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The Greening of Asia: The Business Case for Solving Asia's Environmental Emergency
One of Asia's best-respected writers on business and economy, Hong Kong-based author Mark L. Clifford provides a behind-the-scenes look at what companies in China, India, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand are doing to build businesses that will lessen the environmental impact of Asia's extraordinary economic growth. Dirty air, foul water, and hellishly overcrowded cities are threatening to choke the region's impressive prosperity. Recognizing a business opportunity in solving social problems, Asian businesses have developed innovative responses to the region's environmental crises.
From solar and wind power technologies to green buildings, electric cars, water services, and sustainable tropical forestry, Asian corporations are upending old business models in their home countries and throughout the world. Companies have the money, the technology, and the people to act--yet, as Clifford emphasizes, support from the government (in the form of more effective, market-friendly policies) and the engagement of civil society are crucial for a region-wide shift to greener business practices. Clifford paints detailed profiles of what some of these companies are doing and includes a unique appendix that encapsulates the environmental business practices of more than fifty companies mentioned in the book.
From solar and wind power technologies to green buildings, electric cars, water services, and sustainable tropical forestry, Asian corporations are upending old business models in their home countries and throughout the world. Companies have the money, the technology, and the people to act--yet, as Clifford emphasizes, support from the government (in the form of more effective, market-friendly policies) and the engagement of civil society are crucial for a region-wide shift to greener business practices. Clifford paints detailed profiles of what some of these companies are doing and includes a unique appendix that encapsulates the environmental business practices of more than fifty companies mentioned in the book.
- GenresAsiaChinaEnvironment
320 pages, Hardcover
First published March 31, 2015
5 people are currently reading
122 people want to read
About the author
Mark L. Clifford
9 books18 followersMARK L. CLIFFORD is president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong and the former executive director of the Asia Business Council. He is editorial chair of the Asian Review of Books, a Council on Foreign Relations member, and a board member at Next Digital. He served as editor-in-chief of both English-language papers in Hong Kong, The Standard and the South China Morning Post. An honors history graduate of UC Berkeley and a Walter Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University, he holds a University of Hong Kong Ph.D. in Hong Kong history.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 3, 2023
Some good cases studies and insights on how corporations in Asia work in their specific economic contexts. But I am not as optimistic as Clifford (or some might say, delusional) to think that we can "sustainably" grow our economies as long as we are still operating under capitalism. Please...that dream has long been dead.
March 27, 2022
Went through the latest trend of green initiatives. Mark is a good writer and he who a historian, captured Asia's corporates methods in dealing with sustainability issues. The cases are well cited especially the part regarding to Solar Power usage in China, a very interesting case.
June 9, 2015
By Katrina Hamlin
Asian entrepreneurs are searching for smog’s silver lining. “The Greening of Asia” by Mark Clifford sets out to show that local businesses can - and do - profit from efforts to avert an environmental emergency. But his eulogy to green business inadvertently highlights new technologies’ unhealthy dependence on subsidies and debt. It’s a flaw that Asia’s eco-capitalists must confront.
It’s true that environmental emergencies can stimulate entrepreneurs. The author, a former journalist and director of the Asia Business Council, is at his most persuasive when he shows how companies react to pollution and scarcity by making their operations both greener and leaner. One chief executive sums up this commonsense strategy succinctly: “Anything you waste you are paying for.” Such pragmatism can pay off. In Hong Kong, an index of listed companies with a strong record of sustainability is up 20 percent so far this year, trumping the local benchmark. Clifford’s suggestion that Asia could become a crucible for green business sounds credible.
The problem is that his most exciting case studies undermine the book’s hypothesis. The author highlights young technologies like renewable energy and green vehicles that have yet to demonstrate they can be commercially viable. Take the book’s opening chapter, which looks at the solar industry. First up is Suntech, which was briefly the world’s largest solar panel producer but collapsed into bankruptcy in 2013. Clifford goes on to feature Hanergy, which is currently under investigation by Hong Kong regulators for market manipulation; LDK Solar, which narrowly avoided liquidation last year; ReneSola, which has been loss-making since 2011; and Yingli Green Energy, a company which recently admitted there was “substantial doubt” about its future as a going concern.
The emphasis on breakthrough technology inadvertently brings to the fore a persistent clean-tech conundrum – where’s the money? New science is capital-intensive, and the payoff is distant and uncertain. Fickle government policies have made it dangerous to rely on subsidies or support. Infrastructure lags behind, creating overcapacity when new products hit the market. Competition from more established, dirtier industries is entrenched. These problems plague not only solar but also other fledgling clean-tech industries like wind and electric vehicles.
Despite these issues Clifford remains relentlessly optimistic because, as he says, “the technology is here”. However, even he admits that much needs to change in policy and finance if his bullishness is to be justified.
His wish list is long. Government policies will need to go beyond unsustainable subsidies and other artificial props. Instead, authorities should invest in infrastructure to help make clean technology more practical, efficient and affordable. China wastes as much as a fifth of electricity from wind supply because it never reaches the grid, Reuters reported in May. Clifford thinks the figure could be even higher. Fixing that glitch could be more useful than paying feed-in tariffs.
Clifford also suggests that Asian governments could pare down the region’s excessive subsidies and policies that favour dirtier industries. Countries in emerging and developing Asia blew more than $2 trillion - nearly 15 percent of the region’s GDP - on coal and petroleum subsidies in 2013, according to a report from the International Monetary Fund. Turning that down a notch could help to nurture fledgling green tech.
He could go further. For example, corporations could seek out new sources of financing to help wean themselves off subsidies. Asia is only just catching on to the development of new financial instruments which are helping to attract dedicated investors to sustainable projects in Europe and elsewhere. Green bonds, which raise funds for sustainable business projects, are one example – global issuance may reach as much as $100 billion this year, according to the Climate Bond Initiative. India recently issued inaugural green bonds, and China is likely to follow suit this year. Last year, Toyota became the first company to issue corporate green bonds to help fund work on hybrid vehicles.
With so many caveats, Clifford’s argument only half succeeds. Even so, this is a sincere effort to find the business case for solving Asia’s environmental emergency, and that makes it well worth reading. The absence of so-called “greenwashing” is admirable. It’s just that such honesty shows up the flaws as well as the merits of his case.
Asian entrepreneurs are searching for smog’s silver lining. “The Greening of Asia” by Mark Clifford sets out to show that local businesses can - and do - profit from efforts to avert an environmental emergency. But his eulogy to green business inadvertently highlights new technologies’ unhealthy dependence on subsidies and debt. It’s a flaw that Asia’s eco-capitalists must confront.
It’s true that environmental emergencies can stimulate entrepreneurs. The author, a former journalist and director of the Asia Business Council, is at his most persuasive when he shows how companies react to pollution and scarcity by making their operations both greener and leaner. One chief executive sums up this commonsense strategy succinctly: “Anything you waste you are paying for.” Such pragmatism can pay off. In Hong Kong, an index of listed companies with a strong record of sustainability is up 20 percent so far this year, trumping the local benchmark. Clifford’s suggestion that Asia could become a crucible for green business sounds credible.
The problem is that his most exciting case studies undermine the book’s hypothesis. The author highlights young technologies like renewable energy and green vehicles that have yet to demonstrate they can be commercially viable. Take the book’s opening chapter, which looks at the solar industry. First up is Suntech, which was briefly the world’s largest solar panel producer but collapsed into bankruptcy in 2013. Clifford goes on to feature Hanergy, which is currently under investigation by Hong Kong regulators for market manipulation; LDK Solar, which narrowly avoided liquidation last year; ReneSola, which has been loss-making since 2011; and Yingli Green Energy, a company which recently admitted there was “substantial doubt” about its future as a going concern.
The emphasis on breakthrough technology inadvertently brings to the fore a persistent clean-tech conundrum – where’s the money? New science is capital-intensive, and the payoff is distant and uncertain. Fickle government policies have made it dangerous to rely on subsidies or support. Infrastructure lags behind, creating overcapacity when new products hit the market. Competition from more established, dirtier industries is entrenched. These problems plague not only solar but also other fledgling clean-tech industries like wind and electric vehicles.
Despite these issues Clifford remains relentlessly optimistic because, as he says, “the technology is here”. However, even he admits that much needs to change in policy and finance if his bullishness is to be justified.
His wish list is long. Government policies will need to go beyond unsustainable subsidies and other artificial props. Instead, authorities should invest in infrastructure to help make clean technology more practical, efficient and affordable. China wastes as much as a fifth of electricity from wind supply because it never reaches the grid, Reuters reported in May. Clifford thinks the figure could be even higher. Fixing that glitch could be more useful than paying feed-in tariffs.
Clifford also suggests that Asian governments could pare down the region’s excessive subsidies and policies that favour dirtier industries. Countries in emerging and developing Asia blew more than $2 trillion - nearly 15 percent of the region’s GDP - on coal and petroleum subsidies in 2013, according to a report from the International Monetary Fund. Turning that down a notch could help to nurture fledgling green tech.
He could go further. For example, corporations could seek out new sources of financing to help wean themselves off subsidies. Asia is only just catching on to the development of new financial instruments which are helping to attract dedicated investors to sustainable projects in Europe and elsewhere. Green bonds, which raise funds for sustainable business projects, are one example – global issuance may reach as much as $100 billion this year, according to the Climate Bond Initiative. India recently issued inaugural green bonds, and China is likely to follow suit this year. Last year, Toyota became the first company to issue corporate green bonds to help fund work on hybrid vehicles.
With so many caveats, Clifford’s argument only half succeeds. Even so, this is a sincere effort to find the business case for solving Asia’s environmental emergency, and that makes it well worth reading. The absence of so-called “greenwashing” is admirable. It’s just that such honesty shows up the flaws as well as the merits of his case.
April 7, 2015
Asia has a big problem with its environmental impact on our world. Whilst many countries in the West are doing their bit to reduce their climate footprint through various green initiatives, it can still feel rather one-sided when many Asian companies seemingly carry on regardless, with environmental concerns hardly their first priority.
This fascinating book takes a highly focussed look at environmental issues in Asia and considers how the next possible business boom – ecological considerations in the region – may be handled. The author considers what China, India, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand are doing to build businesses that will lessen the environmental impact of Asia’s extraordinary economic growth. The West has been happy to have this region as its low-cost workshop, yet profit and possibly ignorance has got in the way.
Many governments are now trying to stem the tide of poor air quality, dirty water and overcrowding and address the business and social problems that they cause head on. It is not going to be an overnight fix, yet the author contends that steps are being taken in the right direction. It requires more than just a government decree. Entire business models need to be changed. Individual attitudes must be modified and yes, in part, the West must also shoulder some responsibility.
The book is clearly written with an academically focussed audience in mind, yet the publisher has priced this book so that even the interested generalist can afford it. It is a book that is capable of giving so much, dependent on its intended audience.
We may be forgiven for thinking we know “all” about the problems in Asia, yet in reality we are probably mostly ignorant. Imagine a village with no electricity, running water and more importantly no litter, the latter being due to its inhabitants being so poor that they can’t afford to leave anything to waste. Things are not necessarily much better in “first world” countries such as Singapore. Poor air quality and the weather does not respect sovereign territory and income, so Singaporeans were surprised and alarmed in 2013 to see their clean city blanketed by choking haze from fires in neighbouring Indonesia. This is not an isolated case.
The author notes that Asia is the greatest economic success story in human history and this is capable of leading change, even though the economic expansion is putting extraordinary and often unsustainable pressures on the natural environment. So positive change is inevitable, even though there will be a lot of change to push through and a lot of cleaning up being necessary afterwards.
However there is still a mass of contrasts that can feel hard to fathom. As the author notes, “The Asian Development Bank says that 628 million people in Asia are still without electricity; this means that even in the countries participating in the world’s great economic success story, one out of every five people is still living in a house without even a single electric light bulb. As the poor continue to rise out of poverty and as the population as a whole continues to grow, there will be an extraordinary strain on resources — water, food, fuel — and there is likely to be an increase in carbon emissions as well.”
So it is definitely in the interests of the countries not to kill the goose that lays golden eggs. Wise businesses are alert to these necessary changes and can be ideally placed to benefit from the inevitable.
It might not be too far-fetched to say that even if you have no business interests in this region, you still should be interested enough to read about what is happening here. After all, it has the potential to affect our entire world!
The Greening of Asia, written by Mark L. Clifford and published by Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231166089, 320 pages. YYYYY
This fascinating book takes a highly focussed look at environmental issues in Asia and considers how the next possible business boom – ecological considerations in the region – may be handled. The author considers what China, India, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand are doing to build businesses that will lessen the environmental impact of Asia’s extraordinary economic growth. The West has been happy to have this region as its low-cost workshop, yet profit and possibly ignorance has got in the way.
Many governments are now trying to stem the tide of poor air quality, dirty water and overcrowding and address the business and social problems that they cause head on. It is not going to be an overnight fix, yet the author contends that steps are being taken in the right direction. It requires more than just a government decree. Entire business models need to be changed. Individual attitudes must be modified and yes, in part, the West must also shoulder some responsibility.
The book is clearly written with an academically focussed audience in mind, yet the publisher has priced this book so that even the interested generalist can afford it. It is a book that is capable of giving so much, dependent on its intended audience.
We may be forgiven for thinking we know “all” about the problems in Asia, yet in reality we are probably mostly ignorant. Imagine a village with no electricity, running water and more importantly no litter, the latter being due to its inhabitants being so poor that they can’t afford to leave anything to waste. Things are not necessarily much better in “first world” countries such as Singapore. Poor air quality and the weather does not respect sovereign territory and income, so Singaporeans were surprised and alarmed in 2013 to see their clean city blanketed by choking haze from fires in neighbouring Indonesia. This is not an isolated case.
The author notes that Asia is the greatest economic success story in human history and this is capable of leading change, even though the economic expansion is putting extraordinary and often unsustainable pressures on the natural environment. So positive change is inevitable, even though there will be a lot of change to push through and a lot of cleaning up being necessary afterwards.
However there is still a mass of contrasts that can feel hard to fathom. As the author notes, “The Asian Development Bank says that 628 million people in Asia are still without electricity; this means that even in the countries participating in the world’s great economic success story, one out of every five people is still living in a house without even a single electric light bulb. As the poor continue to rise out of poverty and as the population as a whole continues to grow, there will be an extraordinary strain on resources — water, food, fuel — and there is likely to be an increase in carbon emissions as well.”
So it is definitely in the interests of the countries not to kill the goose that lays golden eggs. Wise businesses are alert to these necessary changes and can be ideally placed to benefit from the inevitable.
It might not be too far-fetched to say that even if you have no business interests in this region, you still should be interested enough to read about what is happening here. After all, it has the potential to affect our entire world!
The Greening of Asia, written by Mark L. Clifford and published by Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231166089, 320 pages. YYYYY
July 17, 2015
My too-often-failed personal attempts to limit plastic bentos and disposable chopstics is one thing, the large scale company efforts to green Asia are a different part of the same puzzle. If you are eager to get to know real examples of (yet unknown) Asian companies built upon an equation sustainability = business opportunity, this is a good and I dare to say entertaining read. The book fails to (attempt to) provide for any comprehensive answers and none of the individual stories is black and white which might lead to even more how- or when- or does-this-really-work or is-this-really-sustainable type of questions, but it’s well-researched and well-written and, last but not least, refreshing, after having read all the situation-is-so-bad-and-is-getting-worse-look-at-smog-numbers-in-Beijing essays. Consider reading even if you have nothing to do with Asia, you might find inspiration in some of the sustainability and/or business efforts. Consider reading even if not interested in sustainability literature, if only for the niche business mindset which greening efforts in Asia unfortunately still represent.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews