Shanghai plans to promote wildlife protection, a green economy ethos and youth engagement with environmental conservation following the signing of landmark agreement with the UN Environment Program (UNEP).
In a country well used to the everyday reality of water pollution, revelations that industrial companies have been illegally pumping hazardous waste underground for years has shocked many in China.
Underground water pollution is a serious matter in China because groundwater-based sources account for a third of the country’s total water resources. Experts say that 90 percent of the nation's groundwater contains varying degrees of pollution, with a massive 60 percent being heavily polluted.
President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech had few surprises except in his use of China as way to motivate rivals to stand behind his green policies. Obama put most of the onus on new climate policies on a less-than-enthusiastic Congress, but dropped a strong hint that if they don't do something, he would use his executive muscle to address climate change “for the sake of our children and our future.”
It appears that there may be light at the end of the tunnel in the ongoing dispute between China and the EU over aviation emissions by skirting the latter’s provocative Emissions Trading System (ETS).
A partnership between the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ - German Agency for International Co-operation), BASF and Cargill plans to improve the livelihoods of 2,500 coconut growers in the Philippines. The partnership is co-financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development through its program develoPPP.de.
The program focuses on smallholder coconut growers in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, aiming to raise farmers’ incomes by improving productivity and coconut oil quality.
Scientists from Norway and Nepal say they are ready to launch a plan to manipulate the breeding cycle of carp stocks and get the fish species to spawn more than once a year to improve food security in the Himalayan country.
The plan for a low-cost system for off-season fry production was announced last month at the first annual review of the USD3.3 million, four-year, Fish Farming Development (FFD) project that was launched in April 2012.
In a groundbreaking study issued by the World Future Council the future usage loss resulting from current oil, gas and coal consumption has been put at between USD3.2 and 3.4 trillion per year.
Opponents of renewable energy claim conventional energy sources are cheaper on the whole, but the new World Future Council report asks what costs are incurred when renewable energies are not used.
The Philippines’ Court of Appeals has dismissed a “Writ of Kalikasan” case against the construction of a USD1.28-billion, 600-MW coal-fired power plant by Redondo Peninsula Energy (RP Energy) at the Subic Bay Freeport. The court’s decision allows PR Energy to push through with the project with the aim of providing baseload power to the Luzon grid by 2016.
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), collaborating with a team at Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, have filed for patents on a new water purification system that turns the produced water from natural gas wells into drinking water.
The Chinese Government is aiming to develop the country's marine resources in a more sustainable manner in a bid to stimulate the economies in coastal areas and better protect maritime interests.
The Asia Pulp & Paper Group (APP) – one of the world's largest paper companies – has pledged to stop its suppliers cutting down natural forests in Indonesia. It hopes this will help preserve the threatened habitats of endangered species, increase respect for the rights of the region’s indigenous peoples and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from carbon-rich peatland.
APP worked with environmental NGOs Greenpeace and the The Forest Trust (TFT) on the plan, which came into effect at the beginning of February.
The Chinese government reassured India this week that dams it is planning to build on the Brahmaputra River would not impact flood control efforts or the ecological environment in downstream regions.
Delegates at the recent Delhi Sustainable Development Summit were told repeatedly that wiser management of resources in this time of uncertain climate and weather patterns could be key to some countries’ very survival.
There's been a debate rumbling on in the US environmental press as to how 'green' President Obama will be during his second term. There are some indications that he might be trying to outflank political opponents in subtle renewable policies, after having been dealt several body blows in previous policy fights.
Apart from having the apparently minor side-effect of trying to preserve the global ecosystem, any major policy edicts from the White House can have major economic benefits for international companies, and those in China in particular.
Taiwan's Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) has approved an environmental assessment of the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP) in Changhua, although water issues continue to be the main issue. The EPA has agreed that all CTSP-discharged waste water will be closely monitored for contaminants.
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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