Eco-Business: News, Opinion, Jobs, Events, Press Releases and Research for topic Energy

• Indonesia should deny feeble coal mining sector coronavirus bailouts: Report
  With rising risks to pricing, sector profitability and coal asset values, Indonesian policymakers should let market forces run their course and allow weak coal miners to go bust, states a new report.
• World has already passed ‘peak oil’, BP figures reveal
  Global oil demand could soon fall rapidly in the face of stronger climate action by at least 10 per cent this decade and by as much as 50 per cent over the next 20 years, analysis of the latest energy outlook from oil major BP reveals.
• Asean's road to a green economic recovery
  Faced with a grim economic outlook, how can Asean member states include the clean energy transition in their Covid-19 recovery plan?
• Mixed messages on coal funding from AIIB as it launches new climate change investment framework
  The Chinese-backed bank would not finance coal-fired power plants, its president declared. But environmentalists noted that the bank’s policy still leaves the door open to coal-related projects.
• Policies for building back better are ‘a matter of political will’: UN chief economist
  Most resources are still flowing into unsustainable activities because of inertia, the way risk is assessed, and ‘debilitating’ uncertainty over what sustainable investment is, said UN assistant secretary-general Elliott Harris.
• Covid-19 will weaken energy demand for decades—but world still losing climate fight, warns report
  The coronavirus may dampen energy demand for decades, while the share of renewables grows and transport is increasingly electrified. Even so, the world is on track to heat up by 2.3 degrees Celsius by 2100, a new report predicts.
• Greenpeace East Asia head Jamie Choi joins energy transition non-profit Tara
  The Korean joins an organisation on a mission to accelerate the shift to clean energy in Asia.
• Costly, dirty, and excessive: Report rings alarm bells over Pakistan’s fossil fuel-heavy power plans
  If all plans for its electricity sector go ahead, the South Asian nation risks having a glut of coal and gas power capacity, with fleets running at a fraction of their capacity, warns a new study.
• Eat an orange and save an old lithium-ion battery
  You could reclaim a lithium-ion battery with help from orange peel and juice—or make fuel directly from sunlight and air.
• Upgrade Asia’s ageing hydropower fleet to secure reliable clean energy supply, experts urge
  As the need for steady clean electricity generation grows, refurbishing Asia’s decades-old hydropower plants could help them regain past strength, enhancing their contribution to the region’s energy transition, shows a new study.
• Are forests the new coal? Global alarm sounds with biomass burning
  As the forest biomass industry is booming, so is the frequent cutting of standing forests to supply wood pellets to be burned in converted coal power plants, say experts.
• Australian and Thai firms team up to launch renewable energy credit marketplace spanning Southeast Asia
  The new trading platform will allow clean power producers to sell renewable energy certificates across Southeast Asia. Commercial discussions with parties expressing interest in participating in the project are already underway.
• How the pandemic can revolutionise climate policy
  Policymakers should look beyond mainstream economics and engage with people who understand complex systems, in the same way that they listen to epidemiologists and doctors during a pandemic, argues Roland Kupers.
• Wind and solar are 30-50% cheaper than thought, admits UK government
  Electricity from onshore wind or solar could be supplied in 2025 at half the cost of gas-fired power, a new report suggests.
• Will Southeast Asia warm to climate-friendly cooling?
  [PODCAST] Air-conditioning is in hot demand in Southeast Asia, but the energy-guzzling technology exacerbates climate change. Eco-Business asked Professor James Trevelyan how the region can stay cool without cooking the planet.
• How can the Philippines make a green recovery in the Covid era?
  [PODCAST] Eco-Business speaks to top Filipino environmentalist Loren Legarda about how conservation should not take a backseat to economic development as the country faces its first recession since the 1980s.
• Corporations’ hunger for renewables to drive clean energy deployment in Taiwan
  Corporate appetite for green power in Taiwan is growing. But the government's increasingly ambitious renewable energy agenda notwithstanding, how difficult is it for companies to make the switch?
• Green finance: Will banks tell us how they spend our money?
  [PODCAST] Fossil fuels, tobacco, weapons—our banks could be spending our money on things we don't want them to. Eco-Business talks to finance expert Mayur Singh about why consumers in Asia should asking banks how they spend their money.
• Coronavirus lockdowns cut air pollution globally. Jakarta was the exception
  Even as residents sheltered at home to avoid contracting the novel coronavirus, Jakarta's air stayed as filthy as ever. Polluters far beyond the capital's borders are among the culprits, a new report shows.
• Plans for wind power from Chinese firm fall apart in Myanmar
  Myanmar’s first wind power project is in the doldrums after the government changes direction on how it backs projects.