Renewed American skepticism, and even the hostility of Donald Trump’s second administration, does not change for a moment that climate change is a reality.
This does not deny the reality that the Global South – including the nearly 700 million-strong Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), almost all tropical countries – is at the forefront of the climate crisis.
The recent typhoons Tino and Uwan in our region, especially the Philippines, are the latest evidence of this and a reminder of the urgent need for climate justice.
It has been said time and time again what the Global South needs for summits like COP30. It really boils down to four things.
The developed world needs to listen
On the one hand, developed countries need to listen to developing and less developed countries on how to address climate change.
A rigid approach to various aspects of climate action, including technology, energy transition and biodiversity conservation, will ultimately frustrate the sincere, proactive measures that many Global South countries, including Malaysia, and many of its ASEAN partners are taking towards these goals.
Greater resilience on the part of the Global North will go a long way to ensuring that the battle against climate change is won.
This is not an attempt to water down or distract anything. The right to live in a sustainable environment is undeniably a fundamental human right.
Israel’s devastating war in Gaza has also resulted in a wider climate on which Western nations have been strangely silent, but whose consequences – not only for the Middle East but for the wider world – will last for decades.
So there is no doubt that sustainability and human rights go hand in hand. Supporting the former, especially in ASEAN and the Global South, is a means of supporting the latter.
Developed countries should bring their check books
At the risk of putting things crudely, money talks. Various climate finance commitments – especially those to vulnerable nations – must not only be met, but increased.
The United Nations Global Policy Model estimates that developing countries will need approximately $1.1 trillion by 2025 and approximately $1.8 trillion by 2030.
The president of the COP30 UN Climate Change Conference, Brazil, has rightly said that he hopes the meeting in Belem will be remembered as “the COP of adaptation implementation”. This is salient because, while I do not share the view that it is too late to act, it should be painfully clear that climate action can no longer be about setting lofty goals. Rather, it is time to deliver.
The Global South can lead on climate change
Admittedly, the absence of the United States as the world’s superpower and largest economy is dependent on the COP and any international efforts to protect the environment. But America’s absence is not a reason to retreat from climate action or any other international cause; Rather, it is an opportunity to reaffirm and strengthen multilateral cooperation.
While it is good to have America involved, the world can function without America. As has been widely reported, China’s carbon dioxide emissions have either flatlined or declined over the past 18 months.
Furthermore, the Tropical Forever Facility (TFFF) proposed by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is an important part of the solution.
As a trustee and interim host of the World Bank, TFFF seeks to support sustainable conservation strategies and protect critical tropical ecosystems through global, public and private partnerships.
With a medium-term goal of achieving $125bn in funding, the TFFF launch announcement has been endorsed by 53 countries and 19 sovereign wealth funds. 34 of them are tropical forest countries, covering 90 percent of tropical forests in developing nations.
Norway, Brazil, Indonesia, Portugal, France and the Netherlands have already made financial commitments. So far, $5.5bn has been announced – an encouraging, albeit modest, start to a long journey.
Nevertheless, the TFFF shows that the Global South has the potential to create its own initiatives, including addressing existential global challenges such as climate change.
Again, this is something that the Global North should support. It is arguably “debted” by tropical countries for the huge carbon sinks they provide.
This must be achieved through fair, transparent climate restoration, not regulatory policies, to ensure that the burden of protecting irreplaceable biodiversity does not come at the expense of the education, jobs or dignity of people in these countries.
ASEAN must play its role
Tropical countries – including those in ASEAN – cannot shirk their responsibilities.
It was disappointing that climate change did not feature more prominently at the recent 47th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, chaired by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, despite the 2025 chairmanship’s theme of “inclusiveness and sustainability”.
To be fair, the President’s statement laudably noted that the regional group “adopted the ASEAN Joint Statement on Climate Change” and “welcomed the ASEAN Pavilion” at COP30, as well as “looking forward to the development of the ASEAN Climate Change Strategic Action Plan in the next Action Plan for ASEAN Climate Change Strategic Action Plan (CAPCAC APCSLI).
After years of diplomacy between member states, the summit in Kuala Lumpur also adopted the ASEAN Declaration on the Right to a Safe, Clean, Healthy and Sustainable Environment.
Let us not forget Timor-Leste’s historic accession to the ASEAN Summit and progress on the ASEAN Power Grid.
These are all commendable achievements, but they still fall short of the proactive stance that the developing world has often urged developed countries to take. We should do as much – if not more – than we expect from others.
Some may argue that ASEAN does not have the financial capacity to act alone. But the 2025 summit has shown that it has the credibility and influence to connect various groups including China, the BRICS alliance of economies, the Gulf Cooperation Council, the European Union, Africa and Latin America.
How far does the ASEAN Joint Statement on Climate Change go to recognize that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has listed Southeast Asian countries as the most affected by climate change?
Words without action are just words. This leaves ASEAN – which has a proud record of neutrality – vulnerable to accusations of pandering to Trump (who, as we know, briefly attended the summit) even in the face of climate-related disasters affecting its people.
ASEAN — and indeed the rest of the Global South — needs bold, decisive multilateral action in partnership with like-minded regions.
The urgency shown by ASEAN to defend its geopolitical agency and enhance economic integration must now manifest itself in stronger, more vocal climate leadership.
More can and should be done. It is not too late for both developed and developing countries to win the fight against climate change.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.