CPI 2024 for Asia Pacific: Leaders failing to stop corruption amid an escalating climate crisis 

Ilham Mohamed, Yuambari Haihuie and Urantsetseg Ulziikhuu, Regional Advisors for Asia Pacific, Transparency International

Transparency International’s 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) reveals that governments across Asia Pacific are still failing to deliver on anti-corruption pledges. After years of stagnation, the 2024 average score for the region has dropped by one point to 44.

This is especially devastating considering corruption’s detrimental impact on climate change – the biggest challenge humanity faces. Corruption obstructs environmental policy, hijacks climate financing and hinders the enforcement of regulations and policies, leaving the most vulnerable with little recourse. Asia Pacific is home to a third of the world’s population, has the second largest number of young people, and is the region most prone to natural disasters. Without concerted efforts to fight corruption now, this first generation currently facing extreme climate change will bear the brunt of its disastrous consequences.

To withstand the impacts of climate change, countries across this highly vulnerable region must improve their disaster preparedness systems. It is essential these include support for the most vulnerable. The global community has committed to providing funds for countries in need to do so – though what has been allocated so far is insufficient. Corruption, however, thwarts the effective use of this money.

In Bangladesh (CPI score: 23), one of the largest recipients of climate finance, research shows that desperately-needed climate funds are vulnerable to embezzlement and other corruption, and can be lost to irregularities. Increased transparency and improved accountability are vital to protect these life-saving funds for the benefit of millions of the nation’s inhabitants.

Pakistan (27) suffered unprecedented climate vulnerabilities the last few years, yet systemic governance gaps and policy implementation barriers – including delays in implementing regulations and establishing institutions under the Climate Change Act of 2017 – have left its climate finance far below the projected US$348 billion needed by 2030.

Across the subcontinent, 2024 saw India (38) embroiled in a US indictment of a clean energy business due to more than US$250 million paid in bribes to Indian government officials to obtain solar energy contracts worth billions of dollars. This indicates that the country – which receives more climate finance than any other – must do much more to safeguard clean energy initiatives.

Small island States, already heavily impacted by the climate crisis, are becoming more vulnerable as poor governance and corruption impede development, integrity systems and climate change policies. As extreme weather events increase and sea levels rise, disaster recovery initiatives and mitigation efforts are harmed by corruption: stolen funds and interference in these programmes’ effectiveness threatens particularly disadvantaged communities.

In Papua New Guinea (31), which is home to the world’s third largest rainforest, corruption has taken away public funds desperately needed to protect the environment. An ABC news report exposed signs of corruption at the national Climate Change and Development Authority, where senior employees allegedly misappropriated US$1.3 million. While the agency’s financial manager was arrested on charges of corruption after whistleblowers reported him to the police, he may be only part of a bigger picture – the public questions the qualifications of the Authority’s head who turned out to be the daughter of a sitting minister.

In the Maldives (38), the island nation poster child for climate vulnerability, civil society warns of potential erosion of fundamental democratic principles that poses serious corruption risks. In Vanuatu (50), several scandals have proven the legislature’s weak political integrity even though a national referendum in June 2024 approved two constitutional amendments about political parties. The dissolution of the country’s parliament last November and the calling for snap elections, put additional strain on democracy in the country. Weak and destabilised integrity systems further increase corruption risks that threaten solutions to climate change-related vulnerabilities and any recovery efforts.

A just climate transition requires cooperation between government, business, civil society and the impacted population to determine a new way forward. Conflicts of interest and undue influence leave major loopholes that allow lobbyists, wealthy elites and decision-makers to direct policy.

Sectors where the most critical changes in climate governance are needed, such as energy, have a long history of corruption themselves. Helping countries relying heavily on coal production make a transition through climate programmes – such as the Just Energy Transition Partnership – requires a significant portion of climate finance. (Around 40 per cent is directed towards the energy sector). These clean energy transition programmes are at risk if corrupt actors divert these funds for personal gain.

In Indonesia (37), the energy sector is full of examples of individuals close to political elites exploiting it for personal gain. Politicians’ corruption and conflicts of interest allow these people to regularly harm this sector, and weak institutions are often unable to stop them. The Rempang Eco City project threatens community rights and endangers the environment. It is closely connected to powerful politicians and foreign companies, a major issue being highlighted by CSOs. The complex corporate ownership structure and the involvement of shell companies in tax havens further exacerbate the situation.

In Vietnam (40) in 2024 alone, 32 wind and solar energy projects were under investigation for abuse of power. The lack of civic space for effective oversight as well as the limited number of existing mechanisms to effectively support grievance systems – such as whistleblower protection – threaten these essential programmes.

Across Asia Pacific, young people continue to voice their concerns about corruption endangering climate action. They are also increasingly using climate litigation to hold their governments accountable. In 2024, a four-year legal battle led by young environmental activists resulted in South Korea's (64) Constitutional Court recognising the increasing inadequacy of existing climate policies and ordering the government to amend the law. Youth groups from Bangladesh to Cambodia (21) continue to raise the alarm and confront the many forms of corruption in climate action, from undue influence and bribery to embezzlement. Governments across the region must now respond to this call for action and deliver on their anti-corruption pledges.