Forest fires that raged across Indonesia dented Southeast Asia's biggest economy to the tune of some US$5.2 billion, the World Bank said Wednesday, not including the health impacts from toxic haze that sent air quality plummeting.The fires are an annual problem but this year was the worst since 2015 due to dry weather, with 942,000 hectares (2.3 million acres) of land, mostly on Sumatra and Borneo islands, razed by the out-of-control blazes. Authorities deployed tens of thousand

For more than a year, children and young people from around the world have been striking for the climate. We launched a movement that defied all expectations, with millions of people lending their voices – and their bodies – to the cause. We did this not because it was our dream, but because we didn’t see anyone else taking action to secure our future.

Although fossil fuels are the single biggest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, coal continues to be supported by both the government and businesses in the Philippines.While it is the cheapest fuel option, coal is also the most polluting one.

A series of key reports released over the past month have proven just how ineffective global efforts to address climate change have been.Greenhouse gases (GHG) keep on rising, and the planned production of fossil fuels provides countries with no chance of achieving the 2015 Paris Agreement – a treaty ratified by 184 countries which aims to limit global temperature increases to below two degrees Celsius by 2100 and no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. Despite ambitious goals, the volunta

The construction sector is complicit in the threat of climate crisis, emitting carbon dioxide (CO2) gas through greenfield development, material production and the use of fossil fuels.

There is a growing interest in organic produce in Southeast Asia.

With 80 percent of the region surrounded by water, ASEAN regularly faces water-related disasters such as floods, cyclones and storms – which are heightened by climate change.Greenhouse gases (GHG) are progressively warming the environment, and melting ice sheets and glaciers are increasing the volume of the world’s oceans and causing devastating coastal flooding across the world. Floods and storms have historically been two of the most frequent types of disasters reported in the regi

The oceans face a growing threat from plastics.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has come under fire for referring to a newly-opened coal-fired power plant as “clean”, raising concerns about the country’s focus on renewable energy in the face of its increasing energy needs.The 500-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant in Mauban, Quezon, will provide additional energy supply to the Luzon grid and boost Duterte’s Build, Build, Build infrastructure program according to the Presidential Communications Operations Office.The US$1.1 billion pl

The Earth’s oceans face many threats, none of which have quick fixes. Still, the solutions are known, and with a sufficiently broad coalition of partners, we can get the ball rolling on a number of fronts.A wide range of human activities – from burning fossil fuels to over-fishing – have been degrading the oceans for years.