Eco-Business

Aerial photo taken on 11 December 2024 showing young oil palms growing in a previously burned area in the concession of PT Samora Usaha Jaya, a company owned by Tunas Baru Lampung (TBLA). TBLA was financed by Danamon, a subsidiary of Japanese banking giant MUFG. Image: Rainforest Action Network

Funding for palm oil plantation expansion provided by MUFG's Indonesian subsidiary led to haze pollution from converted peatlands in South Sumatra, in breach of the bank's sustainability policy, analysis by Rainforest Action Network finds. In response, MUFG only said it conducts "rigorous" assessments of its palm oil clients.

Bhavreen Kandhari is the co-founder of a network of Indian mothers demanding clean air for their children.

Pak Gadang walks down the log yard at OKI pulp mill

APP is Indonesia's first major resources firm to get its climate goals approved by the Science Based Targets initiative, although the targets do not yet include its biggest source of emissions. Rival RGE has also restated its climate commitments despite political signals of the country's retreat from the Paris Agreement.

Thermal power plants emit many times more PM2.5 and sulphur dioxide than stubble burning says a recent analysis.

By Pallavi Ghosh

By Alefia T Hussain

By Robin Hicks

SciDev Net

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As climate change makes smog and bushfires more common, people will die from air pollution at increasingly high rates – especially in densely populated cities. By Yuming Guo and Wenhua Yu

Air pollution is a 'silent killer', say former New Zealand PM and former WHO chief scientist. By Helen Clark and Soumya Swaminathan

Both countries must address a lack of awareness among farmers, limited access to machinery and sticking to traditional practices. International funding can better equip these efforts. By Abdul Waheed Bhutto

Smoke from forest fires pollutes populated areas without regard for international boundaries

Governments, civil society and the international community need to work fast as the dry season approaches and smoke haze returns in Southeast Asia. By Helena Varkkey

By Euston Quah

By Rhett A. Butler

By Kamal Prakash Seth

By Gulzhan Musaeva

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Indonesia has made significant progress in fighting the fires caused by slash-and-burn forestry that choke Southeast Asia annually with toxic air pollution. Eco-Business spoke to the chair of Indonesia's Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) about what it will take to put the fires out permanently.

In a bid to prevent another haze crisis, Indonesian agribusiness firms have developed innovative ways to work with communities to stop burning land. Here's how the fire free village programme is tackling the issue, one village at a time.

Scientists from Center for International Forestry Research explain the causes and effects of burning peatlands as they visit Central Kalimantan in Indonesia.

From Greenpeace's drones to NASA's satellites, eyes in the sky are revealing the extent of forest fires in Southeast Asia. The bad news: southern New Guinea is now also a hotspot.

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Indonesian environmental campaigners took a novel approach to raising climate awareness by publishing five children's books about the country's environmental issues. This podcast explores their creative process and the public's response.

Asia lags the world in natural catastrophe protection. Part of the problem could be counting extreme weather losses only after they happen, industry insiders tell the Eco-Business podcast.

EB Studio Transboundary haze pollution is back with a vengeance in Southeast Asia. The Eco-Business Podcast talks to RSPO CEO Joseph D'Cruz about what the palm oil sector can do to put out the peatland fires that have burned annually for four decades.

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