Despite being portrayed as a success, the 37th ASEAN Summit, recently held under the chairmanship of Vietnam, should be reframed and reconsidered in terms of the commitments made to combat climate change. Instead, trade was king, and because of it, the summit has been celebrated as an unprecedented success with the regional bloc able to present a joint front and sign a landmark trade agreement, creating the biggest free trade area in the world. Here is where ASEAN is lagging behind not only in terms of resources needed to transition to a cleaner and more sustainable economy but also in terms of ambition and vision. A few days ago, the Climate Ambition Summit was held, marking the 5th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, a "bridge" event toward COP26, which has been postponed until 2021 because of the pandemic. At this event, UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres urged all UN member nations to declare a climate emergency. Thanks to the support of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, ASEAN has taken some important steps to align its strategies with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as proven by the recently released SDGs Indicators Baseline Report and an online database of SDG indicators. Now it is up to the leaders of the region to show stewardship and solid commitment to move forward with ambitious action on sustainable development and climate change. If they want to be successful, involving citizens is going to be key. Only taking the climate change challenge head on, rather than shying away from it, will show the extent of real leadership among the ASEAN leaders.

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Straits Times