Asia Institute will create a practical dialog between the stakeholders from different affected communities in addressing these issues, bringing these constituencies together to reach effective solution. The global challenge of climate change must be expressed in such a manner that bankers and financiers, researchers in science and technology, businessmen and academics can come to a consensus and pursue together viable, comprehensible and deliverable solutions.

By articulating the threat simultaneously in economic, technical, and business terms that each group can understand and respond to by bringing its particular expertise to bear, The Asia Institute will lay a foundation for a workable consensus in Asia. That consensus will be the essential step bringing proposed solutions to practical realization.

Current efforts of The Asia Institute include work with the Korea Green Business IT Association, the Green Korea 21, the Daedeok Innopolis, the Beijing Zhongguancun International Environmental Industry Promotion Center, the China City Construction & Development Expo, the Shenzhen Association for Science and Technology, the 3E Forum of Tsukuba Science Park, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme and other institutions around the world. Asia Institute also works closely with environmental venture companies and research institutes in Daejeon itself.

The Asia Institute gives priority to interaction with local communities in the context of an international cooperative effort. Director Pastreich’s visits to Dujiangyan, site of intense rebuilding after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, and Taean, site of the 2008 oil spill, exemplify this commitment.

Director Pastreich visited with Vice President Ji-Won Yang of KAIST Tsukuba University and the National Institute for Environmental Studies in Japan to propose possible collaboration between Korean and Japanese institutions to respond effectively to the environmental crisis. Together, the two also gave a joint talk at CSIS in Washington D.C. in January of 2009 on their recent work in environmental technologies.

In addition, The Asia Institute has a close working relationship with Devin Stewart, Director of the Global Policy Innovations at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, Dr. Miranda Schreurs, Director of the Environmental Policy Research Centre of the Freie Universitat Berlin, and Mr. Richard Register, President of Ecocity Builders.

In addition to conducting research, The Asia Institute surveys current data on environmental degradation, reviews and evaluates proposals for reform, and advocates cooperation on environmental issues. Efforts extend to the identification of critical technologies for addressing pollution and the search for appropriate sources to fund such efforts. The Asia Institute promotes initiatives aimed at modifying the habits and cultures of consumption while promoting sustainable development.

More recently, The Asia Institute is working to internationalize fully the 3E Forum Environment, Energy and Economy) to include Korea, China and Japan. Other programs include the Daejeon Green Growth Forum, the Asia Ecocity Coalition, and the Korea-Japan Environmental Policy Initiative.