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Environment
Latest news and updates about issues impacting the global environment, including climate change, recycling, pollution and sustainable living.
Rescue workers taking residents from a house on a flooded street in the town of Adavale in southwest Queensland. Photo: Queensland fire Department/AFP
Australia

Australian outback swamped by year’s worth of rain in a week, devastates livestock

Around 100,000 cattle and sheep are dead or missing due to flooding from 500 millimetres of rain in an area the size of Texas.

Hong Kong

Then & Now | Bright side of life reflected in charming resilience of the kapok tree

Britain

Operator of US jet fuel tanker brings UK lawsuit over cargo ship collision

India

India’s hotter-than-usual weather may strain power networks, put crops at risk

India is facing an unusually hot April, risking wheat crop damage and straining power grids, with record electricity demand and potential diesel shortages.

An Indian rickshaw puller drinks from a plastic bottle during a hot afternoon in Kolkata, India, on March 27. Photo: EPA-EFE
Japan

Japan warns up to 298,000 could die in potential Nankai Trough ‘megaquake’

The figure is revised from previous projections of 323,000 deaths, but economic damage is estimated to increase to US$2 trillion.

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Indonesia

‘The sooner, the better’: Bali governor wants island waste-free by 2027

A sustainable waste management facility which can convert rubbish to energy is in the works for the resort island.

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South Korea

In South Korea, the elderly risk their lives fighting wildfires for US$50 a day

More than seven in 10 of South Korea’s seasonal wildfire fighters are aged 60 or older. This month’s wildfires claimed some of their lives.

A firefighter in Andong, South Korea, sprays water on a thatched roof in preparation for an approaching wildfire on Wednesday. Photo: AFP
Vietnam

Vietnam faces mass bankruptcies of renewable energy producers

The application of a new power purchasing price by Vietnam Electricity puts 173 solar and wind projects at risk of insolvency.

Climate change

Black carbon: the super pollutant melting Asia’s glaciers

While CO2 gets the spotlight, black carbon’s potent, short-lived warming effect is pushing Asia’s glaciers past the tipping point.

Myanmar

Explainer | Why was the Myanmar, Thailand earthquake so damaging? What science says

The earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 near the city of Mandalay could cause fatalities between 10,000 and 100,000 people.

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Rescue workers at the site of a building that collapsed in Bangkok, following Friday’s strong earthquake, on Saturday. Photo: Reuters
Japan

Japan faces 99 times more heatwaves if global warming intensifies, report warns

A new report reveals global warming could cause “once-in-a-century” heatwaves annually.

Young women use fans to seek relief from the heat in Tokyo. Japan’s weather agency says the country could face annual once-in-a-century heatwaves if global warming continues. Photo: AFP
Climate change

Opinion | Asia can’t afford to wait for the US to wake up to its climate duty

As the US walks away again, Europe, China and others need to fill the climate reparation funding gap, not out of charity but responsibility.

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Climate change

‘The end of soup on van Goghs’: UK activists to stop climate protest stunts

The group says it has succeeded in stopping Britain from approving new oil and gas projects and will hold one last demonstration in London.

Thailand

Thai tourist gems Chiang Mai and Bangkok among world’s worst for air quality

With both Thai cities listed among the 10 worst in air quality worldwide, emergency measures and regional cooperation are under way to address the crisis.

Bangkok’s skyline is seen amid high levels of air pollution on March 21. Photo: AFP
Climate change

Opinion | China has what it takes to lead the global green steel revolution

With the right incentives, adoption of electricity-based furnaces and green hydrogen can help the steel industry reduce carbon emissions.

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Workers weld steel structure products to meet demand for orders, in Yuncheng, Shanxi province, in 2023. Photo: VCG / Getty Images
South Korea

As South Korea burns, officials suspect human error to blame for wildfires

At least 24 people have died and a 1,300-year-old temple has been destroyed. Investigators say tomb clearing or welding may be the culprit.

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China energy security

China weeds out bad behaviour in quest to harvest farmers’ untapped solar power

The country’s energy regulator called for the ‘healthy and orderly’ growth of small-scale, distributed solar power and dissuaded monopolies.

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Hong Kong environmental issues

Letters | Use of plastic bags to fill holes on Hong Kong beach a travesty

Readers discuss contractors’ actions on a Lantau beach, and a reclamation project in Tseung Kwan O.

Workers clean Upper Cheung Sha Beach on Lantau island on May 28, 2024. Photo: Eugene Lee
Architecture and design

Designer Thomas Heatherwick seeks to humanise architecture – interview

Last year, he published Humanise: A Maker’s Guide to Building Our World and his Heatherwick Studio launched the Xi’an Centre Culture Business District, centred on the Xi’an Tree, with local developer CR Land.

Trending in China

Young Chinese man embarks on 3,300-km Lhasa trek, emerges looking like 50-year-old

Hiker endures blizzards, wild wolves, accidents which left him hobbling in epic journey over mountain ranges during which he hardly bathed.

China-Africa relations

Will Zambian mine disaster spill over to destroy relations with China?

A 50-million-litre acid spill from a Chinese-owned copper mine in Zambia is now threatening to kill ties with Beijing, experts say.

An acid waste spill from a collapsed tailings dam at the Sino-Metals Leach Zambia copper mine has contaminated a major river, causing a devastating environmental disaster in the African nation. Photo: AP
Climate change

Opinion | Asia is ground zero for the impact of global glacier loss

Other mountain ranges are losing their glaciers faster but Asia’s critically dependent economy and people put it on the front line.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
India

Video | Indian slums get cool roofs to beat summer heat

Extreme weather

Woman dead, husband missing as violent storm lashes southern Spain

Flash floods in southern Spain prompt officials to evacuate hundreds of homes.

Science

Chinese basin may have been a refuge in largest extinction. Do we need another?

Researchers say Turpan-Hami Basin in Xinjiang hosted diverse plant life throughout end-Permian mass extinction 252 million years ago.

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An artist’s reconstruction of the South Taodonggou section of the Turpan-Hami Basin before the mass extinction. Image: Yang Dinghua
Art

Statue of Liberty, Big Ben models made of scrap in underwater art show

A Swedish art project aims to create an underwater city of the world’s most famous buildings to highlight the threat from rising sea levels.

A model of London’s Big Ben made of scrap recovered from the sea around Stockholm, Sweden, by Hands2Ocean is lowered into position for the group’s underwater art show, “Atlantis”. Photo: Instagram/hands2ocean
Indonesia

‘What else can we do?’ Indonesia has more crocodile attacks than anywhere else

Indonesia recorded nearly 180 crocodile attacks last year, with 92 fatalities. Some say palm-oil plantations are making the problem worse.

Extreme weather

US death toll rises to 36 after extreme weather across multiple states

President Trump pledges help to affected states after unusually vicious and damaging weather.

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