A journey through Central and Southeast Asian cities' climate leadership

By Mark Watts , C40 Executive Director

It has been an incredible few weeks meeting with climate leaders across Central and Southeast Asia. From mayors and governors to city officials across the C40 network, our insightful exchanges solidified that collective climate action and ambition across the region can help limit global heating to 1.5°C.

At my first destination, China, it was an eye-opening experience. The last time I visited was in 2018, before the coronavirus pandemic; upon my return five years later, I was astonished to witness firsthand the progress in China’s C40 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong. Firstly, the speed and scale at which China is developing renewable energy, clean technologies, and rolling out electric vehicles is staggering. Public investment and regulation are driving this. Secondly, there is a palpable shift in Chinese urban policy, away from a focus on the scale of infrastructure towards quality of life. This, in turn, supports global efforts to build healthy, equitable and resilient communities across the C40 network and beyond

Over in Singapore, the Lion City continues to be an agile climate leader, and the dense urban design supported by incredible public transport is exemplary. It is admirable to see the continuing commitment of Singapore to work more closely with counterparts in the region, further developing the transition to clean energy and reinforcing climate resilience and adaptation strategies. One example of the latter is how the island state is evolving its urban plans and policies to better address adaptation to extreme heat, which is particularly important with the tricky element of humidity in Singapore.

Nearby in Thailand’s capital, Bangkok, the city has a new governor, whom I had the great honour of meeting for the first time, and is highly engaged in climate action. The regional team at C40 is working to explore which C40 High-Impact Accelerators the Thai city can join, given Governor Sittipunt’s clear commitment to transformative actions promoting urban sustainability. That’s not all; the city has just appointed its first-ever Chief Sustainability Officer, which will help tremendously in shaping impactful climate action plans across Bangkok.?

My last stop was an energising and inspiring visit to Quezon City in The Philippines. Mayor Joy Belmonte demonstrates how to set a strong vision as a leader while employing a bottom-up approach to engaging residents in climate action. There is an extraordinarily wide range of stakeholders that are aligned with and delivering on the city’s climate goals as a result, from small shop owners to urban farmers. I had read so much about Quezon City’s urban farms, but it was wonderful to meet some of the communities where 18,000 good, green jobs have been created in a programme that combines climate adaptation, the green economy, and food security. I came away invigorated by the city’s pride in the climate programmes, as well as among the communities implementing them.

Now, I look forward to seeing both regions represented at COP28, where the world will come together at a critical moment for global transformative climate action. What mayors and subnational leaders do is crucial for meeting local, national, and global climate targets. Cities are ready and willing to work with national governments to set and implement climate targets, unlock resources, build capacity for implementation, and accelerate progress across key sectors, including buildings, transport, waste and water.