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By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital

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Today’s newsletter focuses on Asia as the continent experienced extreme temperatures last month which was made worse – and more likely – as a result of human-driven climate change, a team of international scientists said. This comes as both China and Japan announced new plans to lower carbon emissions.

Billions of people across the continent were affected by record-breaking temperatures during April, with schools forced to shut down, crops damaged and hundreds of people killed by heat-related illnesses, climate experts from the World Weather Attribution group said in a report.

Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam experienced their hottest April days on record, while temperatures in India reached as high as 46 degrees Celsius (114.8 Fahrenheit), they said.

Also on my radar today:

• Comment: Coal proves hard to dislodge from US power system

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Heat mirage is visible on an expressway as vehicles move during a countrywide heat wave in Dhaka, Bangladesh. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain/File Photo

“From Gaza to Delhi to Manila, people suffered and died when April temperatures soared in Asia,” said Friederike Otto, Senior Lecturer in Climate Science at the Grantham Institute of Climate Change and the Environment, one of the report’s authors.

“The heat that we saw is really compounding an already dire crisis at the moment in Gaza,” Carolina Pereira Marghidan of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre said at a briefing.

Asian governments need to take action to adapt to soaring temperatures and minimize health risks, particularly in vulnerable sections of the population, said Marghidan.

Speaking of which, China’s state planner has ordered provinces to develop energy-efficiency plans for entities accounting for about 70% of consumption and carbon emissions by 2025-end, according to a notice, as measures fall short of targets.

China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said the plan will cover entities consuming at least 5,000 metric tons standard coal equivalent by the end of 2025, down from 10,000 tons outlined for 2024. 

There are about 20,000 of these entities nationally and all of them will be inspected by the end of 2025, according to the notice. In 2024, it wants provinces to inspect 60% of entities with yearly consumption of 10,000 tons.

“It is certainly an attempt to catch up on the energy intensity target,” said Yao Zhe, global policy advisor for Greenpeace East Asia in Beijing.

China has set a target to cut its energy intensity, or the amount of energy used per unit of economic growth, by 2.5% in 2024, after missing its 2% goal last year.

Analysts have said China is well behind on its goal to cut energy intensity by 13.5% and carbon intensity by 18% between 2021 and 2025. These are interim targets supporting China’s goal to become carbon neutral by 2060.

Energy intensity fell just 0.5% in 2023, and China also missed last year’s target to cut carbon emissions per unit of GDP.

Elsewhere, Japan’s industry ministry kicked off talks to craft the next basic energy plan on Wednesday, a key long-term strategy for the resource-poor country aimed at balancing energy security and decarbonisation to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

Japan, the world’s fifth-biggest carbon dioxide emitter, is heavily reliant on fossil fuels to produce its electricity.

The government revises its energy plan every three to four years.

The current plan, which was approved by the cabinet in October 2021, did not mention building new nuclear plants or replacing existing ones, but stated that Japan aimed to reduce its reliance on nuclear power as much as possible.

The new plan will outline the goals and policy direction for how Japan will accelerate the decarbonisation toward 2035-2040 to contribute to international efforts against global warming, while simultaneously ensuring stable energy supplies.

Esther Kinyanjui reacts as she sits near the rescue operations for people who are feared trapped at the scene of a landslide in Kiambu County, Kenya. REUTERS/Monicah Mwangi

Natalia Arjomand, senior director at Canadian impact investment firm SecondMuse Capital, shares her thoughts on the systemic barriers women-owned businesses in Asia are facing:

“Through our research at SecondMuse Capital’s Future Economy Lab, we saw that in South and Southeast Asia, the intertwined challenges of climate change and gender inequality present both a significant hurdle and a unique opportunity for sustainable development. 

“Women, deeply engaged in agriculture, forestry, and ecotourism, offer invaluable insights and hands-on experience crucial for building climate resilience.

“However, women business owners and leaders face specific structural and cultural constraints when they attempt to access finance in South and Southeast Asia.

“Systemic barriers, such as restricted access to financial services, complex bureaucratic processes, and prevailing gender biases, further marginalized women entrepreneurs. 

“These hurdles not only curtail women’s contributions to climate action but also slow the pace of sustainable progress.

“To truly harness the potential of women as catalysts for climate solutions, we must bridge the divide between gender lens investing and climate finance. 

“This involves designing inclusive financial products, easing capital access, and valuing women’s pivotal role in driving environmental sustainability. 

“Empowering women-owned businesses through targeted investments can catalyze a shift towards more resilient and equitable communities, underscoring the need for a concerted effort to weave gender equality into the fabric of climate finance strategies.”

Basavaraj, a water tanker driver, fills his truck with water from a borewell, before delivering it to customers in Bengaluru, which is facing water shortages, in India. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

Today’s spotlight shines a light on the water tanker drivers who keep ‘India’s Silicon Valley’ Bengaluru going.

Basavaraj, a water tanker driver in India’s tech hub Bengaluru, has to leave home by 6:30 a.m. each day to collect enough water for his customers, who now depend on his services for a very basic need.

Residents of the southern city of 14 million people, capital of Karnataka state and often called “India’s Silicon Valley”, have been reeling due to water shortages amid unusually hot weather.

The 22-year-old fills up his tanker at a man-made pool fed by four boreholes in the north of the city, then does rounds of four or five buildings whose residents are his regular customers.

The pool’s owner Nandish says he can supply fewer tankers now.

“Around 40 tankers used to come here every day earlier but now only about 15-20 come as water from the bore wells has also reduced,” he said.

Today’s Sustainable Switch was edited by Elaine Hardcastle.

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