In February, Pacific Environment hosted a weeklong zero waste workshop in Vietnam. With over 80 participants from NGOs, government and industry around Vietnam and Asia Pacific, participants shared lessons learned from the zero waste movement in different contexts, and explored opportunities and fundraising for the important work ahead. To kick off Earth Month, I wanted … Read more
On February 27, 2025, South Korea’s National Assembly passed the Special Act on Offshore Wind, marking a significant breakthrough in the country’s clean energy transition. This legislation streamlines permitting, enhances the government’s role in site planning, and ensures grid connection and infrastructure planning. With this law in place, administrative hurdles and uncertainty for offshore wind … Read more
Since its founding in 1987, Pacific Environment has been building power with local communities across the Pacific Rim to protect our oceans, marine life and public health. While our Climate Team has been working to advance clean shipping in Singapore, the Republic of Korea, we are now extending our efforts into Japan to expand our … Read more
On Oct. 21, 2024, delegates from over 190 countries began a two-week long meeting at the 16th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, or COP16, in Cali, Colombia, for the first time, since signing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) at COP15 in 2022. The plan includes measures to halt and … Read more
July 3 marks International Plastic Bag Free Day, an annual event dedicated to raising awareness about the environmental impact of plastic bags and promoting sustainable alternatives.
Last week, the Pacific Environment team returned home from the fourth meeting of the United Nations Global Plastics Treaty negotiations (also known as INC-4) in Ottawa, Canada. This meeting brought together delegates from over 160 countries, as well as hundreds of industry, civil society, Indigenous Peoples, rightsholders, health advocates and other observers. Our team focused … Read more
An alarming new report published by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) confirms that plastic production is a huge contributor to global climate change. Gone unchecked, the report’s authors estimate that by mid-century, global climate change pollution from the plastics industry could triple, accounting for one-fifth of Earth’s remaining carbon budget. The report comes as … Read more
Five years into the start of our initiative to eliminate plastic pollution in Vietnam, I feel immense pride in how much Pacific Environment and our partners have accomplished with our Zero Waste movement. Our goal: minimize single-use waste, reduce consumption, and ensure that products are made to be reused. Each passing year sees our movement … Read more
A group of fuel production stakeholders, including H2Carrier and MAN Energy Solutions, today joined Environmental Defense Fund in support for the full decarbonisation of the shipping industry by 2050. The companies call on International Maritime Organization (IMO) Member States to develop policies that incentivize the production and adoption of sustainable fuels, and to adopt ambitious interim targets … Read more
We had a great year with many important wins. But none of this would have been possible without our supporters. This support helps Pacific Environment collaborate with brave grassroots leaders to fight climate change, defend the oceans, protect wildlife, build just societies and move beyond fossil fuels toward a green economy. Our teams coordinate ambitious … Read more
We traveled to the biodiversity summit in Canada to help ensure that the world commits to protecting 30% of our oceans by 2030. And we have great news to share: after many long days and nights of negotiations, the global community reached a watershed conservation agreement to protect 30% of the planet’s land and oceans … Read more
My proudest moment last winter was when allies and I were able to thwart attempts by multinational companies to avoid responsibility for plastic pollution in communities and our oceans. We had just convinced top national policymakers to include strong provisions to curb plastic pollution in a new version of Vietnam’s environmental laws. These included single-use plastic bans and … Read more
This piece is excerpted from a speech given by Pacific Environment’s Executive Director Alex Levinson at the World Ocean Forum in Korea. My colleagues from Pacific Environment and I are very pleased to be with you all today, at this gathering of international ocean leaders. This is my first time in Busan. A city that … Read more
In 2021, Pacific Environment partnered with community leaders to fight climate change, protect the oceans, build just societies, and move beyond fossil fuels toward a green economy. I’m proud of the historical wins we and local activists achieved this year. And I hope you are, too, because we couldn’t do what we do without the … Read more