COP30 Countdown: What It Means for Climate Justice in Southeast Asia – Podcast
20 November 2025 – by Editorial Team
Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and others
In this episode of Energy Insights, host Stephen sits down with Joel Chester (Cheng) Pagulayan, Climate Justice Portfolio Manager at Oxfam Pilipinas, to explore what COP30 means for climate justice in Southeast Asia and the growing gap between community needs and global delivery.
Despite years of warnings from frontline communities, the region continues to face stronger storms, rising seas and widening inequality. Cheng explains why climate justice must sit at the centre of COP30, how vulnerable countries are pushing for fair finance and loss and damage support, and why a just transition requires real participation from workers, Indigenous peoples and affected communities.
We explore the barriers that keep climate finance slow and uneven, the political tensions shaping the talks in Belém, and what Southeast Asia needs from COP30 at a critical moment for resilience, equity and long-term climate security.
LinkedIn: Joel Chester (Cheng) Pagulayan
