ASEAN Member Countries, Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea and New Zealand signed the Singapore Declaration on Climate Change, Energy and the Environment yesterday at the Third East Asia Summit (EAS) in Singapore. The Declaration reaffirms the need for countries in East Asia to tackle the “interrelated challenges of climate change, energy security and other environmental and health issues”. Some key issues that the countries commit to:

Stress that all countries should play a role in addressing the common challenge of climate change, based on the principles of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities; and that developed countries should continue to play a leading role in this regard;

Participate actively in the process of developing an effective, comprehensive, and equitable post-2012 international climate change arrangement under the UNFCCC process; and in this context, reiterate our support for the successful outcome of the 13th session of the COP to the UNFCCC and the 3rd MOP to the Kyoto Protocol to be held in Bali, Indonesia in December 2007;

Working towards achieving a significant reduction in energy intensity;

Cooperating for the development and use of civilian nuclear power, in a manner ensuring nuclear safety, security and non-proliferation, in particular its safeguards, within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), for those EAS participating countries which are interested.

Work to achieve an EAS-wide aspirational goal of increasing cumulative forest cover in the region by at least 15 million hectares of all types of forests by 2020;

Pooling our experiences, expertise and technology in areas such as urban planning including transportation, green building, water management, urban greenery and urban biodiversity conservation, sanitation and waste management, 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) and air, noise, water, and land pollution control;

Source: Singapore Declaration on Climate Change, Energy and the Environment. Image attribution: 13th ASEAN Summit.

Share This

(Just for fun, rest assure that the carbon credits from CDM projects are not earned in the above manner.)

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) was discussed in our previous article. We are encouraged by the interest and participation of China and India in the CDM projects. However, the other Asian countries are still not making full use of the CDM to get funding and technology to reduce their emissions. Some information that we obtained from the Carbon Forum Asia 2007 is shown below.

The UNFCCC CDM website reported that there are 844 registered projects and 53 requesting registration, and more than 2600 projects in the pipeline. Of the registered projects, 61% is implemented in Asia and the Pacific (34% is implemented in India, 16% in China, 2% each in Malaysia and Korea). The expected average annual CERs from the registered projects amount to about 174,268,851 and 45% is generated by China while India generates 16%. Together, India and China takes up 50% of the CDM registered projects and generates 61% of the annual CERs.

The UNEP Risoe Centre reported that for the other 2600 projects in the pipeline, 73% is in Asia and the Pacific. The number of CDM projects in Asia by country are as follows: China (44%); India (40%); Malaysia (4%); Indonesia (3%); Philippines (2%); South Korea (2%); Thailand (2%); Vietnam (1%); Sri Lanka (1%) and Others (1%). The expected volume of CERs until 2012 in Asia is generated mostly from China (66%) and India (19%).

The above figures show that China and India host most of the CDM projects in Asia and the world, and most of the CERs is expected to be from China. The other countries in Asia are still lacking behind in the CDM market and some speakers attribute it to the lack of knowledge and awareness of CDM among the governments and private companies, and also the lack of financial support. Those countries can learn from China, especially on China’s role in CDM and carbon trading, and on how China use the profits generated for tackling climate change.

Source: UNFCCC CDM website; UNEP Risoe Centre; China.org.cn; Xinhua News Agency. Image attribution: WillyFeng.

Share This

The International Energy Agency has released the latest edition of the World Energy Outlook (WEO) with a focus on China and India. The report concluded that if governments continue with business-as-usual policies (in the WEO Reference Scenario), global energy needs would increase by more than 50% in 2030 than today. And both China and India would account for 45% of that increase. Coal use would grow the fastest due to the demand from the power sectors in China and India. Global carbon dioxide emissions would increase by 57% from 27 Gt in 2005 to 42 Gt in 2030. China is also expected to become the world’s biggest emitter in 2007 and India the third-biggest emitter by around 2015.

Learn more about the WEO report from the press release and the Executive Summary.

Source: International Energy Agency. Image attribution: International Energy Agency.

Share This

The Blacksmith Institute recently announced their annual review of the most polluted places in the world, all with severe human health risks . Download their report to read more details on each site. Almost half of the sites are located in Asia. In the Top Ten list, 4 locations are in Asia: Read the rest

Share This

The Chipko movement is a non-violent movement started by Indian villagers in the 1970s and 1980s, to protest against the destruction of trees and forests, which were important resources that they depend on. The movement started in the Chamoli district in 1973 and spread throughout India. Chipko activists would protest against the cutting down of trees by hugging them and preventing the workers from doing their job. This action represents the name of the movement as Chipko means “embrace”. They are probably Asia’s first treehuggers. Read the rest

Share This