Disinformation about solar and wind energy, fueled by Trump, has stalled projects in the West. In Asia, the world's most fossil fuels-dependent region, renewables misinformation has helped to a slow the energy transition.
Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto’s pledge to retire the country’s fossil fuel plants last year was “misquoted by the media”, claims the leader’s brother Hashim Djojohadikusumo, arguing that such a move would be “economic suicide”.
The findings barely scratch the surface of the greenwashing problem in the region, said RimbaWatch, the Malaysian NGO behind the database. Southeast Asia needs provisions for penalties and better policing of green claims, it said.
Trump 2.0 promises to add to the uncertainties that chief sustainability officers have had to tackle over the last year. Sustainability became harder to sell in the boardroom, and in Asia, the talent crunch is still a problem.
The financing gap is huge, but time is short. Given the inadequacy of a promised new climate finance goal, Southeast Asia should look beyond UN-led conferences to crowd in other sources of capital to tackle the climate crisis.
Oleh
Prapimphan Chiengkul
Asean needs to develop a collective response to the geopolitics of renewable energy in order to address resource nationalism and the adverse impacts of growing US-China rivalry on Southeast Asia's energy transition.
Oleh
Mirza Sadaqat Huda
To achieve net zero emissions in Southeast Asia, addressing the significant financing gap is crucial, requiring bold targets and more international support.
Oleh
Trang Nguyen
Allowing private firms to sell clean power directly to consumers via PLN's networks could help the country meet its targets without burdening the national budget and to let the state-owned electricity utility focus on grid modernisation.
Oleh
Mutya Yustika
There is consensus that coal needs to be retired early in Asia, but the mechanisms for financing the phase-out are not clear. This mini-documentary examines how transition credits work and whether they can fund Southeast Asia's equitable switch to clean power.
Gaurav Sant, founder of startup SeaChange, tells Eco-Business about a technology he hopes will give the world's oceans the capacity to absorb additional carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
After 20 years without electricity, more than 50 households in Cebu's poorest district have been provided with solar energy, financed by carbon offsets.
Improving energy efficiency could meet a quarter of Southeast Asia’s emissions reduction targets. Here is how efficiency could drive Southeast Asia's energy transition.
Studio EB
CapitaLand sustainability chiefs Vinamra Srivastava and Giovanni Cossu tell the Eco-Business Podcast that there is a viable path to net zero for the world's fastest growing cities.
Entrepreneur Steve Melhuish tells the EB Podcast where the biggest opportunities to reduce emissions and make money are in Southeast Asia, and why finding the right economic incentives is critical for climate tech startups.
The new head of Japan and Southeast Asia for ClientEarth tells the Eco-Business Podcast how the law can be used to hold polluters to account in the world's biggest emitting region. She also says it's time the legal profession faced scrutiny for greenwashing.
Former petrochemicals industry executives Steve Willis and Genevieve Hilton have written a novel set 50 years into the future that has a happy ending. They tell the Eco-Business podcast that the book is a pitch to carbon-intensive industries to try workable climate solutions.