2020: Tough Year for Climate Change, Amid the Need for Climate Resiliency
The Impact of COVID-19 on Energy and Climate Change in ASEAN: ACE Survey
COVID-19 is affecting fossil fuels the most, but renewable energy is also considered to be hit. A positive temporary effect on the climate must be used to mainstream the information about climate change mitigation into the society, to infuse a more sustainable economy and environment-friendly activities into our daily lives.
Climate Change, Security and Regional Cooperation in ASEAN
Migration is not new to Southeast Asia, especially labour migration. The status and welfare of citizens working abroad have been an area of concern in bilateral relations among regional states. For instance, around 10% of the Philippine population work abroad, with remittances constituting close to 10% of its GDP in 2019, according to the Philippine Central Bank.
Opportunity to Capitalise on Green Technologies
When Malaysia ratified the Paris Agreement in 2016, it joined world efforts in keeping the global temperature rise well below 2°C and to limit the warming even further to 1.5 degrees celcius. This also implies the country is committed to reducing national emissions and adapting climate change impacts.
Women Roles in Energy-Climate Nexus
Speaking about climate change, we cannot simply say “we can act later”. It is showing impacts on both our environment and economic growth. Realizing this, most of countries in the world commit to the UNFCC to reduce their GHG emissions as an action of climate emergency. To achieve that target, many actions should be taken, starting from building people’s awareness, to actually working together in tackling climate impacts.
ASEAN Energy Sector: Challenges and Prospects
ASEAN is an economic tiger on the rise. Being the 3rd largest economy in Asia and 5th largest economy in the world, ASEAN as a region is gearing up to enhance the living standard of its over 650 million inhabitants. The region experienced tremendous GDP expansion of 450% from 2000 to 2017, and attracted US$154.7 billion of foreign direct investment (FDI) inf lows in 2018, according to statistics from the ASEAN Secretariat and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), respectively. The region could maintain this growth and increase productivity with the support of the energy sector which is expanding continuously.
Are we now more severe in combating climate change?
The UN Conference on Climate Change COP 25 (2nd — 13th December 2019) took place, under the Chilean government’s presidency and conducted with Spain’s government’s logistical support. After consensus at COP 24 in Poland last year on the compliance principles of the Paris Agreement, a key objective is to address many issues related to the total methodological rigour of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. However, does the world is more severe on combating climate change now rather than before?
Carpooling for the Climate
Another year has just begun, and only a decade left for all countries to achieve Sustainable Development Goals, including climate action. The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has reported that limiting warming to 1.5 C will require about 45% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from 2010 levels by 2030. However, the NDC Global Outlook Report 2019 from UNDP suggested that we must act more in areas related to climate mitigation quickly to achieve that ambition (UNDP, 2019).
