In August, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced an ambitious plan to buy high emissions coal-fired power plants in Southeast Asia and retire them within 15 years through an energy transition mechanism (ETM). According to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis’ (IEEFA) latest report, if the ETM is not designed correctly, it could potentially prolong the life of – and the emissions from – these coal-fired power plants. Coal retirement will be crucial to Southeast Asia’s energy transition. However, this will be difficult without far-reaching market shifts, and there are numerous issues that policymakers and market participants must address to design any effective decarbonization plan.