AMEM a chance to promote multilateral energy trading
The Energy Ministry is ready to push forward five plans to promote the sector regionally at the 37th Asean Ministers on Energy Meeting (AMEM), scheduled for Sept 2-6 in Bangkok. Poonpat Leesombatpiboon, the ministry’s director for international affairs, said the five action plans are expected to be developed at the meeting. The priority plan is […]
ASEAN needs proper climate change solutions: grouping’s secretary general
HANOI, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) — The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) needs to work closely together to work out proper solutions, the regional grouping’s Secretary General Lim Jock Hoi said here on Tuesday. He made the remarks in Hanoi when meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Vietnam News Agency reported. Noting that […]
An idea to electrify 1 million boats in Southeast Asia—inspired by Ikea

All around Southeast Asia, experiments in the electrification of transport are underway. Buses in Thailand, cars in Malaysia, scooters in Myanmar, bicycles in Singapore, and jeepneys in the Philippines. But, as sea levels rise around the climate-vulnerable sub-region, what about transport of the seafaring variety? Hans van Mameren, a septuagenarian Dutchman who runs Singapore-based renewable energy […]
Climate calamities will make Asia’s poorest people poorer—UN

On 8 November 2013, Typhoon Haiyan ripped through the middle of the Philippines, taking more than 6,300 civilian lives and displacing four million residents. With food prices surging, livelihoods ruined, and homes lost, the storm—one of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded—pushed more than a million more Filipinos into poverty in an already poor country. CARBON […]
91% of banks in Southeast Asia still fund fossil fuel – WWF study
MANILA, Philippines — In the face of existential threats from climate change and environmental degradation, the majority of banks in Southeast Asia continue to finance new coal-fired power plants. This was the finding of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), which 2019 Sustainable Banking Assessment (SUSBA) showed 91 percent of the banks in the […]
Today’s waste is tomorrow’s energy

Global waste is expected to grow to 3.40 billion tonnes by 2050, more than double the population growth over the same period. According to a 2018 World Bank report, ‘What a Waste 2.0’ on solid waste management, the East Asia and Pacific region generates most of the world’s waste, at 23 percent. Landfills have been […]
South-east Asia must phase out coal plants, reduce reliance on fossil fuels to combat climate change: UN

SINGAPORE – As one of the regions with the highest number of coal plants in the pipeline, South-east Asia must work to quickly end its reliance on fossil fuels, with the goal of phasing out all coal plants from 2020, the United Nations (UN) urged on Friday (Aug 2). Speaking to journalists via a teleconference, […]
Asean urged to intensify cooperation in ensuring nuclear safety, security

BANGKOK — Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh urged Asean member states to bolster their partnership in regional nuclear safety and security during a meeting in Bangkok, Thailand. Minh was in the Thai capital to attend the Meeting of the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ) Commission, as part of the 52nd […]