Singapore – Southeast Asia is a region highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, particularly increased flooding in the context of sea-level rise, whereby approximately millions of people along the coasts will likely be at risk from flooding.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special report, “Global Warming of 1.5 oC”, the temperature has been increasing at a rate of 0.14°C to 0.20°C per decade since the 1960s across Southeast Asia, which coupled with a rising number of hot days and warm nights, and a decline in cooler weather.

In addition, with 2°C of warming by 2040 in this region, this could lead to a decline of one-third in per capita crop production associated with general decreases in crop yields.

It is critical for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries to address climate change through regional cooperation, and thus the establishment of the ASEAN Working Group on Climate Change (AWGCC).

The AWGCC is a consultative platform to promote collaborations amongst various ASEAN Sectoral Bodies, relevant stakeholders, and international partners. Not only to share information and knowledge, but AWGCC also aims to enhance the coordination and integration of efforts in addressing climate change.

Hence, the 2nd ASEAN Climate Change Partnership Conference (CCPC) was held on 27 August 2019 at the Environment Building, Singapore to provide a dedicated platform for all actors to share experiences and identify potential cooperation in addressing climate change issues in this region.

The conference was jointly organized by the Environment Division of the ASEAN Secretariat and the National Environment Agency of Singapore and was supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF).

ASEAN Climate Change and Energy Project (ACCEPT) was invited to represent the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) as one of the ASEAN sectoral bodies to participate in the CCPC. The ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM), ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC), and the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) were among the invited ASEAN sectoral bodies.

While the international dialogue partners were attended by the Ambassador of New Zealand to Singapore, and representatives from the European Union, Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF), Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), Regional Collaboration Centres of UNFCCC (UNFCCC RCC), Climate Change International Training Center of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA-CITC), Republic of Korea and the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ).

During the conference, ACCEPT has delivered a presentation on the potential of collaboration with the AWGCC in implementing the Action Plan for ASEAN Cooperation on Climate Change.

One of the outputs of the Action Plan is “Mainstreamed climate change issues in other sectoral plans at the national and regional level”. Therefore, this is relevant to ACCEPT, in which the aim is to improve the regional policy to be more climate-friendly through the integration of energy and climate policies.

Part of the ACCEPT findings could be served as inputs for AWGCC in designing their training programs for relevant officials and national experts on streamlining climate change mitigation into the sectoral work plan.

Hence, such collaboration will result in more impactful outcomes of ACCEPT, whereby the interventions not only will benefit the Energy and Minerals Division but also across departments of the ASEAN.