Sustainability
The cost-benefit of turning “dirty” shipping clean
What do you value more – stopping climate chaos or keeping global shipping cheap? That was the dilemma many developing countries faced at the wood-panelled London headquarters of…
Charting new paths for Antarctic protection despite China’s resistance
Calls to renegotiate the agreements that govern the Antarctic, out of frustration at China’s and Russia’s opposition to establishing new areas for protection, would only put at…
Economic diplomacy: Power shifts with Jakarta
Trading places
It’s now half a century since Australia and Indonesia signed a bilateral investment agreement leading to serial government initiatives mostly on the Australian…
From hydrocarbons to hydrogen? Gulf states seek the good oil in green transition
Hydrogen has been hailed as an energy of the future and the technical fix in the green transition. But as hydrogen’s technological and cost barriers continue to fall, there remain…
Jokowi’s visit to Australia is about much more than electric vehicles
Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo carries a personal ambition in his visit to Australia this week, to secure Australia’s support for Indonesia’s nascent electric vehicle ambitions…
Speeding up Indonesia’s EV ambition
With electric vehicles increasingly driving the roads, battery manufacturing has become a global industry. Many countries are involved. Australia, Canada, Chile, China and Congo…
Home grown: Building a stronger food system in Laos
One of the smallest and most sparsely populated nations in Southeast Asia, the Lao Peoples’ Democratic Republic (Lao PDR, or Laos), a mountainous, landlocked country wedged…
Hydro-hegemon? Complexities of shared rivers between China and India
Transboundary river governance has long been a headache for governments in Asia. One of the region’s most complex cases is the bilateral governance of the Yarlung Tsangpo…
The cost of crime and corruption on Pacific fisheries
The Pacific Ocean is the most abundant fishing region, however an uptick in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing around the islands means that might not always be…
South Korea can’t afford to be a Wally with water
South Korea, Asia’s extraordinary economic development success story, is facing water shortages. The situation is bad enough that the government recently warned the 1.4 million…