Who is Responsible for Tackling Climate Change? This is What ASEAN Citizens Say

As reported by the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in The Southeast Asia Climate Outlook: 2024 Survey Report, several parties are considered most responsible for addressing climate change by Southeast Asian citizens.

Central governments were ranked highest, chosen by 79.7% of respondents. Businesses and industrial players were also deemed responsible, with a proportion of 55.9%.

ASEAN citizens also assessed that local governments have a responsibility, selected by 52.7%. This was followed by individuals (46.6%); multilateral organizations (36.2%); and civil society organizations (28.9%).

According to the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, the role of local governments surpassing individual responsibility is a new phenomenon in the last three years.

“Subnational (local) governments play a crucial role in multilevel governance and especially in providing essential services to the public,” stated the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in its report.

However, reviewing the data by country, five ASEAN countries placed individual responsibility within the top three groups responsible for addressing climate change. These five countries are Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Singapore.

“Specifically for the Philippines, individual responsibility (50.3%) ranked second. Younger respondents aged 16-21 tended to view individual responsibility more positively (53.9%) compared to those over 60 years old (34.8%),” said the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

The survey in the *The Southeast Asia Climate Outlook: 2024 Survey Report* was conducted online from July 10 to August 17, 2024. It involved 2,931 respondents aged 16 and above from ten ASEAN member states.

Respondents were categorized into eight groups: academics, think tanks, and research institutions; private sector; government; regional, intergovernmental, and international organizations; civil society and non-governmental organizations; media; students; retirees and others.

(Read: Climate Change to be Southeast Asia's Biggest Challenge by 2025)