Posted on November 14th, 2008 by Green Assembly
BANGKOK ~ The number of electric-powered bikes in China has jumped from 10 million in 2005 to more than 20 million in 2007, according to a report issued today.
The Clean Air Initiative-Asia (CAI-Asia), said rapid growth in demand is due to several reasons, including China’s bicycle culture, recently introduced policies that allow e-bikers to use [...]
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Posted on November 13th, 2008 by Green Assembly
BEIJING ~ Cities from Beijing to New Delhi are getting darker, weather systems are becoming more extreme, and glaciers in mountain ranges like the Himalayas are melting faster than predicted, says a United Nations report issued today.
And it is all due to human-made Atmospheric Brown Clouds (ABCs) and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the United [...]
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Posted on November 12th, 2008 by Green Assembly
SINGAPORE ~ The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is responsible for damaging the lives of some of the poorest people in Asia, according to a report from Oxfam Australia.
The report, A Citizen’s Guide to the Greater Mekong Subregion, disputes ADB’s claims that its Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Program has led economic growth and poverty reduction in [...]
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Posted on November 11th, 2008 by Green Assembly
JAKARTA ~ The body set up to certify “sustainable” palm-oil production in Malaysia and Indonesia is completely ignoring greenhouse gas emissions in its certification procedure, according to a report issued today.
In a damning statement, Wetlands International says that palm oil shipped to Europe by members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is far [...]
Filed under: Indonesia, Malaysia, oil palm, palm oil, peatlands, wetlands | No Comments »
Posted on November 10th, 2008 by Green Assembly
HO CHI MINH CITY ~ Vietnam’s state-owned oil and gas company -Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation (PetroVietnam) - is investing US$116 million to set up a bioethanol plant, but environmental costs are not being discussed.
The facility, which is located in the Dung Quat economic zone in central Ngai province, is expected to be operational by [...]
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Posted on November 7th, 2008 by Green Assembly
From The Economist print edition
SINGAPORE ~ Earlier this year, with the oil price at record heights, T. Boone Pickens, a celebrated Texas oilman, seemed to confirm the unstoppable growth of the clean-technology industry when he announced plans not only to build the world’s biggest wind farm, but also to spend US$58m of his personal fortune [...]
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Posted on November 6th, 2008 by Green Assembly
LONDON ~ Four Nigerian citizens, Friends of the Earth Netherlands and Nigeria will file a unique lawsuit against Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell in The Hague tomorrow, Friday 07 November.
For the first time in history Shell’s international headquarters will have to appear in court to respond to charges of causing environmental damage abroad.
The Nigerian plaintiffs, fishermen [...]
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Posted on November 5th, 2008 by Green Assembly
SINGAPORE ~ Malaysian palm oil is finding its way into the fuel tanks of automobiles and other road vehicles in Europe despite concerns about its carbon balance and the rainforest being destroyed to produce it.
According to a new report by Friends of the Earth international, claims by the UK’s Renewable Fuels Agency (RFA) that Malaysian [...]
Filed under: Malaysia, deforestation, greenwash, oil palm, palm oil | No Comments »
Posted on November 4th, 2008 by Green Assembly
SINGAPORE ~ German auto-maker BMW has announced it will begin leasing its all-electric version of the Mini Cooper in the United States next year, but only 500 of them, and only in California, New Jersey and New York.
Nonetheless, it is an important step in bringing electric vehicles to US roads, and the all-electric Mini sounds [...]
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Posted on November 3rd, 2008 by Green Assembly
TAIPEI ~ Without significant action, by 2020, air pollution could cost China
US$390 billion per year as a result of disease, illness and premature death, states a report issued last week.
The report, entitled The True Cost of Coal, and commissioned by Greenpeace, WWF and the Energy Foundation, states that China’s coal-fired power stations are the country’s [...]
Filed under: CO2 emissions, China, climate change, coal, global warming | No Comments »