Asian Environmental Negotiation Competition 2025

Between 11 and 13 July 2025, the 2025 edition of the Asian Environmental Negotiation Competition 2025 (“AENC”) was held in-person on the Bukit Timah Campus. First organised in 2022, AENC is a unique tripartite negotiation competition jointly supported by Allen & Gledhill LLP (“A&G”) and the NUS Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Law (“APCEL”), and organised by the NUS Environmental Law Students Association. The Competition is centred around pertinent environmental law issues, both regionally and globally. Competitors had the opportunity to hone their negotiation skills, build commercial awareness and network with other students both in and beyond the region. This year’s Problem focused on the commercial and legal issues arising between a state, the national carrier and a bunkering service provider over the development and use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel. 12 teams and 36 participants took part in the Competition.

Prior to the opening of the Competition, participants attended a Registration and Networking session on 11 July 2025 for participants to orientate themselves and connect with each other. On 12 July 2025, the Competition opened with addresses given by Ms Lim Lei Theng, Partner and Head of the Knowledge Management Department at A&G, and Mr Mark Ortega, Sheridan Fellow at NUS Law and Academic Fellow at APCEL welcoming the participants and introducing them to NUS, APCEL, A&G and the impetus behind AENC.

The Opening Address was followed by the Keynote delivered by Mr Justin Lim, Sheridan Fellow at NUS Law and the Deputy Convenor of the Asian Front of the World’s Youth for Climate Justice on “The Promise of Law”. He touched on the role of negotiation in international environmental law, the limits of international legality in combatting the triple planetary crisis and various current instruments and developments in international environmental law. He ended with an inspirational message to the participants about the possibility of justice through the international legal process of advocacy and negotiations. (For the full keynote address, click on the image below.)

The participants then progressed through the Preliminary Rounds, the Semi-Finals Round and the Finals Round over two days. The participants were evaluated by judges with diverse backgrounds, including academics, lawyers, in-house counsel, consultants and specialists in mediation and negotiation. The Problem developed as teams progressed from round to round, with teams receiving new information and developments as they moved on to the Semi-Finals and Finals Rounds.

Three teams, each representing one stakeholder in the negotiations, made it to the Finals Round on 13 July 2025. The Finals Round was judged by Ms Tan Siew Huay, Director (Special Projects – International Air Law) at the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, Ms Diane Tan, Deputy Director-General (Security) of the International Affairs Division of the Attorney-General’s Chambers of Singapore, and Assistant Professor Arjuna Dibley, who teaches a specialised seminar on the Law and Economics of Climate Change and Torts at NUS Law. The Finals Round challenged participants to juggle competing interests of security, transparency, commercial viability and public opinion in negotiating an outcome acceptable to all parties. The Round was followed by deliberations, and comments and feedback from the judges. The judges unanimously agreed on the quality of negotiations, which demonstrated both the depth of research as well as the effective use of negotiation methodologies to facilitate communication and build consensus. The judges commended teams on being able to focus on key controversies and their bids for rapport and generate nuanced and realistic options.

Team 4, consisting of Ayda Ko Jing Xuan, Nikhil Roy and A Ramesh Kanna, emerged as the Champions, while Team 12, consisting of Chan Shi En Erica, Niru Kalyanaraman and Su Myat Noe Maung, and Team 6, consisting of Joel Leong Yu Seng, Jia Yi Ang and Arjun Chhabra were deemed the 1st and 2nd Runners-Up respectively. Team 7, consisting of Ethan Sui Zhong Xian, Lucas Teoh Yi Kai and Roshan Doshi, was also awarded the Spirit of Negotiation Prize for their strong performance during the Preliminary Rounds.

We would like to extend our heartiest congratulations to the prize-winners, and our heartfelt thanks to all the judges who graciously lent their time and expertise. We would also like to recognise the hard work and enthusiasm of all participating teams, especially those who travelled to Singapore to participate in AENC 2025.