Editor's Choice
Vietnam has signed off its much-anticipated solar support scheme, bringing developers bittersweet relief amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, solar's future in the country hinges on Vietnam's next move.
With restaurants and shopping malls shut down to observe social distancing measures, and export demand taking a plunge, Indonesian fishers are now seeing a dip in their incomes with many worried about losing their jobs.
In a deeply fragmented society like India, social distancing has reinforced existing class and caste hierarchies.
Cities
Covid-19 measures leave Southeast Asia's migrant workers exposed, lay bare their living conditions
Job loss, crowded quarters and reduced access to healthcare are among the issues foreign workers face. Advocacy groups say the pandemic can only be controlled with an inclusive approach that protects every individual’s rights to life and health.
Featured
Policy & Finance
Asia stands to lose 68 million jobs if coronavirus is not contained in six months—ADB
The Covid-19 pandemic will threaten the employment of 52 million workers in China, while the rest of the region must brace itself for about 16 million job cuts if the outbreak goes on until September, the Asian Development Bank warned.
As indigenous groups lock down in villages, trespassers are taking advantage of their absence to steal their land.
Rapid urbanisation threatens old buildings and traditional markets as cities rush to build office blocks and rail networks.
Air pollution from burning fossil fuels is adding to fertiliser run-off and sewage to kill marine life in global dead zones.
Extreme weather bring greater risk of conflict in underdeveloped countries with large populations and ethnic tensions.
In the midst of the coronavirus epidemic, Covid-19’s viral lessons offer a warning of what may lie ahead.
Carbon & Climate
How Asia’s megacities can benefit from mangroves and other natural climate solutions
The loss of mangroves and other coastal habitats has been linked to more frequent and severe flooding in adjacent villages and cities. What can urban dwellers, local governments and businesses do to support nature-based solutions?
As indigenous groups lock down in villages, trespassers are taking advantage of their absence to steal their land.
The United Nations’ recent decision to postpone this year’s annual international climate change meeting raises questions: With so much attention focused on...
Experts say the pandemic will unleash a food security crisis not seen since the Great Recession. As we learned during the 2008-09 Great Recession, governments...
Reliable, affordable electricity is needed to keep people connected at home and to run life-saving equipment in hospitals.
CSR
Who are the most influential corporate sustainability leaders in Asia Pacific? The Eco-Business A-List revealed...
After months of deliberation, Eco-Business has compiled a list of the most impactful sustainability executives in Asia Pacific—people who are changing their businesses and industries for the better. They are, the Eco-Business A-List…
Carbon & Climate
After a 40-year struggle, indigenous guardians of Indonesian forest gain rights over their land
The Dayak Iban community of Sungai Utik has long fought to protect the forest and their place in it. After nearly half a century, they are now owners of over 10,000 hectares of customary land.
[EB SPECIAL REPORT] What does it take to transform a business into a good corporate citizen? Eco-Business spoke to some of Asia’s most influential sustainability executives to find out.
The car industry is among the world’s most polluting. Amid growing public pressure to cut emissions and with new solutions disrupting their business model, how can automakers prepare for the dramatic changes ahead and help tackle global warming?
Industries are requiring ever more water in an increasingly water-stressed world. What can businesses do to reduce their risks and reliance on the resource?
In gridlocked, smoggy Southeast Asian cities, change is afoot to electrify transport and clear some of the world's most polluted skies. This video documents the pockets of hope for e-mobility around the most climate-vulnerable region.
Rice is the most polluting grain, but demand for the staple food is growing. A project called the Sustainable Rice Platform started in 2015 and has grown to 500,000 farmers across 21 countries today. It’s only just getting started.
Businesses hardly ever adopt renewable energy for altruistic reasons, but does that matter? In this interview with Eco-Business, Lionel Steinitz, CEO of LYS Energy, talks about why firms go green, and how Southeast Asia can unlock its solar potential.
Six in 10 Prudential Singapore staff are women. Outgoing CEO Wilf Blackburn explains how addressing gender bias, ageism and hierarchy is helping the firm to achieve its main sustainability ambition: help people live longer.
Food & Agriculture
Drought, deluge, disease: How should the natural rubber industry respond to climate change?
Rising temperatures, drought and heavy rain will affect rubber yields and disease outbreaks. Rubber growers can boost resilience by adopting better cultivation methods, but will need more support.
From banks to builders, more companies are going carbon neutral. Carbon offsetting is not without controversy, but in cases where sustainability can only be approached and not achieved, it may be the appropriate way to balance out emissions.
In a deeply fragmented society like India, social distancing has reinforced existing class and caste hierarchies.
Why did one of Singapore's most prominent architects move into sustainability, and what advice does he have for people starting out in the sector?
Food for healthier people and planet
A new recipe for instant noodles: One man’s quest to transform comfort food, and help the planet
He spent a big part of his career developing calorie-laden snacks. Now, entrepreneur Christoph Langwallner is reinventing instant noodles in his quest to promote sustainable agriculture and provide more nutritious comfort food.
An alliance between an environmental group and an agribusiness company aims to reduce encroachment by smallholder coffee farmers in the Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park, one of Sumatra’s last stands of lowland forest.
Food & Agriculture
After another haze outbreak chokes Southeast Asia, can palm oil smallholders shift to sustainable farming?
Smallholders have taken much of the blame for this year's haze-causing forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan. How can they be motivated to switch to more sustainable, fire-free production methods?
As global attention focuses on forests and the plight of orangutans, the untold part of the palm oil story is people. What is the industry doing to protect palm oil workers' rights and those of the people who defend their land as the industry expands?
RSPO's new standards ban deforestation and growing on peat. But what are the challenges of putting the new rules into practice, and how will they be effectively enforced? On this podcast, Eco-Business spoke to industry experts from RSPO, WWF and Wilmar International.
[The EB Podcast] In the fourth episode of the series Tomorrow’s cities: Engineering the energy transition, we explore the potential for low-carbon cooling as Southeast Asia gets richer and hotter.
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