Top Three 2020 Sustainable Newsbites in Asia you should know

By Chermaine Lee

Was 2020 a green year for Asia? With climate change staring us in the face, and natural disasters slamming our coastlines in Asia, no surprise the top newsbites are about how global warming is impacting our lives in Asia, falloffs in carbon emissions from COVID lockdown and new government commitments to fight climate change.

2020: largest drop in global carbon emission in history

NGO Global Carbon Project revealed in mid-December that Covid-19 has actually caused lower carbon emissions in 2020 by 7 per cent — from the year before– an estimated 2.4 billion tonnes. The report also showed that while Asia was experiencing a serious second wave of infections in April, the daily global carbon emissions plummeted by a whooping 17 per cent amidst lockdowns. Although the largest carbon emission slash happened in the U.S., India’s also dropped 9 per cent.

But we can’t celebrate too fast: researchers expect emissions to rebound in 2021, as governments are likely to resume economic activities and global tourism might start again.

Asian leaders’ ambitious carbon neutral goals

As more and more countries are declaring climate emergencies and prioritising climate policies, Asian countries followed suit in 2020 to set carbon neutral goals: China committed to carbon neutrality by 2060 and pledged to cut its carbon emissions by 65% within this decade. It is widely seen as an ambitious goal as the country still heavily relies on burning coal to generate electricity.

Its neighbour, South Korea, also pledged to have over 1 million electric vehicles and 200,000 hydrogen cars on the road in the next four years, replacing petrol and diesel cars to further cut carbon emissions.

India also vowed to build what is said to be the world’s largest hybrid renewable energy plant — producing 30 gigawatt or enough to power the lights in the whole country. It is part of the country’s target to ebb emissions by at least 50 million tonnes a year.

Southeast Asia pushed deeper into the abyss

In 2020, Asian countries recorded the most climate-related natural disasters in the Asia-Pacific region — 24 within the year alone — and coming at a time when the region is already hit hard by the pandemic and a global economic downturn.

The typhoons, floods and landslides in the Philippines and Vietnam in 2020 are reported to have affected at least 30 million people — that is a lot higher than the number of total Covid-19 casualties around the world.

A recent report by the McKinsey Global Institute estimated that the risk for future extreme floods in Vietnam could jump tenfold by 2050. Reuters also reported that Cyclone Amphan cost India and Bangladesh over US$13 billion after it battered their coastlines in May last year.

Rising seas are a big toll on Indonesia. The government is moving its capital Jakarta, which is sinking at a rate of 15cm a year, to Borneo. It is estimated that by 2050, Jakarta will be underwater.

We also covered China’s national rainwater trade and Singapore’s world-first lab-grown chicken. Listen to our podcast series to find out more. And don’t forget to follow our social media so we can keep you up-to-date on green news.

Sustainable Asia Podcast “GreenBites” Series is hosted by Chermaine Lee and Bonnie Au. Associate producer: Jiaxing Li and Executive Producer: Marcy Trent Long