For anyone still undecided about the consequences of global warming, the summer of 2018, one of the hottest on record, should have tipped the scales. Across far-flung longitudes and latitudes, regions are struggling with the fallout from large-scale climate-related events.In the southern United States (US), cities and towns pummelled by Hurricane Florence in September were still drying out when Hurricane Michael brought more flooding in October.

In August, when United States (US) President Donald Trump proposed to freeze fuel-efficiency standards for cars and trucks, environmentalists and their supporters were outraged.

The ‘Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 Degrees Celsius’ (SR15) released last week by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projected that the world has around 12 years before the increase in global atmospheric temperature is likely to reach 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

In December 2015, recognising the need for an effective and progressive response to climate change, the world’s leaders came together to commit to a landmark agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

One day in 1961, an American economist named Daniel Ellsberg stumbled across a piece of paper with apocalyptic implications.

Next month, the Global Climate Action Summit – one of the largest international gatherings on climate change the world has seen – will be held in San Francisco. The event, whose theme is “Take Ambition to the Next Level,” aims to serve as a launchpad for accelerated action that will enable the world to meet the goals set by the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

When Donald Trump was elected US president a year ago, some said the end of the Paris climate agreement was nigh. Yet, as the latest round of global climate talks in Bonn, Germany, has shown, the world’s political leaders are more committed to the deal than ever.

The Earth today is more than 1°C hotter than it was in pre-industrial times, and the terrible symptoms of its fever are already showing. This year alone, back-to-back hurricanes have devastated Caribbean islands, monsoon flooding has displaced tens of millions in South Asia, and fires have raged on nearly every continent.

The Southeast Asian region is gifted with rich and diverse renewable energy sources. With the abundance of renewable energy sources in the region, it is timely for ASEAN nations to focus on renewable energy installation amidst diminishing fossil fuel reserves and the growing environmental concerns over fossil fuels and climate change, in particular.