Industry Interview with Melissa Lok, Associate Director, Climate Asia

Melissa Lok discusses why Southeast Asia’s built environment climate transition now depends on reliable carbon data, product-level baselines, and the practical capacity to turn disclosure into decisions.

What gap is Climate Asia addressing in Southeast Asia’s climate landscape, and why does that gap matter now?

The most critical gap we see in Southeast Asia is the lack of reliable, consistent carbon data across the built environment value chain. While many organisations are advancing net zero commitments, the ability to quantify embodied carbon at product and material level remains uneven and fragmented.

Climate Asia is focused on closing this gap by strengthening life cycle assessment (LCA) capability and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), so that stakeholders can establish credible baselines and make better decarbonisation decisions. Without this foundation, carbon targets remain aspirational rather than actionable.

This matters now because the region is moving from ambition to implementation. Developers, contractors and regulators are increasingly asking for verifiable carbon data, not broad estimates, across the building lifecycle.

Across Southeast Asia, which climate pressures now look most urgent—and where do you see the biggest disconnect between awareness, policy ambition and delivery on the ground?

The most urgent regional challenge is decarbonisation under pressure: energy security concerns, economic uncertainty and shifting geopolitics are now shaping climate decisions. These are no longer only environmental issues. They are commercial and operational issues, and they are pushing organisations to reduce supply-chain risk and move away from carbon-intensive systems.

The greatest disconnect is between high-level policy ambition and the technical capacity to execute it. Many organisations are declaring net-zero targets and Scope 3 commitments, but they do not yet have the underlying data to support those commitments. In construction and manufacturing, for example, companies may want to source lower-carbon materials, but there is still a shortage of localised LCAs and verified EPDs to substantiate those choices.

There is also an uneven capacity gap. Multinational companies may have the resources to adapt, but many SMEs in regional supply chains face a steep compliance cliff. They are being asked to report and decarbonise, but often lack the practical frameworks needed to begin.

Bridging this gap means moving beyond broad commitments and building the granular data, verified product baselines and practical capacity needed to translate policy into delivery.

This is an excerpt of Melissa Lok’s interview published in Future Atlas 2Q 2026 digital edition. Read the full story there. 

Melissa Lok is a certified ISO 14064 GHG Professional and GRI Professional, with a specialisation in ESG advisory and carbon management within the built environment. With over a decade of experience, her work includes ESG strategy, greenhouse gas accounting, sustainability disclosure, carbon tracking frameworks and practical decarbonisation pathways across project lifecycles. She combines technical expertise with strategic insight to help organisations align business priorities with ESG goals and pursue tangible, quantifiable sustainability outcomes.