environment

How Just is the Just Energy Transition Partnership in Vietnam?

In the middle of May, a sigh of relief went through the Vietnamese environmental civil society community. Nguy Thi Khanh announced on her Facebook page that she was home with family. Khanh, one of the best-known advocates for renewable energy in Vietnam, had been arrested in the beginning of 2022 for tax evasion. Before that, she was the director of the local NGO GreenID, the first Vietnamese to win the Goldman Environmental prize and her input on the energy transition was valued inside and outside Vietnam. Her arrest was a surprise to civil society actors.

The gunslinger state of Laos

On December 15, on his way back from work, the Laotian director, activist and award winner, Sombath Somphone, mysteriously disappeared. The last people to see him, according to leaked surveillance footage, were the Laotian authorities at a police control post, where he was pulled over, and then driven away in a different car. Despite that, […]

China in Global Climate Change Politics

One of the paradoxes that COP17 left us with to solve is that of how to really understand China as a global climate change player. China has become more and more sure of herself both politically and economically  in any global setting. But when it comes to global climate change politics, we see a very […]

Elections but no “flower revolution” in Laos

By Kristina Jönsson Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science, Lund University. Elections tend to receive a lot of media attention these days—Laos being an obvious exception. Still, in recent months two elections have taken place in Laos, one to the National Assembly (NA) and one to the Party Congress. Even if they by nature do […]

Climate Summit in Copenhagen: China moves to centre stage of the climate negotiations

Jørgen Delman, Professor, PhD, China Studies,
Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, Copenhagen University

Worried Japanese Businesses Lash Out against Climate Deal

Alexandru Luta
Research Assistant
International Politics of Natural Resources and the Environment Research Programme
Finnish Institute of International Affairs

On Tuesday, March 17, 2009, a full-page newspaper advertisement, run in reportedly all of Japan’s dailies, sent shockwaves through the country’s green community. The advertisement’s message, co-sponsored by the Nippon Keidanren (English: the Japan Business Association) and 27 other business and industry federations, asks of the newspapers’ readership if they will not think about “the costs we all have to bear”.

China’s involvement in climate change mitigation

Inga Fritzen Buan Researcher, Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Norway ([email protected])

Nordic strategies for China and Asia – energy, environment, climate change and R&D

Jørgen Delman PhD, Director, NIAS.