After many month of dancing around the issue, and the election of a new government last month, Japan will revise its targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by November when it completes a review of the current 25 percent reduction goal, which is now officially conceded to be out of reach.
World leaders attending the World Economic Forum in Davos this week were given the stark news that USD700 billion annual spend on green investments is required to save the planet from the harsh realities of climate change.
The figure – which amounts to USD14 trillion between now and 2030 – will be needed to meet global energy demand and avert the economic challenges that will be created by untracked climate change.
It is early days yet but the new research that shows that black carbon, more commonly known as soot, could be contributing twice as much to global warming than previously thought, and may have a future impact on climate talks. It has also been found to be affecting rainfall patterns on the Asian monsoon more than previously thought.
Particles from diesel engines, wood burners and coal fires, according to the research published in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, have a total warming effect greater than methane and two thirds that of carbon dioxide. That was almost double the effect estimated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007.
In a bid to mitigate climate-related hazards in Nepal the World Bank is to fund a project that will improve the accuracy and timeliness of weather, flood forecasts and warnings for climate-vulnerable communities.
Funded by a Strategic Climate Fund grant of USD16 million, and a Strategic Climate Fund Loan of USD15 million, the Building Resilience to Climate Related Hazards Project : Indigenous Peoples Plan, also aims to develop agricultural management information services to help farmers mitigate climate-related production risks.
South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak's much lauded USD20 billion effort to transform and clean up four major rivers is so flawed it could cost the country a fortune to keep up, the country’s state auditor has proclaimed.
According to a report in Agence France-Presse (AFP), revitalizing the Han, Nakdong, Geum and Yeongsan rivers was the centerpiece of the outgoing president's "Green New Deal", a bold plan to create jobs after the 2008 global downturn.
A Reuter's conference has outlined a pessimistic future for much of Asia as national security is threatened by fights over natural resources and global climate change hits business.
China leads the world in investing in the protection of its watershed, according to a new study by US-based NGO Forest Trends. The report, State of Watershed Payments 2012, is described as an effort to globally track the size, scope, and direction of investments in watershed services as well as the ecological infrastructure from which they flow.
The study was dominated by looking at China and the US which had 61 and 67 programs of the 205 tracked, respectively. China accounted for 91 percent of the 2011 investment, supported by government money.
India has introduced tax on crude palm oil imports for the first time since 2008. According to India's Agriculture ministry crude palm and soybean oil imports will be taxed at 2.5 percent, while the tariff on purchases of refined cooking oils will be maintained at 7.5 percent.
Our oceans are the most important ecosystem on the planet. They provide a third of our world with food, produce more oxygen than all the rainforests combined, remove half of the atmosphere’s manmade carbon dioxide and control our planet’s temperature and weather.
Individuals and businesses both have a responsibility to protect our precious and delicate ecosystems – as consumers, we can demand more sustainably sourced products; and as businesses, by creating better systems of production and innovating to reduce their impact on the Earth.
At yesterday’s opening session of 19th Mekong River Commission (MRC) Council Meeting, being held in the Laoation city of Luang Prabang, heated debate occurred over the host country’s construction of the Xayaburi Dam and its plans to build a cascade of dams on the Lower Mekong River.
According to participants at the meeting, MRC governments disagreed about the prior consultation procedures and how they had been applied in the case of the Xayaburi Dam. The Cambodian delegation asserted that Laos had misinterpreted the Mekong Agreement and that the prior consultation process had never been completed.
A South Korean court has awarded compensation of KRW151.4 billion (USD694 million) payout to victims of the country's worst oil spill, which fouled miles of coast land in 2007, decimating local fishing and tourism industries, according to a report by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Although a record for environmental accidents in South Korea, the payout is far less than the KRW4.2 trillion originally sought by some 120,000 affected residents and businesses and is expected to be challenged within the next two weeks.
Massive quantities of African ivory are being laundered through shops in Thailand and fueling the elephant poaching crisis, conservation group WWF says. The organization today is launching a global petition asking Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to ban all ivory trade in Thailand in order to curb the illegal killing of African elephants.
Ho Chi Minh City authorities are being pressured to prosecute 25 businesses for violating Vietnam's environmental protection laws. Fines of over USD206,000 have been recommended by inspectors from the Vietnam Environmental Administration under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.
Assets held by Swiss banks on behalf of the Malaysian Taib family could be frozen after 20 Swiss MPs filed a motion in the country’s parliament.
Geneva MP and lawyer Carlo Sommaruga, who is spearheading the move, has also lodged a criminal complaint, asking the Attorney General of Switzerland, Michael Lauber, to declare the Malaysian Taib family a criminal organization.
The private equity arm of investment giant Fidelity International has invested USD54 million in biotechnology company, Richcore Lifesciences. The eight-year old Indian company specializes in biofuel and agricultural industries, among other products and is based in Bangalore.
A major international study scheduled for release at the 1st GLOBE Climate Legislation Summit to be held in London over the next two days will show that 32 of 33 major economies, led by China and Mexico, have progressed or are progressing significant climate and/or energy-related legislation.
The report, produced by the Global Legislators Union (GLOBE) in partnership with the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics and supported by the Climate & Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), shows that 18 countries made “significant” progress in 2012.
Indonesia’s Minister of Agriculture Suswono has praised sustainable palm oil practice in Dosan village, and says this initiative is a perfect example of the way large palm oil producers can remain profitable without further destroying the forests.
A two-day ministerial-level meeting of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) in the Laotian city of Luang Prabang next week is set to put trans-boundary co-operation to the test and with critical decisions to be made on the fate of the Mekong River, vital to the livelihoods of 60 million people.
Ahead of the MRC, which takes place on the January 16-17, the WWF is warning that representatives from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam must put derailed decision-making on Mekong River mainstream dams back on track or risk sabotaging management of one of the world’s great rivers.
This report by the World Bank spells out what the world would be like if it warmed by 4 degrees Celsius, which is what scientists are nearly unanimously predicting by the end of the century, without serious policy changes.
Companies in Asia reveal expectations that regulations that could lead to rising costs for reporting and reducing GHG emissions will also be the main sources of climate-related business opportunities.
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