ClientEarth in Asia

In June I visited ClientEarth’s offices in Tokyo and Beijing, meeting colleagues, partners, government representatives and journalists, and diving into the biggest challenges and opportunities for our work there.

Climate change and environmental degradation are existential challenges in East and Southeast Asia, as they are throughout the world. But the scale of populations and the strength of businesses and economies in the region mean the consequences of inaction are incredibly high.?

On biodiversity, projections suggest that 42% of all species in Southeast Asia could be lost by the end of the century. Nature loss in Asia Pacific will profoundly affect economic activities that rely on natural capital, putting as much as 63% of the region’s GDP at risk.??

On climate, emissions from East Asia are higher than much of the rest of the world. However, the speed of the green technology growth, in China in particular, is astonishing. Earlier this year, Chinese company BYD overtook Tesla as the world’s best-selling brand of electric vehicle. China’s share of renewable energy capacity also reached about 50% of its total generation capacity in 2023.?

Our strategy in the region has differed from our work in other parts of the world. It has relied less on litigation, and more on collaboration. This is partly for cultural reasons, as litigating – particularly as a mainly Western NGO - would not be received well in many Asian countries.

But it’s also because it’s an approach that works well.

Our work in Asia started in China eight years ago. We were invited by the Supreme People’s Court to train judges in environmental justice at a time when hundreds of environmental courts were being set up to deal with air pollution.

We have supported the EU-China Environmental Policy Dialogue, which played an important role in agreeing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework in December 2022. And we are particularly proud of our engagement and advice to Chinese authorities on greening their overseas investments: in 2021, President Xi promised China would no longer fund coal-fired power plants abroad. Great news for the planet.??

As we’ve expanded in Southeast Asia and Japan, we have continued this focus on collaboration and capacity building. ClientEarth lawyers work with progressive government, private sector and civil society stakeholders to support strengthened climate and energy policies, as well as sustainable finance and business strategies aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement.?

Japan – and Japanese finance – is critical to global emissions cuts. One of the biggest economies in the world, its intensive power, steel and car sectors make it the 5th largest carbon emitter. Its financial sector, both public and private, is a huge backer of fossil fuels globally and its industries provide energy technology across the region. Japan’s struggle to kick its coal habit is well known - the country still gets 27% of its energy from the dirtiest fossil fuel.?

Our office in Tokyo, which launched this year, uses corporate and financial law tools to drive down private sector emissions and shift financial flows towards sustainable investment. Our focus now is to work with both government and private sector, regulators and activists to ensure the private sector is driving – rather than blocking an accelerated transition. We won’t rush to litigate in Japan – but we also won’t rule it out as a lever to effect the change that the Earth needs.?

In case you missed it, you can watch our Asia brand video here: ClientEarth in Asia (youtube.com).