Eco-Business

?? There was frustration at COP29 in Baku from those expecting more financial support to be pledged when the gavel dropped for a US$300 billion deal, but many others also expressed relief that the process did not collapse. COP29 is certainly not the end of ambitious and urgent implementation of climate policies. But these past two weeks have served as a stark reminder of how difficult it is to make multilateralism work. ?? ?? Click below to view the latest edition of EB Insights, a condensed version of ???????????????? ????????????. This once-a-week digest delivers the best news and views to your inbox. ?? To get these stories directly in your inbox every Wednesday, subscribe to ???????????????? ???????????? or explore the complete selection of newsletters on our website at https://lnkd.in/gphNAkS (they're free!). ?? PS: Happening this week is?the final round of UN talks?to forge an unprecedented agreement to end plastic pollution?has commenced this week in Busan, South Korea. Keep an eye on our socials: Eco-Business founder and managing director Jessica Cheam will be in Busan, reporting on the negotiations.

Less than 2 weeks to our inaugural ESG Malaysia Conference: "Inclusive Future: Transitioning Together"! ????Register now! ?? Date: Thursday, 5 December 2024 ??? Time: 8:00 AM - 5:30 PM ??? Venue: Ballroom A, Level 2, Aloft Kuala Lumpur Sentral Hotel ???? Tickets: Member: RM 388 Non-member: RM 688 ??HRDC Claimable! ??CPD Points for GBI | GreenRE | BEM | MIA ?? Register Now! [https://lnkd.in/gjyUYAja] ????Keynote speakers: 1) YBhg. Datuk Nor Yahati Binti Awang, Deputy Chief Secretary, Ministry of Natural Resources and Natural Sustainability?(NRES) 2) Dr. Melvin Gumal, Deputy GM/CEO (Conservation), Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) ??Panel Session 1 - Navigating the Challenges and Seizing the Opportunity of Energy Market Liberalization 1) Ir. Dr. Sanjayan Velautham, Chief Operating Officer, (Suruhanjaya Tenaga (Energy Commission) 2) YBrs. Tuan Ahmad Zairin Ismail, Chairman, SEDA Malaysia 3) Mr. Leon Chee Ing Liew, Executive Director and Group Chief Strategy Officer, Solarvest Holdings Berhad 4) En. Zul Salim, Head-Utility Scale, RE Malaysia and SEA of Gentari Renewables Sdn Bhd ??Panel Session 2 - Is the Reduction of Fossil Fuel Subsidies a Prerequisite for Malaysia’s Long-Term Economic Competitiveness? 1) Prof. Dr. Kim Leng Yeah, President of the Malaysian Economic Association (MEA), Member of the Policy Advisory Committee to the Prime Minister 2) Prof. Dr. Professor Geoffrey Williams, Founder and Director, Williams Business Consultancy Sdn Bhd 3) YB Tuan Chean Chung Lee, MP of Petaling Jaya, Board Member of SEDA Malaysia 4) Mr. Anthony Tan, Senior Director of Support Services, APPGM-SDG Secretariat ??Panel Session 3 - Cost-Effective Urban Development 1) Tuan TPr. Lee Lih Shyan Shyan, Director of Development Planning Department, MPBJ 2) En. Ahmad Najib, Head of Corporation Strategy, PR1MA Corporation Malaysia 3) Mr. Sei Cheh AW, Chief Operating Officer, Avaland Berhad 4) Mr. Mitch Gelber, Chief Executive Officer, Malaysia Green Building Council - malaysiaGBC ??Panel Session 4 - Sustainability vs. Profitability: Addressing the Gaps in ESG Investments and Incentives in Malaysia 1) Mr. Edison Choong, Deputy Director Strategic Planning and Deputy Sustainability Lead, Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) 2) En. Muhammad Rizal Azmi, Assistant Vice President of Business Development & Sales, Bursa Malaysia Carbon Exchange 3) En. Wan Muqtadir Wan Abdul Fatah, Head of Sustainability, BSI Malaysia 4) Ms. Oh Ying Ying, Honorary Secretary, ESG Malaysia ?? Join us for an inspiring panel session featuring ?? trailblazing thought leaders and industry experts! ?? Dive into visionary insights on ESG and sustainability—unmissable conversations shaping our future! ???

The world's foremost climate leaders convened at COP29 and agreed on a US$300 billion goal for global climate finance. Now that the conference has come to a close, what is next? ? In our upcoming one-hour ESG Intelligence training session happening tomorrow, we’ll examine the key agreements made at COP29, if they put us back on track to meet the Paris-aligned climate goals, and the impact these decisions will have on Asia. Find information and register here: [https://lnkd.in/gK4qKPmR] ? This one-hour briefing will cover:? ?? Developments made in the lead up to COP29 ???? The significance of hosting the conference in Baku? ???? Looking ahead to COP30 and beyond: What comes next? Our speaker, Hannah Alcoseba Fernandez, our Chief Correspondent, Philippines, will deliver exclusive first-hand insights from her coverage at Baku. She will be joined by Ritu Bharadwaj, Director of Climate Resilience and Loss & Damage at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). ? This webinar is?complimentary?for all our EB Circle, Premium and Enterprise subscribers. Explore our subscription options at [https://lnkd.in/gYDwQWtQ]

Fiona McAlpine is Communications and Project Manager for The Borneo Project, a non-profit working with indigenous communities in Malaysian Borneo. This month, she shares her perspective on the "green revolution" taking place in the area. An excerpt below: "We wind our way through a maze of logging roads in Sarawak, heading toward some of the state’s so-called reforestation projects. Sarawak claims to be at the forefront of Malaysia’s green revolution, planting millions of trees and launching its first carbon offset initiatives. But many on the ground fear that the green rush is just the latest threat to Indigenous land rights and is damaging forests on the ground with no demonstrable benefits to the climate as a whole. "Sarawak wants to boast 1 million hectares of tree plantations by 2025 but currently has half that. Where they’re going to find the half a million hectare shortfall remains to be seen. Sarawak already has a patchwork of functioning and failed plantations, but none of these could be mistaken for forests. "There are no fruiting trees for the small mammals to eat, and therefore no small mammals for the big predators to eat. There is no canopy for the arboreal animals, which make up many of the rare and endangered species in Sarawak such as the gibbon, slow loris, and binturong. Eucalyptus, along with many species of acacia, are considered toxic and poisonous to many animal species." Read the full opinion piece: https://lnkd.in/gSZ8sWUN

?? There was frustration at COP29 in Baku from those expecting more financial support to be pledged when the gavel dropped for a US$300 billion deal, but many others also expressed relief that the process did not collapse. COP29 is certainly not the end of ambitious and urgent implementation of climate policies. But these past two weeks have served as a stark reminder of how difficult it is to make multilateralism work. ?? ?? Click below to view the latest edition of EB Insights, a condensed version of ???????????????? ????????????. This once-a-week digest delivers the best news and views to your inbox. ?? To get these stories directly in your inbox every Wednesday, subscribe to ???????????????? ???????????? or explore the complete selection of newsletters on our website at https://lnkd.in/gphNAkS (they're free!). ?? PS: Happening this week is?the final round of UN talks?to forge an unprecedented agreement to end plastic pollution?has commenced this week in Busan, South Korea. Keep an eye on our socials: Eco-Business founder and managing director Jessica Cheam will be in Busan, reporting on the negotiations.

It's out! Our full mini-documentary "How to close a coal plant early? Transition credits, explained" is now available for you to watch online for free. In this video, our correspondents take you to the Philippines, where transition credits are being explored as a method to replace a decommissioned coal plant in the Philippines with renewables and battery storage by 2030 – a decade earlier than promised. They also visit locations near the coal plant in question and speak to locals in the area, investigating concerns around transition credits' ability to facilitate an equitable clean energy shift for nearby communities. View the video here: https://lnkd.in/gNRZXHbe Access our special report that accompanies the mini-documentary on our website: https://lnkd.in/gEXrYGSw

???? Shakuntala Devi of Kulabira village in Jharkhand state travels to other distant states to sell her finger millet snacks whenever the Indian government organises fairs to showcase rural products. From struggling to irrigate her farm because of erratic electricity to becoming a successful micro-entrepreneur, it’s been a fast change in fortune?for Shakuntala. Be it her increased income or her children’s improved grades, she owes it to the solar-powered mini-grid in her village – one of the 40-odd mini-grids installed in Jharkhand by?Mlinda Charitable Trust, an organisation working to address climate change. In states such as Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Bihar that have forested hilly areas with scattered settlements – primarily of indigenous people – it is not really feasible to extend the central grid to supply electricity to remote villages. Even in areas that have power, people do not get a 24x7 supply; voltage fluctuations are common. In such remote places, mini-grids set up to provide basic electricity have given local communities a lifeline, spawning many micro enterprises and boosting rural development. Read the story: https://lnkd.in/gxTJz_b4

Dr Thomas White is a researcher who spent years living with traditional animal herders in China to understand how they're impacted by both conservation schemes and modernisation. In his recently published book?China’s Camel Country, he documented the tensions the herders faced to keep in line with China’s nation-building project. The Eco-Business podcast speaks with White, lecturer in China and sustainable development at King’s College London, to unpack the complexities he uncovered in China’s northwestern frontier. This episode covers: ?? What camel conservation in Alasha shows about China’s green growth ambitions ???? Whether camel herding resulted in net benefits for the environment ?? The herders’ “partial success” in preserving their culture amid political and environmental change ??What insights Alasha’s herders hold for other local communities facing pressures from development and sustainability initiatives Listen now: https://lnkd.in/gaESH4F3

It was at about 3pm last Saturday when COP29’s media centre was abuzz with news that several country envoys had staged a walkout and left one of the meeting rooms at the far end of the Baku Olympic Stadium, the venue for the world’s biggest climate conference. A group of journalists who were tracking the proceedings of the finance talks – this year, COP needed to come to a consensus on a climate finance goal to fund urgent action – hurried to the location. Members of civil society organisations were in a media huddle trying to explain what they had witnessed at a meeting between the COP29 presidency and the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and International Organisation for the Least Developed Countries (IOLDCs) negotiating bloc. The vulnerable and poorer nations were unhappy with how negotiations were unfolding. “They don’t feel heard. They feel they are being excluded from the talks and that’s why they have decided to suspend the meeting,” Mohamed Adow, campaigner from Power Shift Africa, who was an observer in the meeting, told everyone. Late Saturday afternoon, a final push saw a smaller group of envoys come back to the negotiating table for a last-ditch effort to strike a deal, nearly on the brink of collapse. Almost three hours later, negotiators emerged with a framework for an underwhelming deal, which was announced with relief at the closing plenary session just before dawn on Sunday. Swipe to see some of the photos from the eleventh hour of COP29. Visit our website to read the story: https://lnkd.in/gNPqwc_2

The agreed-upon amount of US$300 billion for climate finance at COP29 falls $1 trillion short of the initial target set by climate-vulnerable nations. One delegate called it 'the most disappointing COP in recent memory'. Read the story: https://lnkd.in/g2P-5ZBz