Why I’m hoping for a reality check at Bangkok Climate Action Week
05/10/2026
By Seema Joshi, Legal Strategy Director, Accountability Accelerator
This past week, as I prepared to make the journey to Bangkok Climate Action Week, paradoxically I was thinking about grounding. From the outside, these large gatherings might seem very abstract, and removed from the urgent work needed on the ground to tackle the interconnected crises we’re facing. But in my experience, the opposite is true. These events are an opportunity to really grapple with real-world challenges, by bringing together perspectives from across business, government, the financial sector and civil society.
Having previously lived and worked in Bangkok for three years, it has been heartbreaking to see this inspiring, beautiful place hit by disastrous flooding these past few weeks. And with London Climate Action Week set against a backdrop of extreme heat in June, the immediacy of these crises is plain to see.
But this week is an extraordinary opportunity: to harness the drive we all feel to act for change, and to match our mindset and our actions to the urgency of the challenge. It is clear that corporate actions have consequences. And though the magnitude of the task may feel daunting, we need to move away from dissociation and anchor back into solutions.
We have the standards. The solutions exist. We know the direction of change that’s needed. To get there requires a bold shift in mindset, a commitment to behaviour change and actionable pathways to implementation. It means rethinking the corporate model.
Because if we are to truly address the challenge of climate change, biodiversity loss and human rights harms, it will take more than small, incremental improvements. This crisis demands a fundamental shift in how we design our economic systems and understand success.
For me, this week is about grounding that work in lived realities – both of the people and places that are most affected by corporate harms, and the businesses already working to make meaningful change.
Why we must take a whole-picture view
Companies have every reason to build sustainability and resilience into their business models as they adapt to thrive in a changing world. As major contributors to the polycrisis, they also have a vital role to play in implementing practices that prevent, identify, mitigate and remediate negative impacts of their operations and value chains for people, nature and the climate.
While progress has been made, corporate approaches remain fragmented, and existing guidance and incentives are often inconsistent, voluntary or misaligned with the ambition needed to protect global human rights and natural ecosystems. As a result, the steps being taken by corporate actors are often delayed or insufficient. Elsewhere, progress is being undermined by trade-offs: a company might prioritise climate carbon reduction strategies, but these come at the expense of ecosystem integrity and rights protections in their value chains. Good-practice examples of integrated, risk-based due diligence and responsible business models remain limited.
Accountability at the centre
There is a further dimension which cannot be overlooked: accountability. Accountability should not be seen as an external constraint on business, but as a fundamental requirement of responsible business action. This means strengthening the systems that set expectations and hold businesses to account, while ensuring those affected by corporate decisions can meaningfully shape and scrutinise them.
In very real terms, accountability is good for business. As responsible companies implement more sustainable practices, and those practices are independently verified, it creates a level playing field for those taking action. It also provides certainty and predictability amid fast-changing times, enabling longer-term strategising and investment. This allows companies to continue building the resilience and credibility needed to remain competitive as expectations from regulators, investors and consumers continue to rise.
Tackling fragmentation through consultation
Bangkok Climate Action Week provides an exciting opportunity to put this theory into practice. This coming week marks a key point in a joint project led by the Accountability Accelerator and BSR: ‘Integrated Corporate Actions on People, Climate and Nature’. Using frameworks including the OECD Guidelines, as well as locally rooted case studies, the project aims to deliver visible change in corporate and financial sector practices. This means defining good practice at the corporate, financial, regional, and local levels, and underpinning those models with robust systems that ensure accountability.
The project is now at the mid-point in its 18-month implementation period. At this half-way stage, we will begin external consultations using two case-study project tools: one focused on developing an integrated methodology for Equitable Energy Access, and the other focused on Equitable Food Access. The case study materials are designed to capture current company approaches, and to guide integrated, systemic corporate actions for people, climate and nature. Ultimately, the project aims to encourage a narrative shift, creating momentum for more holistic, responsible and accountable business conduct.
In Bangkok, the project team and UNDP will co-host a full-day consultation, to ground the project’s work in the Asian context. This will include a multi-stakeholder roundtable, which will bring together participants from business and finance, international NGOs, and philanthropic funders working in Asia. The aim is to surface experiences, challenges, tensions and good practice, and to chart new approaches for integrated, accountable corporate action.
Alongside the roundtable, the consultation day will also bring together Asian-based civil-society organisations, Indigenous Peoples organisations and aligned funders. Focusing on the lived realities of people in Asia facing the impacts of the planetary crisis, the deep-dive session will workshop the case studies, connecting the project’s work to regional communities and ecosystems.
Real people make real change
Transforming business models, financial practices and value chains requires a fundamental shift in thinking and behaviour. At the same time, to be truly effective, the new paths we create must be accountable, and firmly anchored with the people and places where the change is taking place.
That includes the business decision-makers and funders, whose decisions can unlock bold new approaches and set new standards for corporate action, and the civil society organisations who are uniquely placed to guide solutions at the intersection of people, nature and the climate.
This felt especially tangible as I touched down in Bangkok, hopeful that we can gain momentum to build in this direction together.
To help advance integrated solutions, contact us to engage with the case study consultation process between now and February: seema@accountabilityaccelerator.org
