by Meera Gopal and Betty Wang

Last month, the 79th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) unfolded as world leaders were grappling with multiple crises, including ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and challenges stemming from the U.S.-China strategic competition. These tensions laid bare deep divisions between the Global North and South, particularly over the locus of responsibility for global governance failures. Amid these international priorities, important issues such as the climate crisis and lack of progress on sustainable development goals were largely sidelined.

UNGA this year was also coupled with the Summit of the Future (SOTF), a high-level initiative aimed at reimagining and strengthening global governance. UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged institutions such as the UN to become more inclusive and better equipped to address 21st-century challenges. The SOTF produced several key frameworks, including the Pact for the Future, the Global Digital Compact, and the Declaration on Future Generations. These platforms, which had been under development for nearly two years, provide an opportunity for world leaders to reflect on how reforming multilateralism can directly address emerging global issues.

More recently, the World Bank–International Monetary Fund (IMF) Annual Meetings concluded with some progress toward expanding affordable development and climate financing for nations in need. However, the pace of progress remains slow overall. The G20 Independent Group on Strengthening Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) has released a report giving the current progress an “incomplete grade,” finding that while some reforms are underway, significant gaps remain in financing capacity, climate action, private sector mobilization, and impact. The MDBs fall short of the target to triple sustainable lending from 2019 baseline levels and catalyze private investment. The report found a lack of bold shareholder support and comprehensive accounting mechanisms as obstacles to MDBs’ meeting their expanded mandate. The G24 Group, which includes several emerging Asian economies, acknowledged the progress made at the World Bank and the IMF but also called for targeted efforts addressing current regional and gender underrepresentation of emerging markets and developing economies ( EMDEs) in the IMF governance structure.

For its part, the IMF adopted new measures including reducing charges and surcharges on its lending by an average of 36% and working toward a comprehensive reform and financing package that could possibly double the Fund’s concessional lending capacity. Kristalina Georgieva, the managing director of the Fund, also highlighted the ongoing discussions on improving the representation of developing countries on the Fund’s Board of Directors. The IMF released an update to its flagship publication, World Economic Outlook, which found that global disinflation has continued and stressed the need for continued fiscal consolidation through growth-focused monetary reforms. The report updated its projections for Asia, noting that the region’s economies performed stronger than expected in the first quarter of 2024, due to the heavy focus on semiconductors and electronics, mainly in China and India.

Against this background, Asia clearly has a critical role to play in advancing global progress on climate action and sustainable development. The region has seen a high level of resource mobilization on climate, especially in the renewable energy and electric vehicle (EV) sectors, in China, India, and other emerging markets. However, adaptation and resilience needs still remain largely unmet. The following key takeaways from UNGA79 and the Annual Meetings for Asia suggest ways in which Asian leaders can work to bridge regional divides and enhance global cooperation on climate and sustainable development.

Asia at UNGA

Despite myriad other challenges that demanded attention, several Asian officials still underscored priorities related to addressing climate change and fostering sustainable development. Just before UNGA, India and the United States signed a roadmap on clean energy cooperation, reflecting India’s continued push on clean energy transition and climate finance. China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi reiterated China’s commitment to multilateralism through initiatives such as its own Global Development Initiative. He met with Bangladesh’s new interim chief advisor Muhammad Yunus to discuss bilateral cooperation, particularly on clean energy projects. Japan’s former prime minister Fumio Kishida emphasized the link among nuclear disarmament, regional stability, and climate resilience.

Leaders from climate-vulnerable nations also positioned themselves as pivotal voices in shaping multilateralism and global climate action. Nepal’s newly elected prime minister KP Sharma Oli, in co-chairing the Global Coordination Bureau of Least Developed Countries (LDCs), stressed the need for climate adaptation solutions and stronger international support for vulnerable nations. Pacific Island leaders, such as those from Tuvalu and Vanuatu, highlighted the existential threat of climate change, urging immediate global action to protect their nations from rising sea levels and calling for accountability from major carbon emitters.

Asia’s Imperative to Take Forward the Pact for the Future

The Pact for the Future provides a framework for addressing global challenges, but its success in driving climate action and sustainable development depends on translating these high-level commitments into concrete, measurable action at the regional and national levels. While the ultimate framework failed to break new ground on climate action, it reinforced the decisions taken at COP28 in 2023, including the call to contribute to global efforts on tripling renewable energy capacity and doubling energy efficiency by 2030. It also encouraged all parties to develop their next round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) due in 2025 in line with increased ambition; economy-wide emissions reduction targets; and covering all greenhouse gases, sectors, and categories to align with limiting global warming to 1.5°C.

Despite the pact’s shortcoming of limited action on implementation and monitoring, developing Asia can play a more active role in ensuring that climate and sustainable development–related sections of the pact and its annexes are implemented effectively. Given the economic diversity in the region, Asian countries can act as a testing ground for innovative solutions and provide best practices to scale these solutions to match the need.

The region includes several high-emitting, emerging economies that are also members of the G20, including China, India, and Indonesia. These countries have an opportunity to boost climate ambition globally and are also incentivized to push for transforming the global financial architecture to meet these targets. At the recent BRICS summit, member countries, including India and China, concluded with the adoption of the Kazan Declaration, which reiterated the demand for equitable global governance and presented an alternative platform for Global South countries to work together on common challenges. Yet challenges remain for these countries to mobilize coordinated financial support and balance growth with emissions targets. As leaders in both the G20 and BRICS, these nations are well positioned to influence global financial reform and expand climate funding for the Global South. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) can also share lessons on how efforts toward economic integration and cooperation on clean energy have benefitted its member countries. These efforts can address key issues, such as economic disparities, climate finance access, and equitable global decision-making, offering a path toward a more effective and inclusive international system.

Asia at the WB-IMF Annual Meetings

The Annual Meetings of the World Bank and the IMF provided another opportunity after the Spring Meetings earlier this year in April for these Bretton Woods institutions to showcase their respective progress on structural reforms on addressing climate and development challenges. This year’s focus continued to be on issues of availability, accessibility, and affordability of finance, with the World Bank introducing a “scorecard” of 22 climate and social indicators to enhance accountability.

The reform agenda is a priority for many in Asia, as noted in Asia Society Policy Institute’s report Asia’s Climate Finance Needs and Challenges: Advancing a Shared Vision. The ASPI report highlights three overarching issues that are of particular importance to developing countries in Asia: (1) access to affordable climate finance, (2) better representation at MDBs, and (3) improved and sustainable approaches to tackle the debt crisis that many climate-vulnerable economies are facing in the region. These issues were at the forefront of engagements of Asian leaders and government representatives at the Annual Meetings.

Compared to UNGA79, Asia was more prominent in representation at the Annual Meetings, with several sessions highlighting innovative approaches to climate resilience and development challenges in the region. At the IMF, a public seminar session with representatives from Samoa and India examined Asia’s challenges in resource mobilization. India’s experience with tax reform and revenue digitization, which has reduced corruption and boosted revenues, was presented as a potential model for other emerging economies in Asia. Reforms to the fiscal environment and addressing debt were key topics for Asian countries. Pakistan's Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb highlighted the country's plans and challenges in implementing the recently approved IMF package of $7 billion, announcing a forthcoming “Climate Prosperity Plan” and calling for more concessional instruments from MDBs.

The Vulnerable 20 (V20) Group, representing 70 climate-vulnerable countries (including several Asian LDCs and the Pacific Island nations), held its 13th Ministerial in conjunction with the Annual Meetings. The group’s communiqué called on developed nations for targeted reforms, faster sovereign debt resolutions, ambitious climate finance goals, and strengthened governance at institutions including the World Bank and the IMF.

The Road Ahead: Renewed Opportunities for Regional Cooperation

UNGA this year reflected a missed opportunity for regional cooperation on issues surrounding climate and sustainable development within Asia. For Asia, recent extreme climate events have made it clear that challenges are transboundary and require a regional approach rather than a siloed, domestic approach. The climate and sustainable development–related action items identified under the Pact for the Future offer an opportunity for the countries in the region to identify common themes for regional cooperation, despite geopolitical tensions. In this regard, multilateral platforms such as the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) can play an important role in convening parties and offering a space for collective action. This type of regional oversight is vital for translating the broad goals of the pact into actionable outcomes, especially in areas such as renewable energy deployment and climate adaptation, where collective efforts can amplify impact.

The Annual Meetings did not make any headline-grabbing announcements, and the consistent calls for more austerity—echoed since the Spring Meetings—were not well received by developing countries that are already struggling with unsustainable levels of debt and shrinking fiscal space. A lot of attention was focused on the International Development Association (IDA), which is undergoing an active replenishment process, known as IDA21. It is crucial that developed countries ensure that the IDA is able to increase its lending capacity, since it supports low-income countries with much-needed concessional finance. Several Asian countries, including climate-vulnerable ones in South Asia and the Pacific, stand to benefit significantly from such an exercise.

Looking ahead, this year’s UN Climate Conference, COP29, offers a critical moment for advancing meaningful climate finance reform. Asia’s advocacy at this “finance COP” could pave the way for a more equitable global financial system, aligning resources with the urgent needs of climate-vulnerable regions. This moment demands concerted action from Asian leaders to secure commitments that reflect the region’s unique challenges and opportunities, call for global financial reforms to be embedded in the negotiations on the new climate finance goal, and set a precedent for a global financial architecture that supports sustainable development.