International: Asia
Japan has a renewable energy puzzle
20 Apr 2018
As Japan rushes to cut carbon emissions by 26 per cent, campaigners worry that forests and wildlife are being trampled.
'The Beach' off limits as Thais count cost of climate change
5 Apr 2018
Maya Bay, made famous in the film “The Beach”, will be off limits to tourists for part of the year as Thailand seeks to protect eco-systems crumbling from warming seas and unchecked sprawl.
Tokyo admits rainforest timber used for stadium
1 Mar 2018
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics organising committee has confirmed that 87 per cent of the plywood panels used to build its new national stadium come from southeast Asian rainforests.
Singapore will charge carbon tax from next year
21 Feb 2018
Singapore will charge carbon polluters a new carbon tax from 2019.
Korea real cool, but the games are getting warmer
13 Feb 2018
PyeongChang turned on typical freezing South Korea weather for the first few days of the Winter Olympics … but overall the event is getting warmer.
Indonesia has bold plan to rewet the swamps
2 Feb 2018
A controversial Indonesian project to restore 2.5 million hectares of tropical peatland hinges on sustainable farming.
Local people tackle tide of beach plastic
30 Jan 2018
Local volunteers have collected more than 12,000 tonnes of plastic from a beach in Mumbai.
Climate change drives farmers from Mekong delta
24 Jan 2018
Saltwater intrusion and drought are destroying crops in one of the most fertile places on earth, prompting an exodus of farmers.
Thailand gets $1.1 billion for wind power project
15 Dec 2017
Southeast Asia’s leading solar energy nation -Thailand - could be the frontrunner in wind energy after renewables developer WEH secured funding for the region’s biggest wind power project.
Hyundai building battery bigger than Tesla's
8 Dec 2017
Tesla’s South Australia battery system won’t hold the title of world’s largest for long - Hyundai is building one 50 per cent bigger.
India to add 10,000 e-vehicles to official fleet
24 Nov 2017
India has called tenders for 10,000 electric vehicles as replacements for its official fleet.
Indonesia to roll out 1000 eco-mosques
21 Nov 2017
Worshippers in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, are set to go green with a new initiative that aims to establish 1000 eco-mosques by 2020.
CHOPPER STOPPER: Too much smog for the smog-fighters
16 Nov 2017
An ambitious plan to use helicopters to fight Delhi’s air pollution has been grounded because the aircraft cannot operate in the thick smog.
LEAPING LIZARDS: Giants thrive in wasted oil palm plantations
26 Oct 2017
Of Borneo’s large native scavengers, a giant lizard is the only species that has successfully adapted to the land devastated by oil palm plantations.
How Thailand built a top sustainable stock exchange
20 Oct 2017
Sustainability reporting is not mandatory in Thailand - and yet Thai firms outnumber their Asean peers in the latest Dow Jones Sustainability Indices.
Asean banks need to raise sustainable finance bar
13 Oct 2017
Southeast Asia’s banks have only just started to think about their impact on society and the environment.
India bans Diwali fireworks to tackle Delhi's air pollution
11 Oct 2017
India’s supreme court has banned the sale of fireworks in Delhi during the upcoming Diwali festival, hoping to prevent the usual spike in toxic air pollution levels that accompany the holiday.
Sunny Southeast Asia just doesn't get solar
4 Oct 2017
Southeast Asia has double the solar energy potential of Northern Europe, but the market hype is not living up to the reality on the ground.
Delhi chokes on US exports of tar sands waste
29 Sep 2017
India has emerged as the world’s largest importer of petroleum coke, an oil byproduct that is now a major cause of pollution in the capital.
Palm oil giant makes debut in sustainability index
26 Sep 2017
Singapore palm oil company Golden Agri-Resources has been featured in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices for the first time.
India is about to embark on stupendous e-car changes
21 Sep 2017
India, the world’s fifth-largest car market is readying for a stupendous transformation: moving completely toward electric vehicles by 2030.
Shrinking glaciers threaten water supply of millions
15 Sep 2017
Asia’s mountain glaciers will lose at least a third of their mass through global warming by the century’s end, with dire consequences for millions of people.
Indonesia chases firms to pay for forest damage
31 Aug 2017
The Indonesian government is struggling to collect fines from companies found guilty of damaging the environment, leaving trashed rainforests and peat swamps to stay barren.
Himalayas hold their ground as world weather gets warmer
31 Aug 2017
Asia’s glaciers are holding out against global warming and are melting more slowly than expected.
In these highlands climate change is a death sentence
30 Aug 2017
Climate change should be taken as seriously as fighting insurgents, say those witnessing the savage impact first-hand.
Climate change threatens Pacific Rim farm trade
29 Aug 2017
The United Nations agriculture agency is calling on Asia-Pacific economies to take a leading role in climate change adaptation and mitigation.
Coal to power India for decades, says government
29 Aug 2017
Coal will maintain its dominant share of India’s electricity production for decades to come, according to a major report from the government.
COLOURFUL CANINES: Waste gives Mumbai dogs the blues
24 Aug 2017
Authorities in Mumbai have shut down a manufacturing company after it was accused of dumping untreated industrial waste and dyes into a local river that resulted in dogs turning blue.
Drought legacy can be a lingering death
18 Aug 2017
A climate hazard that doesn’t disappear when the rainclouds gather, drought’s lingering death can delay recovery a very long time.
THE IMRAN EFFECT: Pakistanis plant billion trees for their hero
17 Aug 2017
Inspired by national cricket hero Imran Khan, a province in Pakistan has planted a billion trees in just two years.
China puts Tibet's fragile ecosystem in danger
9 Aug 2017
Rising temperatures on the roof of the world make Tibet both a driver and amplifier of global warming. China’s unchecked mining and dam building has to be reigned in.
HOT AS HELL: These heatwaves will kill even healthy people
4 Aug 2017
Extreme heatwaves that kill even healthy people within hours will strike parts of the Indian subcontinent unless global carbon emissions are cut sharply and soon.
Study links climate change and 60,000 farming suicides
3 Aug 2017
Climate change might have contributed to the suicides of nearly 60,000 Indian farmers and farm workers over the past three decades.
Solar not cheaper than coal, says former mining boss
27 Jul 2017
India’s future is still tied to coal and fixing woeful inefficient plants will create huge new generation at a price solar cannot match.
India diverts $25 billion away from clean energy
26 Jul 2017
The Indian government is diverting $25 billion earmarked for clean energy to an unrelated policy, a national news site has revealed.
Asian temperature rise could be disastrous
24 Jul 2017
Profligate fossil fuel use could cause Asian temperatures to rise by 6deg , bringing floods and food shortages for hundreds of millions.
Hanoi choking on fumes of five million motorbikes
24 Jul 2017
The roads of Vietnam’s capital have been taken over by the two-wheeled horde, but bringing in a ban by 2030 will be a tough ask.
Asia coal boom bankrolled by foreign money
21 Jul 2017
The much-discussed boom in coal-fired power in south-east Asia is being bankrolled by foreign governments and banks, with the vast majority of projects apparently too risky for the private sector.
Japan to export renewable energy expertise
17 Jul 2017
Japan plans to export its expertise in renewable energy technologies such as low-emitting geothermal, solar and hydrogen power.
Indian utility bets $10 billion on coal power
6 Jul 2017
India's state-run power utility plans to invest $10 billion in new coal-fired power stations over the next five years.
India gets busy and plants 66 million trees in 12 hours
5 Jul 2017
In India, about 1.5 million volunteers have planted more than 66 million trees in just 12 hours as part of a record-breaking environmental campaign.
MODI AND ADANI: Old friends who are laying waste to India
29 Jun 2017
India’s environment has been subjugated to the whims of the prime minister’s industrial cronies. How can the world believe him on climate change?
South Korea to scrap coal and nuclear power
22 Jun 2017
The new President of South Korea, Moon Jae-in has committed his country to phasing out all coal and nuclear power stations suggesting a major change in energy policy for the Asian state.
India and Pakistan scrap over the mighty Indus
15 Jun 2017
Fast-growing populations and increasing demand for hydropower and irrigation are putting one of Asia's great rivers under intense pressure.
Singapore opens sustainability academy
15 Jun 2017
The Singapore Sustainability Academy has been built to highest energy efficiency and green building standards and will serve as the city-state’s sustainability learning and collaboration hub.
Australian Government wants EV, PHEV owners to start sending power to the grid
Mon 15 Dec 2025
The newly announced Vehicle-Grid Network is part of a plan to establish Australia as a leader in vehicle-to-grid technology.
Environmental groups demand a nationwide freeze on data center construction
Wed 10 Dec 2025
In a letter to Congress, the groups said data center development raises concerns about rising energy costs, water use and climate impacts. Many communities are fighting back.
10 years after Paris, China is shaping our climate future
Mon 15 Dec 2025
The seminal global climate agreement changed the world, just not in the way we thought it would.
EU closes deal to slash green rules in major win for von der Leyen’s deregulation drive
Wed 10 Dec 2025
Controversial “omnibus” bill saw center-right EU lawmakers side with the far right to water down environmental standards.
Net-zero scenario is ‘cheapest option’ for UK, says energy system operator
Mon 15 Dec 2025
A scenario that meets the “net-zero by 2050” goal would be the “cheapest” option for the UK, according to modelling by the National Energy System Operator (NESO).
Top climate adviser resigns, says Canada doing worse 'than almost any other country'
Thu 11 Dec 2025
Catherine Abreu explains why she was one of two founding members to resign from Canada's Net-Zero Advisory Body last week, saying she 'could no longer, in conscience, sit on this government-appointed body' after policy rollbacks and oil subsidies in the Alberta energy MOU.
Storms in the Southern Ocean are producing more rain – and the consequences could be global
8 Dec 2025
Storms in the Southern Ocean influence weather patterns across Australia, New Zealand and the globe.
Changes to polar bear DNA could help them adapt to global heating, study finds
Mon 15 Dec 2025
Scientists say bears in southern Greenland differ genetically to those in the north, suggesting they could adjust.
Are rainforests now a cause of, rather than the answer to, climate change?
Mon 15 Dec 2025
A new study finds that Africa’s forests, responsible for one-fifth of global carbon removal, are beginning to generate carbon as the result of human activity.
Thousands of climate disasters are not included in official reports from Amazonian countries
Fri 12 Dec 2025
More than 12,500 extreme weather events impacted the Amazon and its population in 10 years, but countries have not generated enough information about it, according to a new scientific study.
UN environment report 'hijacked' by US and others over fossil fuels, top scientist says
Thu 11 Dec 2025
A key UN report on the state of the global environment has been "hijacked" by the United States and other countries who were unwilling to go along with the scientific findings, the co-chair has told the BBC.
