Ecology

South Korea’s nuclear energy policies have undergone significant changes over recent years, showing an “unstable” character depending on respective governments in power. This article explains the political factors behind these policy changes and the arguments made for and against nuclear energy in Korea; it also explores the competitive relationship between nuclear energy and renewable energy. While nuclear energy is unlikely to be phased out any time soon, the challenge for South Korea remains to create a distributed energy systems that increases local self-sufficiency in electricity supply and introduces distributed renewable energy-friendly markets.

Southeast Asia’s energy transition needs not only to be accelerated in terms of technology deployments but also to be processed and accomplished justly. Doing so requires hinging the region’s energy transition plans and activities to the distributive, recognition, procedural, and restorative tenets of justice.

We are accepting applications for the From Growth to Well Being Think Fund until July 31st, 2023.

The market for carbon offsets is growing exponentially but remains filled with dodgy projects that do little for the environment. Sceptics say it’s time to do away with the voluntary carbon markets altogether and take real action through carbon taxes and emissions caps. But by focusing on the imperfections of carbon offsets, they are dismissing a viable approach to climate action that should be used alongside a broader transition towards lower carbon emissions. Read more to find out why carbon credits shouldn’t be dismissed just yet and how technology is improving the integrity of the carbon market.

Policy makers tend to push for “precision” digital technologies, in particular robots, drones and sensors, to address the challenges in biodiversity, the environment and even climate change. The dangerous drawback is, by minimizing human judgment, traditional knowledge and lived experiences, these technology systems tend to undermine people’s ability to nurture ecosystems.

Politicians and billionaires are advocating geoengineering approaches as quick fixes on challenges of climate, biodiversity and environment. Many of these technologies are too dangerous to be deployed or even experimented with in the real world.

From New Delhi to Bangkok to Seoul, Asia is facing the world’s most serious air pollution catastrophe.  Experts say this poor air quality becomes fatal with the onset of heat waves and drought from climate change, but citizens are coming up with their own solutions to tackle the dirty air.

Nearly every country has enough solar and wind to generate its required energy. Pumped hydro makes large-scale energy storage a solved problem. Australia is a global pathfinder in solar photovoltaics. Clean hydrogen, imported from Australia, is frequently touted as a major player in the decarbonization of East Asia’s industrialized countries such as Japan and South Korea. But some of the proposed export markets for hydrogen energy are largely illusory, argues Australian National University engineering professor Andrew Blakers.

Bhutan couldn’t achieve its goal of becoming a 100% organic country by 2020 despite the best of intention, strong political will and government support. What challenges have prevented Bhutan from achieving its goal and does it still or ever have the chance of achieving the goal?

Sri Lanka is in the midst of arguably the worst economic crisis during its 74-year post-independence era, with its political and social stability strained to almost breaking point. One facet of this crisis is shown in the Sri Lankan agriculture sector, which is trying to recover from the self-inflicted wounds of a misguided policy of overnight conversion to exclusively organic agriculture (EOA). The author analyzes the background that led to such an ambitious, but unrealistic, venture and describes its wide-ranging repercussions, which have put the country’s food security and farmer livelihoods under serious threat.