WRI Insights

Ministers from five Southeast Asian countries gather in Malaysia next week for urgent talks on combating haze. The meeting follows the recent fires in Sumatra that produced record-breaking air pollution across parts of Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia. As this 15th meeting of the Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution kicks off, in-depth analysis of the patterns and causes of the fires continues. Hopefully the recent crisis will help ensure this meeting is more productive than the previous 14 gatherings, and will move the region towards addressing the root causes of the fires and haze.

Menteri dari lima negara Asia Tenggara akan berkumpul di Malaysia minggu depan untuk sebuah pembahasan penting mengenai usaha mengatasi kabut asap. Hal ini terkait terjadinya kebakaran hutan baru-baru ini yang telah memecahkan rekor polusi udara tertinggi di berbagai wilayah Indonesia, Singapura, dan Malaysia. Beriringan dengan dimulainya [pertemuan ke-15](http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v7/ge/newsgeneral.php?id=962453) dari Komite Pengarah Tingkat Menteri Sub-Regional untuk Polusi Lintas-Batas (Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution), analisis mendalam mengenai pola dan penyebab dari api terus berlanjut. Semoga saja krisis terakhir ini dapat memastikan bahwa pertemuan tersebut dapat berlangsung lebih produktif dari 14 rapat sebelumnya, sekaligus mendorong kawasan untuk menemukan penyebab dari kebakaran dan kabut asap tersebut.

A social entrepreneur invests the little working capital she has to bring solar electricity to a community that –like [1.2 billion people worldwide](http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2013/05/23/000442464_20130523110507/Rendered/PDF/778890WP0v10EN0y0Box377317B00OUO090.pdf)– lacks access to electricity. The community used to use dirty, expensive and choking kerosene for light to cook by and for children to learn by. The entrepreneur knows she can recoup her costs, because people are willing to pay for reliable, high-quality, clean energy – and it will be even less than what they used to pay for kerosene. Sounds like a good news story, right? Three months later, the government utility extends the electrical grid to this same community, despite official plans showing it would take at least another four years. While this could be good news for the community, one unintended consequence is that this undermines the entrepreneur’s investment, wiping out their working capital, and deterring investors from supporting decentralized clean energy projects in other communities that lack access to electricity.

Wading through the vast sea of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data can be a real challenge. To help simplify the process and make such data more accessible, today the World Resources Institute is launching the Climate Analysis Indicators Tool, or [CAIT 2.0](http://www.wri.org/project/cait). The free, online portal provides data on GHG emissions from 186 countries and all 50 U.S. states, as well as other climate data. CAIT 2.0 allows users to view, sort, visualize, and download data sets for comparative analysis. By providing comprehensive emissions data in an easy-to-use tool, users from government, business, academia, the media, and civil society can more effectively explore, understand, and communicate climate change issues.

Few countries are unaffected by China’s overseas investments. The country’s outward foreign direct investments (OFDI) have [grown](http://www.mofcom.gov.cn/article/tongjiziliao/)from $29 billion in 2002 to more than $424 billion in 2011. While these [investments ](http://insights.wri.org/news/2012/12/closer-look-chinas-overseas-investment)can bring economic opportunities to recipient countries, they also have the potential to create negative economic, social, and environmental impacts and spur tension with local communities. To address these risks, China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and [Ministry of Environment](http://english.mep.gov.cn/) (MEP)—with support from several think tanks—recently issued [Guidelines on Environmental Protection and Cooperation](http://english.mofcom.gov.cn/article/policyrelease/bbb/201303/20130300043226.shtml). These Guidelines are the first-ever to establish criteria for Chinese companies’ behaviors when doing business overseas—including their environmental impact. But what exactly do the Guidelines cover, and how effective will they be? Here, we’ll answer these questions and more.

Singapore can help Indonesia untangle complex ownership structure of companies to figure out who’s legally responsible if crimes have been committed.

The global market for wood and other forest products is changing quickly. The industry has long struggled to address the problem of illegal logging, which damages diverse and valuable forests and creates economic losses of up to [$10 billion a year](http://bit.ly/YnW1f2). In some wood-producing countries, illegal logging accounts for [50-90 percent of total production](http://bit.ly/YnW1f2).

A growing number of countries and companies now measure and manage their emissions through greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories. Cities, however, lack a common framework for tracking their own emissions—until now. Thirty-three cities and communities from around the world started pilot testing the [Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emissions Pilot Version 1.0](http://www.ghgprotocol.org/sites/default/files/ghgp/GPC_PilotVersion_1.0_May2012_20120514.pdf) (GPC Pilot Version 1.0) last month. The GPC represents the first international framework for greenhouse gas accounting for cities. It was [launched](http://www.wri.org/blog/2012/05/new-global-framework-measure-greenhouse-gas-emissions-cities) in May 2012 as a joint initiative among [WRI](http://www.wri.org/), [C40](http://www.c40cities.org/), and [ICLEI](http://www.iclei.org/) in collaboration with the [World Bank](http://www.worldbank.org/), [UN-HABITAT](http://www.unhabitat.org/), and [UNEP](http://www.unep.org/).

The White House’s [climate action plan](http://www.whitehouse.gov/share/climate-action-plan) aims to transform the U.S. electricity system in the coming decades. [The President directed](http://www.wri.org/blog/2013/06/first-take-looking-president-obama%E2%80%99s-climate-action-plan) the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop and implement standards to reduce carbon dioxide pollution from power plants, double renewable energy in the United States by 2020, and open public lands to an additional 10 gigawatts of renewable energy development, enough to power more than 6 million homes.

While reactions to President Obama’s [newly announced climate plan](http://www.wri.org/blog/2013/06/first-take-looking-president-obama%E2%80%99s-climate-action-plan) have focused on [domestic action](http://www.wri.org/blog/2013/06/numbers-economic-benefits-national-climate-action-plan), the plan actually has potentially significant repercussions [for the rest of the world](http://www.wri.org/blog/2013/06/what-president-obama%E2%80%99s-national-climate-plan-tells-us-about-international-climate). These repercussions will come in part through his commitment to limit U.S. investments in [new coal-fired power plants overseas](http://insights.wri.org/news/2012/11/new-global-assessment-reveals-nearly-1200-proposed-coal-fired-power-plants). If fully implemented, the plan will help ensure that the U.S. government channels its international investments away from fossil fuels and toward clean energy. The move sends a powerful signal—and hopefully, will inspire similar action by other global lenders.