Vietnam has achieved a renewable energy revolution over recent years and stands out among Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states as the leading player in the share of renewable energy in total electricity generation.

The annual UN Climate Change COP summits get high level of attention but what do the people who have attended the event think?Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, through its Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES), hosted a seminar titled "COP28 Outcomes and Insights for Southeast Asia." The panellists, Dr Navroz K. Dubash, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, LKYSPP, Professor Winston Chow, SMU Urban Institute, Dr Mirza Sadaqat Huda, Lead Researcher at the ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore and Mr Varad Pande, Partner & Director at Boston Consulting Group, Sustainability & Social Impact, have extensive experience with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Conference of the Parties (COP). The panel was chaired by IES Director, Professor Ben Cashore. The panellists laid out how COP28 works and what they viewed as key takeaways to Southeast Asia.

Vinod Thomas is Visiting Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. Previously he served as Director General of Independent Evaluation at Asian Development Bank, where he worked to institute change. In his role, he assessed ADB’s development effectiveness while providing lessons to help inform ADB’s actions. This was instrumental in making green growth and action on climate change more integral to ADB’s strategy. This is just one example of Professor Thomas' deep understanding of issues affecting climate change and the environment. So he's in a perfect position to help us answer this question “Renewable Energy – how real is this for Asia?”

While the evidence linking greenhouse-gas emissions to climate change has been clear for some time, public engagement with the issue remains low. But showing the link between emissions and extreme weather could motivate more people to demand that governments and companies reduce the use of fossil fuels.