Fergus O'Rorke

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Fergus O’Rorke co-founded CleanBiz.Asia in 2010 to bring a new level of focus and clarity to the reporting of sustainable business developments in Asia. As executive editor he is responsible for setting the editorial direction of the website and driving its technical development while also playing a very hands-on role in the production of content for the site.

Prior to starting up CleanBiz.Asia, Fergus spent 30 years working as a journalist, broadcaster and communications consultant. His interest in sustainable development issues stems from both his long involvement with the information technology industry, which has been a powerful tool in business transformation, and his belief that the role of business is absolutely key to sustainable economic development.

Having spent his career based in Hong Kong, Fergus is very well versed in the history and economic development of the Greater China region in particular, and of Asia in general, which is reflected in the editorial content of CleanBiz.Asia.

Stories from Fergus O'Rorke

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India closing thin-film loophole in solar local content rules

Published: May 08, 2013

India intends to level the playing field between solar photovoltaic (PV) power modules made from crystalline silicon and those using various thin-film technologies during the country’s next grid-connected solar PV power capacity auction due to start at the end of this month. During the first phase of the country’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) – under which solar PV and solar thermal were each allocated 500-MW of capacity – there was a mandate that 60 per cent of equipment by value was to be locally sourced for solar PV projects and 30 percent for solar thermal projects.

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A more joined-up approach to tackling HK’s air pollution

Published: April 02, 2013

In an effort to bring greater force to Hong Kong’s battle against air pollution representative of the multiple government policy bureaus have convened in public to present a more integrated approach. Although by no means as bad as conditions in cities elsewhere in China, Hong Kong has been struggling longer to bring its well-publicized air quality issues under control in the face of mounting public concern. Efforts by previous HK Government administrations to curb air pollution – which has been on the increase again since 2007 – have been criticized for being half-hearted and too narrow.

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China's revived Green GDP program still faces challenges

Published: March 28, 2013

The Environment and Planning Institute of China's Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) has announced the 2010 Green National Accounting results (also called Green GDP Accounting). These show that the country's ecological and environmental degradation costs reached CNY1.53895 trillion (USD248 billion), accounting for about 3.5 percent of the GDP for 2010. This compares to a cost to the economy of nearly CNY1.4 trillion (USD222 billion), equivalent to 3.8 percent of GDP, in 2009. An estimate of the environmental degradation cost for 2008 was CNY1.27 trillion (USD200 billion), equivalent to 3.9 percent of GDP, although the true figure could be even higher as the authors acknowledge their data is incomplete.

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Bye-bye Mr Wen, hello Mr Li – let’s hope you do better

Published: March 06, 2013

Out-going Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has told China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) – the country’s rubber-stamp legislature – that the government should adopt effective measures to prevent and control pollution in response to peoples’ expectations of having a good living environment. This obvious assertion came as Wen delivered his final work report to the NPC, which opened for its annual meeting this week. Next year China’s premier-in-waiting, Li Keqiang – who takes over as the head of China’s government at the close of this NPC session at the end of next week – will be delivering the work report.

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Underground waste discharge revelations shock China

Published: February 19, 2013

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.

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Hooked on the black stuff, part 2

Published: December 20, 2012

News from the International Energy Agency (IEA) that coal will catch up with oil as the world's leading energy source by 2022 should come as no great surprise to readers of CleanBiz.Asia. It is nonetheless alarming. The IEA’s Medium-Term Coal Market Report 2012 says that increased demand from India and China are fuelling the push. Although the growth rate of coal slows from the breakneck pace of the last decade, global coal consumption by 2017 will stand at 4.32 billion tonnes of oil equivalent, versus around 4.40 billion tonnes for oil, based on IEA medium-term projections

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Doha talks a serious business for China as others soft pedal

Published: November 26, 2012

For the past several days China’s official media has had a lot of focus – primarily for domestic consumption – on COP18, the 18th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which began in Doha, the capital of Qatar, today. The contrast with Western media could not be starker. Although not entirely scientific, a quick scan of the front pages on major news sites in the US and UK found not a single reference to the Doha talks.

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Doleful prospects for Doha

Published: November 23, 2012

Doha. Despite the evident energy, generosity and reasonable success of recent Qatari diplomatic efforts, their capital city remains synonymous with international diplomatic failure and national intransigence. Eleven years ago the World Trade Organization (WTO) launched a new round of multinational negotiations for which there has been no agreement to date. The latest news headline on the WTO web page about The Doha Round says it all: “Chair reports no ‘no’ but also no ‘yes’ for farm talks proposal”.

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Rewrite of Hong Kong’s air pollution law on the cards

Published: November 13, 2012

Hong Kong’s recently appointed Deputy Secretary for the Environment, Christine Loh, has revealed a goal of having the territory’s Air Pollution Control Ordinance completely rewritten, and possibly passed by the Legislative Council, by 2017. Speaking to members of the European Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong Loh said that, although government colleagues considered the prospect of rewriting the legislation to be “scary”, she believed it was necessary in order to maintain control of the city’s air quality in the long term.

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China solar industry finance crisis at tipping point

Published: September 25, 2012

The dire state of China’s solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing sector has been underlined by a threat from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to de-list the shares of Suntech Power Holdings, the world’s largest maker of PV modules. With bankruptcy looming for Suntech and others being pushed close to the wall, the Chinese solar industry is calling for increased state subsidies while the China Development Bank has promised fresh loans. These, however, are not likely to do more than stave off industry problems, according to a new report from Barclays.

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New queen of Hong Kong’s environmental policy

Published: September 13, 2012

In what must be considered his boldest appointments since he took office at the beginning of July, Hong Kong Chief Executive CY Leung has appointed Christine Loh as the Under-Secretary for the Environment in his new administration. Loh was formerly the chief executive of Civic Exchange, the Hong Kong-based think tank she co-founded in 2000, and a staunch but constructive critic of the Hong Kong Government’s environmental policies.

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PRD governments launch joint green development plan

Published: June 26, 2012

The governments of China’s Guangdong Province, and its Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions – collectively covering the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region – have jointly released a plan for long-term co-operation in the areas of environment and ecology, low-carbon development, culture and social living, spatial planning and green transportation systems. Among the raft of proposals in the Regional Co-operation Plan on Building a Quality Living Area, there is a series of recommendations aimed at strengthening regional co-operation on reducing air pollution in the PRD.

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Is the Rio+20 glass half-empty or half full?

Published: June 25, 2012

It took more than a year of preparatory negotiations and somewhere between 45,000 and 50,000 people converged Rio from all corners of the global to “chew the fat” for up to 10 days (since there are always pre-meeting meetings and parallel “summits”) but what, in the end, did the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development actually achieve? According to Sha Zukang, a Chinese diplomat who had the unenviable job of being Secretary-General of Rio+20, a "substantive" outcome document has been adopted.

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Why is Montgomery not hosting the Earth Summit?

Published: June 20, 2012

It is, of course, a rhetorical question. The plan to hold this year's United Nations Summit on Sustainable Development in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro has been underway for years. However, were the Earth Summit to be held in the capital city of the US state of Alabama from mid-September onwards, any delegates without diplomatic passports might be a little concerned by the implications of Alabama Senate Bill 477. It was signed into law by the state's governor last week and comes into effect three months later, having been unanimously whisked through both chambers of Alabama's legislature in the space of six weeks.

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Confidence and collaboration key to sustainable future

Published: June 14, 2012

In the run-up to the UN’s Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development next week two groups of researchers have come out with the perspective that, in their different ways, point to the lack of sufficient belief rather than a lack of means as the principle barrier to a more sustainable future. In its soon to be published book, Energy Technology Perspectives 2012 (ETP 2012), the International Energy Agency (IEA) points to a host of new technologies that are ready to transform the energy system, offering the potential to drastically reduce carbon emissions, enhance energy security and generate a huge investment return – if only the right policies are put in place.

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Hooked on the black stuff: can China kick its coal addiction?

Published: June 13, 2012

The latest round of figures on global greenhouse gas emissions makes depressing reading. Last month the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned that, after a 3.2 percent rise of carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO2e) emission to 31.6 gigatonnes (Gt) in 2011, the world is running out of time to prevent catastrophic climate change. "When I look at this data, the trend is perfectly in line with a temperature increase of 6 degrees Celsius (by 2050), which would have devastating consequences for the planet," Fatih Birol, IEA's chief economist told Reuters.

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Shanghai tries damage control by calling US PM2.5 data illegal

Published: June 04, 2012

Having clearly learned nothing from the public embarrassment of their colleagues in Beijing last year, Shanghai's Environmental Protection Bureau has branded publication of local air quality data by the US consulate in Shanghai  illegal. At a press conference on Friday bureau director Zhang Quan said the consulate cannot legally reveal data it collects in PM2.5 tests, which measure the concentration of particulate matter of 2.5 microns or less in diameter. "There are certain criteria that must be met if these data are to be published officially," Zhang said. "A city needs at least eight to ten monitoring stations in various spots, depending on its size, to measure PM2.5. An analysis of a city's air quality cannot be done using readings from a single machine."

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Painting over air quality problems

Published: May 30, 2012

It seems a contradiction that some of the world’s most buoyant property markets exist in places with poor air quality by global standards. Thanks to an innovation in the otherwise mundane area of paint, however, property companies in Asia are going to have an additional opportunity to do something about the air in and around some of their precincts. Paint that reduce air pollution may sound like a flight of fancy, but there’s a fair amount of evidence to shows that, under the right conditions, KNOxOUT air cleaning paint from Pacific Paint (Boysen) Philippines Inc does the job.

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Survey finds Asians have high expectations for societal action

Published: May 23, 2012

Consumers in four Asian countries have been identified as being amongst the world’s most involved in societal issues by a new survey carried out by global public relations firm Edelman. China, India, Indonesia and Malaysia are joined by Brazil and the United Arab Emirates in a group dubbed by Edelman as “Purpose Bull Markets” while Japan is among the “Purpose Bear Markets” of Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. Edelman says its Goodpurpose study is designed to explore consumer attitudes around social purpose, including their commitment to specific societal issues and their expectations of brands and corporations.

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Shanghainese confusion over US PM2.5 air quality presentation

Published: May 17, 2012

The move this week by the US Consulate in Shanghai to monitor and publish the level of fine particulate matter, less than two microns in diameter (PM2.5), in the air around its office has caused a certain amount of confusion and consternation among local residents and officials. The US diplomats are in part to blame for this because, although their measurements are no doubt sound, their data presentation in somewhat misleading. Following in the footsteps of the country’s embassy in Beijing, the Shanghai consulate now publishes the concentration of PM2.5 in micrograms per cubic meter of air (µg/m3) on an hourly basis and also publishes the average over the previous 24 hours at noon and midnight each day.

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