliminating duplicates and complementing each other. GEAPP Alliance can make that happen.

And GEAPP isn’t just fundraising. Each time we go out there and we bring partners and people into the mission we are helping advocate, influence and help inform more people on this critically important mission. If you ask for advice, you get money. If you ask for money, you get advice.

What are you most looking forward to as CEO of GEAPP?

I am excited about becoming the CEO, being able to do what is the right thing to do and having the conviction to pitch to the board and the partners in the best way that I can see is the way forward and owning that. I am looking forward to the buck stopping here – I am ready for the responsibility.

I am also looking forward to connecting the dots across the globe. Of course, I have collaborated across regions before. But I am really excited about bringing the players together – from all corners of the world – to find the commonality that will work.

My role is to create the environment for the people of the organisation to do what they do best in their respective areas of expertise. To create an environment where you feel safe to come up with ideas – not be afraid of failing, be afraid of inaction – take calculated risks to strive for the best. I don’t intend to be the centre forward but rather the center midfield to have an overall direction to back people up; but also when needed, can go and score.

Ultimate leadership comes after you leave – build the impact for the long term. I hope to do that in the future.

Are there any emerging trends in the energy sector that inspire you or give you hope?

It is a race against time and against emerging technology and deployment. BESS and DRE are both fantastic technologies to pursue at the moment and people are really getting it. We have momentum and a great opportunity.

Also need to look at other tech where we can make a big impact. We need to look at what is working in developing countries and then see how we can adopt them. Looking at how we can deploy them in the developing world. This is what we are doing with BESS and DRE. In the future, we could also look potentially at hydrogen.

This is about energy access and decarbonization.

Cities are also really important. We tend to think about vulnerable people in rural areas but of course there are lots of vulnerable people in the cities, in the megacities. We can make a very big impact here. Energy efficiency measures and renewable energy solutions for cities are really big opportunities.

No one knows how much time we have. That creates a sense of urgency but it is also an opportunity to make the difference now. We don’t have time to worry about the time we have – we have to do what we can do today. Making the most of technologies out there now.

There are lots of technologies out there. What’s missing is demonstrating the technologies that could work in the developing world, help them deploy at scale and bring the cost down. This is what GEAPP and the Alliance can work on – identifying the working technologies in the developed world and then scaling up in the developing world to bring down the cost. The role of GEAPP is to demonstrate this transition to provide the incentive for people to come in.

What message would you like to convey to the Alliance about GEAPP’s commitment to a sustainable future?

GEAPP is still relatively new but we are on the right pathway. We need to do much more to galvanise more partners to come into this journey together. We need to urgently mobilise more financing and funding so we can intervene in more projects and programmes to demonstrate that these projects are viable and impactful. By doing so, we can help with policy changes in countries so we can mobilise even more financing in them.

We need all these things to come in, such as smart innovative financing. COP29 and COP30 will be key to bringing everyone together.

Clean energy is about clean technology. There are so many opportunities here. We need to learn from best practices so everyone can participate. I believe we can learn from everyone.

For our children to have a planet, the urgent need is for everyone to work together. There is no competition amongst ourselves. Our competition is against time. We are running out of time so everyone needs to pull together, pull their weight and work towards the same goal.

I want to integrate development and climate change into one space. Poverty reduction cannot be achieved without the two working hand-in-hand together.

This is why GEAPP’s vision is so important – decarbonisation to try to stop further degradation while at the same time resolving energy poverty so that there is peace and prosperity everywhere. And making sure no one is left behind by ensuring we create green jobs.

I am excited to bring my 31 years of experience from ADB and my experience of bringing a wide range of stakeholders together. I know we can only deliver our mission of sustainable development, addressing climate change by working with partners from everywhere – public and private, companies, academia, think tanks and philanthropies. In exploring this and GEAPP’s work, I ended up deciding that the best thing I could do was join it!

Could you please elaborate on your personal goals?

We are endowed with incredible partners, an incredible board and an incredible team! I want to create an environment that enables everyone to do what they are good at – delivering results and making an even greater impact! I am all ears and eyes to learn. So we can position ourselves to deliver more impact. At the end of the day, we will end up with more funding, more partners, especially the private sector, so we can turn our investments into trillions of dollars.

The technology providers are so important. It’s a race against time. I am hoping we can achieve what the iPhone did in 2007 – the time before and after is like night and day. It was a quantum leap. BESS is an example of this. We need to mobilise great minds and young people. We need to galvanise partners in every space and in every generation – old and new.

I hope we can do something like this.