Laborers at a shipyard on the outskirts of Dhaka. Worker deaths, injuries and exposure to hazardous substances are common in the ship-breaking industry, as is environmental harm with toxic chemicals seeping into the beach and water, harming marine life.
Shipyards of Bangladesh brace as heavy emitting ships near end of life
Worker deaths and environmental harm are common in yards where vessels that have supplied richer nations are dismantled for scraps that can be used in manufacturing.
All Nippon Airways aircraft at Haneda Airport in Tokyo in August 2024. ANA has staked a lot on greener kinds of jet fuel, with 70% of the emissions reductions under its net-zero emissions plan coming from them.
Sky not the only limit for JAL and ANA’s climate goals
The airlines' similar but different carbon neutrality plans highlight the difficulty of decarbonization, especially as the sector is now growing again.
Cows graze in a deforested pasture in Brazil's Amazon located in the municipality of Itapua do Oeste, Rondonia state, Brazil, in 2020.
Brazil's carbon trade takes off, but agribusiness escapes scrutiny
The regulation is still expected to bring legal security and foster carbon projects that protect the Amazon against pressure from the agribusiness sector.
Though vegan restaurants have been on the upswing since 2017, Japanese vegans still lack a wide variety of options.
In meat- and fish-loving Japan, veganism is making a comeback
Tourism, climate goals and animal rights concerns are sparking a plant-based renaissance in a country famous for sushi and pork ramen.
Vehicles drive over a road made using recycled plastic waste in Pokhara, Nepal, on Dec. 26.
Rubbish roads: Nepal explores paving with plastic
Studies show that roads paved with plastic waste can be twice as durable as normal roads.
Wawira Njiru, the founder of Food4Education, serves food during the opening of a new kitchen in Mombasa County, Kenya, in 2022. The organization started in 2012 by feeding 25 children out of a single kitchen. Now it feeds nearly half a million every day.
Amid rising world hunger, a Japan-inspired group in Kenya is making a big impact
Food4Education is helping feed half a million students through a program that drew inspiration from Japan's renowned school lunch programs.
A demonstrator holds a banner with the image of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in Tijuana, Mexico, on Dec. 18.
Politics, not climate, to drive sustainable finance trends in 2025
The return of Donald Trump as U.S. president heralds more regional divergence on everything from fund flows to legal cases and market regulations.

Longform

Pedestrians commute through Shibuya Station in central Tokyo, an area that is almost never devoid of people.
As the rest of Japan shrinks, Tokyo grows