China is suffering from an increasing number of environmental accidents, mainly triggered by the rapid growth of the chemical industry in the wake of urbanization, a senior environmental official said.
Asia has led the world since the global financial crisis hit much of the developed world and looks set to see further robust growth in 2012. Standard & Poor's has, however, warned that the region cannot be entirely immune from economic risks elsewhere, particularly in Europe and the USA, and that may have impacts including interest rate cuts and an increase in stimulus spending[1].
The pace of development across the region over recent decades has meant unprecedented advances in technology, prosperity and consumption, with Asian economies now well-placed to consolidate growth in the second half of the year, according to Reuters.
China has lost its appeal to the World Trade Organisation regarding its constraint on the export of certain raw material, leading the EU to urge it to drop export bans on rare earths.
The WTO upheld its ruling that the complaint lodged by the EU, the US and Mexico that China's export ban on nine raw materials broke global rules. It had been alleged that the policies drove up prices internationally and gave China's domestic manufacturers an advantage.
Good news of a sort for cotton, sheep and silk farmers. A study published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology has warned that microscopic plastic debris from washing clothes made of synthetic fabrics is accumulating in the marine environment and could be entering the food chain.Researchers found that every time a garment made of synthetic material is put through a machine wash, up to 1,900 tiny fibers are released in the wastewater which eventually ends up, via the sewerage system, in rivers and the sea.
Toyota has developed a way to make hybrid and electric vehicles without the use of rare earth metals, which China has a near-monopoly, according to Kyodo News. The world’s top producer of hybrid cars, such as the Prius, could bring the technology to market in two years if rare earth prices do not come down.
Rare earth metals like neodymium and dysprosium are used in the powerful magnets in motors that power hybrid and electric cars, and demand is expected to surge as more of the environmentally friendly cars hit the market.
Bangladesh's environment directorate has suspended tree felling in the Korean Export Processing Zone (EPZ) near the southern port city of Chittagong.
While the country is suffering serious national deforestation, the move is nonetheless unusual. A demand by the environment department for the inspection of papers authorising tree cutting in the Korean EPZ is likely to upset the controlling company, the YoungOne Group.
Over 2,500 acres are being prepared as industrial plots in the EPZ area.
Apple has published its 2012 Supplier Responsibility Progress Report which, for the first time, contains a list of 156 suppliers that represent 97 percent of its procurement expenditures for materials, manufacturing, and assembly in 2011. The company has also announced that it will allow an independent third party – a non-profit called the Fair Labor Association (FLA) – to check on working conditions at those factories, and to make its findings public.
The FLA already checks on suppliers for other American companies, including Nike, New Balance, and Adidas but Apple is the first technology company on its roster.
Nike has agreed to pay USD1 million to about 4,500 workers at a PT Nikomas plant in Indonesia as compensation in a dispute over unpaid overtime. The workers' union claimed that 593,468 hours of overtime went unpaid over the last two years.
Korean steel maker, POSCO, is boasting that it is producing a more 'environmentally-friendly' steel. It has started making a bismuth-based free cutting steel, which is environmentally less harmful than a lead-based product used in televisions and cars. The product will replace 35,000 tons of the special-purpose steel imported each year and LG Electronics is using the POSCO product for its televisions.
A new report argues that Bangladesh can save up to USD150 million and 125 billion litres of water per year by cleaning up its textile wet processing units.
South Asia Enterprise Development Facility, a business initiative managed by the International Finance Corporation, conducted the study at 12 factories since last year and concluded that efficiency improvements across the board at Bangladesh's 1,700 other textile factories could make huge economic and ecological improvements.
The Chinese government has announced another crack-down on illegal mining in the rare earth sector with the introduction of a new value-added tax invoice, according to a government official who also said the country's exports of rare earths were down 65 percent for the first nine months of the year.
Taiwan's National Tsing Hua University unveiled a new compound semiconductor laboratory Monday that aims to develop new chip components that will support alternative green energy sources.
Greening China's heavily polluting and energy-consuming industries will cause short-term losses but bring huge economic and social benefits in the long run, says a leading environmental think tank in a Xinhua report.
The China Council of International Cooperation on Environment and Development suggested that between now and 2015 the country should spend an estimated 5.77 trillion yuan (USD909 billion) to improve energy efficiency and protect the environment.
Apple has for the first time held talks with environmental campaigners who accuse the company's Chinese manufacturers of widespread pollution, participants told reporters Wednesday.The maker of the iPad and iPhone agreed to meet five Chinese environmental groups after they issued a report in August that alleged rampant pollution at dozens of factories believed to be producing products for Apple, according to a report in the Global Times.
The United States has urged India to open its market for clean technologies, especially in the area of solar energy, saying openness and competition would benefit both countries, according to the Indo Asian News Service.
Following poor sales of electric vehicles across China in spite of programmes to encourage their use, Beijing says it will create the best environment for the development of new energy vehicles in China.
Beijing plans to build the best environment for the development of new energy vehicles in China, according to a statement released Thursday on the website of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology, reports Xinhua.
The Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) has launched a new program of working with electronics factories in China to support the development of innovative workforce management practices and to implement sustainability and better business performance.
The launch event in Shenzhen was attended by nearly 200 representatives from major US and European brands, supplier factories based in China, civil society organizations, non-governmental organizations and representatives from the Guangdong Province Government.
Chinese environmental protection organizations may head to the United States in November to meet with Apple Inc management after they released a report showing Apple's pollution discharge in China has been "expanding and spreading throughout its supply chain," according to sources in China.
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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