Can Asia's climate leader please step forward?

Abstract

Asia's contribution will be decisive for the global effort to mitigate climate change. But Asia lacks a country that could take the lead and inspire the rest of the region to accelerate its climate action. To identify countries that could fulfill such a role, this article takes a two‐step, mixed‐methods approach. First, an index is created to identify some potentially leading countries. Second, the top countries identified by the index are assessed in greater detail qualitatively. The analysis finds that China, Japan, and Singapore are the most plausible candidates to take the lead. By doing so, these countries could potentially inspire their neighbors to step up their own efforts as climate change becomes an increasingly important issue in international affairs. However, to become a leader and influence their peers, they will have to make a conscious choice and dedicated effort.