Vietnam’s coal consumption to surge in 2025-35
Vietnam will ramp up coal imports in the 2025-2035 period as coal consumption is forecast to reach its peak between 2030 and 2035, according to a draft plan for the Vietnamese coal industry development recently released by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Statistics from the ...
The Saigon Times
Indigenous community mounts legal challenge to Thai coal mine development
Local opposition to a planned coal mine in northern Thailand escalated in April when plaintiffs representing more than 600 villagers filed a lawsuit requesting the revocation of an environmental impact assessment conducted and approved more than 10 years ago. Members of Kabeudin village, an Indigenous Karen ...
Carolyn Cowan
Omkoi villagers file lawsuit to revoke coal mine EIA
50 residents of Kaboedin village, Omkoi district, Chiang Mai, filed a lawsuit with the Chiang Mai Administrative Court on Monday (4 April) to revoke an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for a coal mine project sited near their community. On Monday morning, community members marched from the ...
Prachatai
Finance firms plan to close coal plants in Asia
Some of the world’s biggest financial institutions are working on a plan to speed the closure of coal-fired power plants in Asia, the BBC has been told. The initiative was developed by UK insurer Prudential, is being driven by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and includes ...
Can the EU's climate change plan work in Southeast Asia?
After the European Union became a “strategic partner” of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc in December 2020, both blocs pledged to make climate change policy a key area of cooperation. The EU, already the largest provider of development assistance to the ASEAN region, has committed ...
David Hutt
Coal will power Cambodia in the wrong direction
Across Southeast Asia, governments continue to view coal as a reliable and inexpensive energy source, despite the rapidly falling costs of renewable power and the growing number of companies making vocal commitments to meeting all their demand with it. These companies are clear about what ...
Peter Ford
Ministry to give mining rights for four coal sites
The Ministry of Mines and Energy is set to review applications soon for rights to four coal mining concession areas – totalling 794sq km – it opened late in March in the Kingdom’s north. “Interested national and international companies can apply for a mining licence at ...
Thou Vireak
Cambodian-Lao coal power deal an environmental worry
With plans for cross-border electricity grids growing in the region, Laos is banking on hydropower exports to earn revenue. But a recent deal to also sell coal power generated in Laos to Cambodia has sparked environmental concerns over this trade. Last month, Cambodia’s state-owned utility firm ...
Koh Kong’s first coal-fired plant up in the air: Ministry
The investors of a project to build the first coal-fired power plant in Koh Kong province are still looking for buyers, according to the Ministry of Mines and Energy. In 2017, Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, a government-owned utility, started negotiations on building a 2,400-megawatt coal-fired ...
Chea Vansak
Vietnam Needs to Break Its Addiction to Chinese Coal
When it comes to the effects of global climate change, Vietnam is one of the world’s most at-risk nations. Rising sea levels threaten to inundate both the Mekong and Red River Deltas, potentially impacting tens of millions of people. Vietnam is also one of the fastest ...
Brian Malczyk and Tim Robinson