Suchergebnisse

Attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) into its resource sectors has been integral to the Lao government's goal to leave the ranks of "Least Developed Countries" (Menon and Warr 2013). Having sustained average growth at more than 6% until the pandemic kicked in – with foreign grants and loans accounting for more than 20% of GDP – its socioeconomic development has been largely based on the extraction and export of the country's rich natural resources. The state generates revenue through the export of hydropower, minerals, timber, and cash crops such as rubber and bananas. The mining sector, for instance, constitutes an estimated 20% of merchandise exports (World Bank 2020: 17). However, the social and environmental costs of resource extraction constitute a key challenge to sustainable economic growth. This is particularly true for the Lao mining sector. As elsewhere in the world, extractive practices shape physical and social landscapes, altering local economies and human environment relations. In Laos, the important large-scale mining (LSM) areas are located in upland regions inhabited by peoples whose occupations are traditionally based on agriculture and forest products – livelihoods that are particularly vulnerable to the environmental impact of mining. Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), while providing local income opportunities, sometimes contribute to land degradation and pollution, which in turn negatively affect these communities' livelihoods (farming, fishing and livestock). Resource governance is thus a major concern for Lao state authorities. However, lack of human and financial capacities, as well as institutional disconnect and internal struggles, hamper effective control of extractive industries, especially in Laos' rapidly changing mining sector. This article gives an overview of Lao mining and discusses the social and environmental impacts of both ASM and LSM activities, with a particular focus on legal issues and local livelihood challenges.

Decarbonisation is not happening in a vacuum but on a planet already replete with ecological challenges. The material-intensive requirement of low-carbon technologies means more mining, and the currently inadequate recycling capacity means more waste. Existing pressures point to an urgent need to reduce consumption to avert climate and ecological crises.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) faces tremendous challenges regarding the future energy landscape and how the energy transition will embrace a new architecture – including sound policies and technologies to ensure energy access together with affordability, energy security, and energy sustainability. Given the high share of fossil fuels in ASEAN's current energy mix (oil, coal, and natural gas comprise almost 80%), the clean use of fossil fuels through the deployment of clean technologies is indispensable for decarbonising ASEAN's emissions. The future energy landscape of ASEAN will rely on today's actions, policies, and investments to change the fossil fuel-based energy system towards a cleaner energy system, but any decisions and energy policy measures to be rolled out during the energy transition need to be weighed against potentially higher energy costs, affordability issues, and energy security risks. This paper employs energy modelling scenarios to seek plausible policy options for ASEAN to achieve more emissions reductions as well as energy savings, and to assess the extent to which the composition of the energy mix will be changed under various energy policy scenarios. The results imply policy recommendations for accelerating the share of renewables, adopting clean technologies and the clean use of fossil fuels, and investing in climate-resilient energy quality infrastructure.

Decarbonisation through the deployment of low-carbon technologies has become a central component in climate mitigation strategy. The production of these technologies, however, requires many more minerals compared to their conventional counterparts. Moreover, the technologies needed to recycle them at the end of their product lifetime are not yet fully developed. These potentially intensify various environmental and social pressures on the Earth that has already been overstretched for half a century in meeting the world's consumption demand. Managing resource extraction through sustainable and ethical mining and accelerating technological innovations for recycling are important, but alternative pathways aimed at bringing down consumption levels, possibly through a transformation in the economic system, are likely to be necessary to restore a balance with nature and avert climate and ecological crises.

This report provides a big-picture perspective of the most pressing challenges for Turkey to overcome in achieving a low-carbon 2050 vision. We summarize key issues regarding the viability of high-carbon and non-emitting controversial infrastructures; we explore socio-technical solutions based on low-carbon technologies; we evaluate the freshwater, land-use, biodiversity and air quality dynamics in which electricity generation has a significant footprint; and we analyse the social dynamics of business-as usual and alternative energy outlooks towards a 2050 vision. The section continues with lessons learnt from European Union (EU) countries and globally for staying within the planetary boundaries mandated by the Paris Agreement.

The electrification of mobility is now in fashion and some European countries have announced a ban on internal combustion engines in the future. From the perspective of production to energy consumption, electric vehicles are not necessarily zero-emission vehicles when electricity is supplied from fossil resources. In addition, the spread of electric supply stations is indispensable to the introduction of electric vehicles. However, the rapid expansion of infrastructure such as supply stations is difficult. On the other hand, vehicles with improved fuel efficiency like hybrid and plug-in hybrid cars have appeared and those cars are also effective for the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Conventional infrastructure is available for these vehicles, and GHG emissions reduction can be expected by promoting the use of biofuels produced from domestic resources in the East Asia Summit (EAS) countries. In order to introduce electrified vehicles, it is realistic to proceed step-by-step depending on the characteristics of vehicles and the development of infrastructure. However, it is not always clear whether the current electrified vehicle introduction plan is effective in reducing the environmental load. In this study, we set up multiple scenarios in consideration of the introduction of policies of electrified vehicles in each country, and calculated by simulation the energy consumption, global warming gas emissions, and biofuel demand in each case. Based on the results, the best way to introduce electrified vehicles to reduce GHG emissions was clarified. We also held policy dialogues with government policymakers and industry representatives to exchange opinions on the research results. With these opinions in mind, we made recommendations on future environmental measures and biofuel policies in the transport sector. Regarding next-generation bioethanol produced from non-conventional resources, we have identified the challenges for commercial-scale supply.

This guidance note reviews and compares how current approaches for project economic analysis and for calculating greenhouse gas emissions effects of energy projects define "without project" or "baseline" scenarios. Economic analysis generally treats the comparison "without project" scenario as the absence of any new projects or investment, whereas greenhouse gas calculations treat the comparison baseline scenario as expansion of the current power generation mix. This leads to differing estimates of mitigation and project economic benefits between the two comparison scenarios, which this note illustrates. Recommendations are offered for future practice to keep the basis of greenhouse gas emissions effect valuation and mitigation reporting clearer.

The Philippines and China signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Cooperation on Oil and Gas Development, demonstrating their willingness to explore joint development as a pathway to collaboration, notwithstanding their territorial disputes. Recent commentaries on joint development are mostly framed on legal challenges, South China Sea (SCS) rows, geopolitics, and state-centric security issues. However, there have been no extensive discussions on the potential contributions from non-state stakeholders that can make joint development agreements environmentally sound, sustainable, and less political. These stakeholders are the oil companies, fishermen and coastal communities. In this regard, this NTS Insight explores potential roles of these stakeholders in promoting joint initiatives to share and develop resources in the SCS. It argues that the engagement and participation of non-state stakeholders in resource sharing and joint management must be pursued to address key non-traditional security challenges in the SCS. It also examines mechanisms to integrate marine environmental protection and sustainable fishing management into joint development agreements.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been issuing its Sustainability Report since 2007. The Sustainability Report allows stakeholders to assess ADB's operational and organizational sustainability performance, providing them with a single point of reference to understand ADB's commitment to sustainable development. For 2018, this biennial Sustainability Report highlights the integration of sustainability into ADB's operations and organizational activities during 2016–2017. A separate detailed Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Content Index sets out ADB's management approaches to material topics and responses to general and specific disclosures in the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards. The Sustainability Report and detailed GRI Content Index are prepared in accordance with the core option of the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards and are available online at www.adb.org/documents/asian-development-bank-sustainability-report-2018.

Since 2006, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been providing technical assistance through the GMS Core Environment Program (CEP) to help mainstream the use of SEAs in the GMS countries, including for power development planning. This publication outlines the key characteristics of SEA, discusses global trends in energy technologies and markets, and looks at how Viet Nam, with support from the CEP, has integrated SEAs into its power development planning process. It also identifies priority steps for further mainstreaming SEAs in power sector planning in the GMS countries.

This publication presents the integration of a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) in the revised Power Development Plan VII of Viet Nam. It demonstrates how incorporating an SEA into the planning process will produce plans that are based on a more thorough understanding of their implications for the economy, society, and environment of the country. Viet Nam's revised Power Development Plan VII is a model of good practice in integrating an SEA in the preparation of a strategic plan for the power sector of other countries, particularly in the Greater Mekong Subregion.

This study analyses essential elements to increase the effectiveness of emissions control regulations for coal-fired power plants in developing countries in ASEAN. In the power sector, air pollution concerns can become a barrier for developing necessary power stations. As such, the appropriate implementation of air polution control regulations is crucial for the sustainable development of the economy, and hence the study will highlight it.

Water and energy are both valuable resources and indispensable for human society and economic development. By nature, water and energy are interlinked. Water plays a critical role in the generation of electricity for cooling of thermal power plants and in hydropower, as well as in the production of fossil fuels such as coal; energy is required to treat, distribute, and for wastewater treatment. Choices made in either of the sectors may have unintended and often negative implications on the other sector. This report analyzes the trade-off between the two sectors in the context of the People's Republic of China and proposes recommendations to ensure that the choices made are sustainable in the long run.

The Philippines currently has a low level of per capita greenhouse gas emissions. However, emission levels are growing at an increasing rate, with 4% annual growth between 2006 and 2012. The country's energy system is becoming more carbon intensive to satisfy escalating energy demand caused by strong economic growth. This study assesses how the Philippines can take a low-carbon pathway by drawing on detailed modeling of the power, residential, and transport sectors. It identifies low-carbon development options that can be deployed at approximately zero net cost to reduce energy sector greenhouse gas emissions by 70% by 2050. With energy use levels still low, the country has an opportunity to follow a low-carbon development trajectory—if action is taken soon.

Viet Nam has had rapid economic growth in recent years, but this growth has been energy dependent, even as the energy system has become more carbon intensive. This study uses a bottom-up model to evaluate 63 measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from household electricity, industry, power generation, and transport. It finds potential for emissions reduction by 53% in 2050, and that much of this reduction can occur at low or negative financial costs. Moreover, these measures are found to ultimately lead to faster and more inclusive economy-wide growth. Policy measures are identified to help realize the modeled potential.