Asean's growing carbon trading initiatives present vast opportunities for emissions reduction and economic growth, but equitable frameworks and robust regulations are critical to their success.
The region can shape the Global Plastics Treaty if it maintains its momentum from COP16, where the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia called for the inclusion of Indigenous peoples rights and stronger collaboration on biodiversity finance.
Asean needs to develop a collective response to the geopolitics of renewable energy in order to address resource nationalism and the adverse impacts of growing US-China rivalry on Southeast Asia's energy transition.