At the Opening Plenary of the East Asia Forum where the main agenda is decarbonizing the Asia and the Pacific Region, VPO2 Saeed raised three important points to effectively tackle climate change: There is only one development path – green development. As the pandemic has taught the world –prosperity cannot be truly realized without ensuring health, “we also cannot develop at the expense of our environment.” VP said, “to address climate change, we must integrate thinking about finance, technology, and policy—all in new ways and at a deeper level than before, much as COVID has forced us to integrate epidemiological insights with macro forecasting, for example.” COVID forced the world to maximize and innovate instruments, institutions, and coordinating ecosystem to respond, “so too will they need to change and adapt at a structural level to be successful in the fight against climate change.”. East Asia Forum: Decarbonizing Asia and the Pacific - Ahmed Saeed