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July 01, 2026
 

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POLLUTION

Smoke rises from the direction of an energy installation in the Gulf emirate of Fujairah on Saturday.
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 15, 2026
Toxic pollution from Iran war will spread and last for decades
Missiles and bombs contain heavy metals and other toxic pollutants, which are released into the air, soil and water lingering often for decades and posing health risks.
Sanae Takaichi and Donald Trump meet in Tokyo for a summit in October. Japan’s fossil fuel investments tied to deals with the United States show Takaichi’s government favoring legacy energy over renewables.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 8, 2026
Takaichi and Trump are natural fossil fuel buddies — or are they?
More than a third of Southeast Asia’s coal power finance between 2016 and 2024 came from Japanese banks, and more than a fifth of gas.
Japan is hosting a three-day closed-door meeting among working-level officials from around 20 countries to push for progress toward a global treaty on plastic pollution.
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2026
‘Unofficial’ talks on plastic pollution treaty to begin in Japan
Supposedly final talks in South Korea in 2024 toward an agreement failed, and a renewed effort in Geneva last August likewise collapsed in overtime.
Temporary pipes divert sewage into the C&O Canal in order to repair the Potomac Interceptor, a six-foot-wide wastewater pipe that collapsed in January, dumping hundreds of millions of gallons of sewage into the Potomac River, in Cabin John, Maryland, on Wednesday.
WORLD
Feb 19, 2026
Washington mayor asks Trump for disaster declaration over Potomac spill
After part of a sewer line failed in Maryland’s Montgomery County on Jan. 19, some 250 million gallons of untreated sewage flowed into the Potomac over the next several days.
A worker sorts dismantled electronic parts at Ecowork, an e-waste recycling facility in Ghaziabad, India, on Feb. 12.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Feb 18, 2026
Junk to high-tech: India bets on e-waste for critical minerals
Global worries about China’s dominance as a critical minerals producer has galvanized New Delhi to ramp up extracting materials essential for it to become an AI hub.
Pedestrians walk along an overpass as traffic snarls in Beijing on Feb. 11.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Feb 17, 2026
China has slashed air pollution, but the ‘war’ isn’t over
In much of the country, the air remains dangerous to breathe by World Health Organization standards.
Deadly climate disasters are rising in South and Southeast Asia as adaptation funding and institutional capacity lag, highlighting the need for stronger regional and global coordination and support.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2026
Asia needs to play smarter to win climate dollars
Climate finance is supposed to fill the gap left by the industrialized world’s withdrawal from its responsibility to subsidize those suffering because of atmospheric carbon.
Residential towers beyond the Johor Bahru–Singapore Rapid Transit System Link under construction in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, on Sept. 23, 2024. The state of Johor where Johor Bahru is located is Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing data center hub.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 8, 2026
Malaysia draws first data center protest over pollution and water
The country is emblematic of growing social unease with data centers worldwide, despite their crucial role in powering the internet and ChatGPT searches.
A drone view shows waste, including plastic bottles, used tires and various nonorganic waste, floating on the Drina river, creating a floating rubbish dump, in Visegrad, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on Friday.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Feb 8, 2026
Chile’s climate summit chief to lead plastic pollution treaty talks
“Plastic pollution is a planetary problem that affects everyone: every country, every community and every individual,” career diplomat Julio Cordano warned after being elected.
A young local Fijian walks on flooded land in her village in February 2016. The ocean is nearing a dangerous tipping point, but 2025 marked a shift from incrementalism toward meaningful global action.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 7, 2026
A decisive year for ocean conservation
The ocean’s decline is not inevitable. It is our choice whether to deliver a healthier, more abundant oceans for future generations.
A family walks past the Akshardham temple, shrouded in heavy smog and air pollution, in New Delhi on Dec. 19.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Jan 2, 2026
Delhi’s worst air in years fuels anger in test for Modi’s party
In November and December, when pollution in New Delhi typically peaks, the air quality index was above 300 on 88% of days, the highest percentage since at least 2017.
A container ship departs the Yangshan Deep Water Port in Shanghai. U.S. President Donald Trump's trade wars only serve to drive up global emissions.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2025
Trade wars destroy the planet
If trade tensions reshape industrial structures in China and the U.S., the shift toward more energy-intensive activities will raise the weighted-average carbon intensity.
U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station in the city of Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, in 2023
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2025
U.S. military rejects Okinawa access requests over PFAS findings
PFAS have been found in nearby rivers and other sites, raising concerns about potential effects on drinking water.
Solar panels power an environmentally friendly mosque in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana. Japanese companies are supporting green energy projects across Central Asia, promoting renewable power, climate resilience and sustainable development.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 10, 2025
Japan should unveil a ‘Green Master Plan’ for Central Asia
Japanese companies are driving green energy projects across Central Asia, advancing renewable power, climate resilience and sustainable development.
Fossil fuels like propane and isobutane, commonly used for BBQs, are helping replace potent hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants, significantly cutting greenhouse gas emissions and showing that practical solutions can slow global warming.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2025
BBQ gas is helping to cool a warming planet
A widening array of national-level regulations, prompted by the United Nations-backed Kigali Amendment on HFCs, are gradually pushing hydrofluorocarbons out of the market.
A person walks along a bridge over a drainage channel blocked by plastic waste in Accra, Ghana.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Dec 3, 2025
The world’s plastic glut is set to get much worse by 2040, study finds
Global plastic pollution will hit 280 million metric tons per year by 2040, or a dump truck’s worth every second.
A climate-displaced woman stands along the Kholpetua River on April 26 in Bangladesh’s Satkhira district, where rising sea levels threaten coastal communities.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 25, 2025
The real failure on climate didn’t happen in Brazil
Of the 10 biggest polluters accounting for three-quarters of carbon emissions, just two — the European Union and Japan — have submitted documents with any hope of being enacted.
Villagers of Tha Ton subdistrict in Thailand hold placards during a public consultation on Nov. 10, as they call for the shutdown of mines upstream and the restoration of water quality in the Kok, Sai, Ruak, Mekong and Salween rivers, amid increased rare earth and gold mining at the Kok River’s source in Myanmar, where unregulated operations may release toxic chemicals, according to new research.
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 24, 2025
Toxic mines put Southeast Asia’s rivers and people at risk, study says
More than 2,400 mines — many of them illegal and unregulated — could be releasing deadly chemicals such as cyanide and mercury into river water, new research shows.
King Bubaraye Dakolo of the Ekpetiama Kingdom in Bayelsa State, southern Nigeria, poses for a photograph in Lagos on Oct. 13.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Oct 22, 2025
‘What is the value of a human life?’ In Nigeria, oil giant Shell may find out.
Bubaraye Dakolo, the monarch of Ekpetiama in Nigeria, is suing a global oil giant over one of the largest corporate environmental liabilities in history.
People ride their motorbikes during rush hour in Hanoi in August.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 21, 2025
Japan warns Vietnam of job losses as Hanoi motorbike ban hits Honda
In July, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh issued a directive prohibiting gas-powered motorbikes from entering the center of the capital from the middle of 2026.
Uruguay federation reportedly cancels charter flight after World Cup exit
Uruguay's Jose Maria Gimenez reacts after the team's loss against Spain at the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Friday.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
India’s gig workers pay the price for exposure to New Delhi’s hazardous air
Rohit Kushwaha waits for a customer as he delivers his last parcel of the day, in New Delhi in January. His work as a delivery driver has helped pay the family’s bills, but has had a significant impact on his health.
Yen hits 40-year low against the dollar, breaking ¥162 level
Japan's currency broke ¥162 to the dollar on Tuesday in Tokyo.
Japan falls in gut-wrenching fashion as Brazil strikes late to win World Cup clash
Brazil's Gabriel Martinelli (right) shoots past Japan defenders Shogo Taniguchi (left) and Takehiro Tomiyasu to score in the second half of a match in the round of 32 at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Houston on Monday.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
A French ship with close ties to Japan combines arts and sciences on the high seas
Romain Troublé, the executive director of Tara Ocean Foundation, speaks to visitors aboard the Tara during a rare port call in Tokyo in April.
In Kyushu’s far south, Senti.U sparks a culinary destination
Chef Yasuhiko Uchida was born in Saga Prefecture but has made his home in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, since 2012.
‘The colors speak for themselves’: How Japan’s chroma bible went global
“A Dictionary of Color Combinations” is meant to function as a quick-reference guide for artists, designers and anyone with a passing interest in aesthetics as a quantifiable pursuit.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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