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| Home > V4N4 Winter 2010 |
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V4N4 Winter 2010
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The Path To Green Growth
Hard Choices That Asia Must Make
Nothing short of a paradigm shift will stop Asia’s powering growth from eventually tipping the world into a catastrophic spiral of climate change. From governments to businesses to civic groups to individuals, Asia must embrace a new path to green growth to save the planet.
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A Letter from the Editors
Chung-in Moon and David Plott
Dear Reader,
For decades, the vocabulary used to describe Asia’s torrid economic growth has been plucked from a dictionary of the divine or the language of myth. The region’s success over the past 50 years in lifting so many people out of such dire poverty in so short a time has been often described as a “miracle” of Asian “tigers” and “dragons” and “elephants.” Even the inconvenient truth of the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98 did little to stop the course of Asia’s economic rise.
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Cover Stories
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Shifting Paradigms: The Road to Global Green Growth
By Lee Myung-bak
The contentious debate over how best to combat climate change has been marked by a reluctance on the part of nations to take the necessary painful first steps toward a new economic model. But as President Lee Myung-bak of the Republic of Korea writes, nations can embrace a new economic model — green growth — not as a wanton response to the international pressure for carbon mitigation, but as a genuine reflection of respective national capability and political will. Here he outlines Korea’s strategy and the role it can play globally. |
Green Growth and A New World Order
By Norichika Kanie
Much of the public and policy-making discussion of climate change has understandably focused on the need to reduce CO2 emissions. What gets less attention is the fact that a move away from fossil-based fuels could herald a dramatic change in the international order. Japanese academic Norichika Kanie explores what that shift could mean for Asia and the world. |
Transformative Technology for a Sustainable Future
By Peter Hayes
Every so often in history a technological innovation emerges that has a transformative effect on human civilization. As the world ponders how to avoid the catastrophic effects of climate change, Nautilus Institute Director Peter Hayes looks at some of the possible technological breakthroughs that could pave the way to a sustainable future. |
Unleashing Green Dragons: A Bottom-Up Approach
By Dominic Kailashnath Waughray
Since the 1970s, global environmental problems have been characteristically managed by top-down government-led methods involving international conventions and other arrangements. With Asia’s breakneck economic growth increasingly threatened by further damage to the environment, World Economic Forum executive Dominic Kailashnath Waughray argues that adding a uniquely “bottom-up” dimension to Asia’s environmental management strategy, which galvanizes public-private partnerships across the region, could be a smart way to ensure it leads in the race to green growth. |
Green Growth in Asia: An Opportunity for Business
By Dominic Barton
Asian business leaders could reap significant competitive advantages from the coming shift to a green model of economic growth. The new model will use resources more efficiently and demand major capital investment, creating a “petri dish” for innovation in areas like renewable power, resource management and efficient transport, argues Dominic Barton, Managing Director of McKinsey & Company. The transition will be challenging, but Asia is well placed to lead, with a vast labor base, strong capital reserves and booming investment in research and development. Some Asian companies are already world leaders — others will have to catch up fast. |
Corporate Case Studies: Fujitsu, Hyundai and China Mobile
By Junichi Saito, Woong-Chul Yang & Li Zhengmao
In disparate corners of the business world, three firms are pioneering solutions to the challenges of sustainable development. At Fujitsu, the emphasis is on energy efficiency; at Hyundai, the focus is on clean engine technology; at China Mobile, cutting energy use is the key. |
▶ Corporate Case Study 1 Fujitsu: Green by Design
By Junichi Saito |
▶ Corporate Case Study 2 Hyundai: Clean Driver
By By Woong-Chul Yang |
▶ Corporate Case Study 3 China Mobile: Caring Compact
By Li Zhengmao |
Can Asian Cities Be Both Green and Resilient?
By Fatima Shah
With its many coastal mega-cities, Asia is poised to suffer disproportionately from the negative effects of climate change and the consequent rise in natural disasters. This requires urban planners and officials to take action on climate change today. The World Bank’s Fatima Shah looks at strategies and alternatives available to convert the challenges posed by these new realities into opportunities for growth and resilience. |
Car Crazy: The Perils of Asia’s Hyper-Motorization
By Lee Schipper
Asia’s love of vehicles is chokingly and noisily apparent. The number on the roads seems to rise inexorably, so fast in many places that it far outstrips the ability of governments to plan roads and infrastructure for them. But Asian nations desperate to find ways to cope with the clogged roads and foul air in their cities should not despair, says transport scientist Lee Schipper. Asian car ownership overall is tiny compared with the US and Europe. With the right planning and bold vision, it is possible to reclaim the streets and find more sustainable and more efficient transport systems. |
The Future of Green Building
By Robert Turk
The past decade has witnessed a steady increase in the need to address environmental considerations as part of the design process for commercial and residential buildings. A consultant on sustainable building practices, Robert Turk looks at the emerging field of eco-friendly design in terms of new projects, retrofitting efforts and the need to cope with climate change in the future. |
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The Debate
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Did Copenhagen Really Achieve Anything?
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Salvaging Negotiations: Where We Go From Here
By Agus P. Sari
While it is tempting to describe the Copenhagen climate change conference as a failure, especially given the lack of political leadership and the failure of diplomacy to produce the expected outcome, the accord that emerged from the conference still succeeded in sending important messages about the battle against climate change. Let’s see how the next major conference in Mexico City takes things forward. |
Nearing the Tipping Point: The Failure to Find a Way Back
By Yurika Ayukawa
The climate change conference in Copenhagen was a total failure. Even the heads of state could not agree on the critical issues to save the planet. What was expected was a binding legal agreement that would set ambitious targets for carbon emissions reductions from individual countries. Instead, we a got piece of paper called “the Copenhagen Accord.” The failure in Copenhagen was a failure, above all, in Washington. |
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Feature Essays
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Delicately Poised: Are China and the US Heading for Conflict?
By Jia Qingguo & Richard Rosecrance
As the balance of power between China and the US, the world’s sole superpower, narrows with China’s rise, many observers fret that armed conflict could ensue.
After all, in six out of seven historical cases where a new power has challenged an existing one, war has occurred. But political scientists Jia Qingguo and Richard Rosecrance argue there are reasons to be optimistic that China’s rise will be peaceful.
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Bloodless Revolution: How the DPJ’s Win Will Change Japan
By Cheol Hee Park
For most of the past 60 years, one party has ruled Japan. In August 2009, the Democratic Party of Japan finally ended the Liberal Democratic Party’s stranglehold. It has since set about a sweeping reform of how Japan is governed and who benefits.
Japan political specialist Cheol Hee Park argues that its desire to solidify its position in Upper House elections in 2010 will force it to focus on domestic affairs in coming months.
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Japan, the Indispensable Power in Northeast Asia
By Peter Van Ness
With the rise of China in recent decades, it has become all too customary among many observers to write off Japan as a spent force in the region.
But as Australian academic Peter Van Ness argues, there are plenty of reasons why Japan not only remains highly relevant, but also can be seen as the pivotal power in Northeast Asia.
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North Korea: It’s Time to Start Talking
By Edward J. Baker
US Ambassador Stephen Bosworth’s recent visit to North Korea may herald a new, less confrontational approach by the administration of President Barack Obama to the regime in Pyongyang. If that is the case, then the US may well be learning the lessons of past failures in dealing with the North, argues historian Edward J. Baker. |
The Emergence Of Regulatory Regionalism
By Kanishka Jayasuriya
Much of the debate about regional integration in Asia has focused on institutional frameworks that promote trade liberalization and the creation of an Asian community.
Australian academic Kanishka Jayasuriya argues that this approach misses altogether the emergence of a new force for regionalism — the evolution of a complex web of private and public regulatory regimes that is slowly tying the region together.
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Book Reviews
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The Tianxia System: World Order In A Chinese Utopia
By Feng Zhang
As China moves to center stage in world politics, the works of Chinese philosopher Zhao Tingyang are provoking debate at home and abroad for their portrait of a Chinese-inspired new world order. Feng Zhang provides an overview and assessment of Zhao’s philosophy of the tianxia system and its importance.
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