Public Policy

As of next year it will become mandatory for big building owners in Jakarta to comply with environmental guidelines as laid out in the governor’s 2012 regulation on green buildings, according to the Jakarta Post.

Korea, the world’s fifth-largest oil importer, is fast shifting its growth paradigm to an environmentally-friendly, energy efficient one to achieve both sustainable economic growth and protect the earth, according to the Korea Herald. President Lee Myung-bak unveiled his plans for the country to play a leading role in drawing up a plan for sustainable growth at last week’s opening ceremony of the Global Green Growth Summit 2012, which was attended by national leaders, heads of international organizations, noted scholars and businesspeople,

The Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) has begun to solicit public views on a draft amendment to the current regulation of green food labels issued in 1993, according to the ministry yesterday.

Spaghetti Junction is the best description of Hong Kong government policymaking and Chief Executive Donald Tsang's latest (and last) Policy Address is a classic example. At the start of his speech, the Chief Executive quoted his 2007 election manifesto: "I envisioned generating economic development through infrastructure development. At the same time, we must balance development needs with environmental protection and conservation to create a better living environment".

Johan Rockström is leading a new approach to sustainability: planetary boundaries. Working with a multidisciplinary team of scientists, Prof. Rockström and the Stockholm Resilience Centre identified nine key Earth processes or systems -- and marked the upper limit beyond which each system could touch off a major system crash. As he explained to CleanBiz Asia executive editor Fergus O'Rorke, this work redefines sustainability and has profound implications for economics, public policy and corporate development.