Last week’s closing of the UN 2023 Water Conference – the first in nearly half a century – and the publication of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's synthesis report – dubbed a survival guide for humanity – drew eerily similar conclusions: We have a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future.
How Asia is responding to this narrowing opportunity is concerning. Investors remain wary of cutting fossil fuels from their portfolios, with some 51 per cent of Asia Pacific fund managers still averse to backing environmental, social and governance (ESG) ventures in their home countries.
Meanwhile, executives in the region are fudging their ESG credentials to land jobs in sustainability – a new form of greenwashing known as competence or skills greenwashing. Oddly, only one out of 10 workers in Singapore see the importance of “green skills” in gaining employment.
In the Philippines, a major oil conglomerate continues to sidestep accountability for one of the biggest oil spills and climate disasters in recent history. A new study suggests that if companies like the one whose cargo devastated the shores of Oriental Mindoro had more women in their boardroom, they would take more responsibility for their actions.
Former Monetary Authority of Singapore sustainability chief Darian McBain and recruiter Paddy Balfour tell the Eco-Business podcast why people are exaggerating their ESG expertise and why that's a problem in Asia Pacific.
Despite being less affected than North American investors by the politicisation of ESG, more than half of Asia Pacific investors expect more political pressure against ESG investing in home markets down the road, a Robeco survey found.
Compared to their counterparts across the region, a significantly lower percentage of employees in Singapore view green skills as being valued by employers.
Demilitarisation and sustainable development should be top priorities for Asean-Japan cooperation amid a fragmented geopolitical shifting world order, writes Eco-Business founder Jessica Cheam.
A 29-country study finds that firms with more gender-equal boards are less likely to exaggerate their sustainability credentials. It also found that firms in more religious countries were more likely to greenwash.
Climate group Singapore Youth for Climate Action had asked the government to clarify why it had said the city-state could be a “potential claimant” to a new climate fund being negotiated globally.
As the International Maritime Organisation’s intersessional working group to revise its shipping emissions target draws to a close, the Philippines has yet to come forward with its position, despite its ongoing ecological crisis.
Recycling systems can't keep up with plastic pollution, and solutions are hard to scale. Enter Clearbot: Its trash-collecting boats are bringing about a sea change in clean-ups, and using AI-collated data to bring about policy change.
Event organisers face growing pressure to curb their environmental footprint. But confusion over how to measure the climate cost of an event and who's responsible for reducing emissions is making it hard to keep a growing problem in check.
