James Murray

Perhaps it's the result of the post-colonial hangover, but Western perceptions of Asia in general and China in particular, have long been characterised as much by cliché and stereotype as hard-bitten experience.

And nowhere is this more evident than in the West's understanding of Asia's stance on the environment and climate change.

There are currently two stereotypical views of the region's green credentials.

The most established view is that as China is now ensconced as the world's largest emitter of carbon emissions and India closing in on the number two spot, Asia has become a global smoke stack and must take on a much greater share of the responsibility for tackling climate change.

It is said that the Chinese and Indian governments are being irresponsible in their insistence that it is the fully industrialised countries that have caused the vast majority of historic emissions. Therefore, they must deliver the deepest cuts and pay for developing economies to deploy low-carbon technologies.

There might be a certain moral justice in placing the bulk of the financial burden on Western countries, goes this line of thought, but rich countries could cut their emissions to almost zero and it wouldn't solve the problem of climate change unless the developing nations act far quicker to address their levels of pollution and rampant deforestation.

The counter position, which has recruited growing numbers of advocates in recent years, is that Asia may represent a sizable environmental challenge, but it will also prove the crucible in which the solution to climate change is forged.

According to this argument, painting Asia as the world's worst polluter is overly simplistic given its low per capita emissions and the fact a large chunk of its carbon footprint results from the manufacture of goods that are exported to the West.

In addition, Asia is far greener than critics claim and is home to several of the world's fastest expanding clean tech hubs in the form of South Korea, Japan, parts of China, and New Zealand.

It also has a more acute understanding of the impact of climate change than many countries in the West, given whole island states will disappear in the Pacific as a result of rising sea levels. The nuclear neighbours of China, India and Pakistan will also be left facing crippling water shortages as Himalayan glaciers recede.

Consequently, Asia has the potential to leapfrog Europe and the US and be the driving force behind the transition to a low-carbon global economy - a view reinforced by China's emergence as one of the dominant players in the fast expanding renewable energy market.

As with most stereotypes, both of these pictures are rooted in some form of reality, but completely fail to pick up the nuance and complexity that makes the region so critical to the development of a sustainable economy.

The fact is that while these two viewpoints are often set against one another, they are not in fact mutually exclusive. When it comes to climate change and low-carbon technologies, Asia is both a serious problem and potential solution.

It is also unequivocally the battlefield on which the fight against climate change will be won and lost, and as such, is one of the most important markets for any firm providing clean technologies or climate adaptation solutions.

That is why BusinessGreen.com is launching BusinessGreen.Asia. Any firm looking to pursue greener business models needs to know what is happening across the Asia-Pacific.

Whether they are interested in low-carbon supply chains, the expansion of the carbon market, the impact of rising sea levels, the emergence of new clean-tech giants, or the expansion of one of the world's largest green consumer markets, astute businesses will want to keep abreast of the latest developments. And with daily green business reports from right across the region, BusinessGr een.Asia aims to meet that demand.

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