Triangulating the Transition: Can India Learn from China–ASEAN Climate Engagement

About this event

This session by the Institute of South Asian Studies(ISAS), National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Centre for Social and Economic Progress(CSEP), New Delhi will examine China's engagement with ASEAN on climate and the energy transition, and consider what India can learn from these experiences while accounting for its own strategic, economic, technological, and institutional context. Objectives •Assess China–ASEAN climate engagement across mitigation and adaptation: Map the channels through which cooperation occurs, including investment, clean-tech supply chains, the ASEAN Power Grid, standards-setting, green finance, policy exchanges, capacity-building, and subnational partnerships, and evaluate their results. •Identify transferable lessons and safeguards for India: Determine which ASEAN experiences with China could support India's energy transition and climate action, while considering guardrails relating to domestic manufacturing, environmental and social standards, technological dependence, and local institutional capacity. •Develop a practical agenda for selective India–China climate cooperation: Identify concrete pathways for technical exchanges, research collaboration, city-level partnerships, private-sector engagement, and institutional coordination between India and China, particularly where ASEAN experience offers tested approaches or reveals implementation risks. The objective is to move towards a practical and selective agenda for India–China climate cooperation, grounded in evidence from China's engagement with ASEAN rather than treating regional cooperation as a one-size-fits-all model. Panellists are Pooja Rramamurthi, Fellow, CSEP, Mirza Sadaqat Huda, Senior Research Fellow, ODI Global, Siddarth Goel, Project Manager, Agora Energiewende, moderated by Karthik Nachiappan, Non Resident Senior Fellow, ISAS, NUS.