South-East Asia has long experienced severe droughts. However, this second edition of Ready for the Dry Years reveals that the severity of two drought events during 2015-2016 and 2018-2020 exceed anything recorded in the past two decades, since the major El Niño of 1997-1998. Evidence presented in the Report shows that this could be set to continue as the climate warms. There is a direct association between high temperatures and droughts in South-East Asia, and multiple climate models project that the region will experience higher temperatures for all emission scenarios.

The study is to examine the new energy security dimensions that are emerging with the advent of the energy transition and to include the impacts of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic on global energy markets and energy security especially in the Asia-Pacific region.