Showing 1 - 10 of 755
Beyond the hype: Gauging AI's true economic impact
Oped, Published on 30/05/2024
» According to tech leaders and many pundits and academics, artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to transform the world as we know it through unprecedented productivity gains. While some believe that machines soon will do everything humans can do, ushering in a new age of boundless prosperity, other predictions are at least more grounded. For example, Goldman Sachs predicts that generative AI will boost global GDP by 7% over the next decade, and the McKinsey Global Institute anticipates that the annual GDP growth rate could increase by 3-4 percentage points between now and 2040. For its part, The Economist expects that AI will create a blue-collar bonanza.
The 'billions to trillions' charade
Oped, Published on 23/05/2024
» The international development sector has become fixated on calculating financing gaps. Hardly a day goes by without new estimates of the funds low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) need to meet their climate targets and achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Asia-Pacific's loss of biodiversity
Oped, Published on 22/05/2024
» In recent months, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and others have pointed to an increase in food insecurity and "hunger hotspots" in various parts of Asia and the Pacific. While conflicts and climate crises can carry some of the blame, we must acknowledge that the slow but steady erosion of our region's biodiversity is an equal or even greater threat to our future food security.
Green push needs united approach
News, Published on 20/05/2024
» Bridging the divide between agriculture and forestry is imperative for climate action. The global and national race is on to steeply reduce emissions over the next six years. According to the watershed Global Stocktake report, released ahead of COP28 in Dubai, we face the daunting task of reducing emissions by 43% by 2030 to retain the possibility of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees by the end of the century, and 27% to stabilise at a 2-degree temperature increase. Since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, we have managed only to be on track for a 2% reduction in emissions against 2019 baselines. Each subsequent year, we collectively feel the impacts of a hotter, more volatile climate as new records are set for temperature and natural disasters.
Factories need checks
Oped, Editorial, Published on 17/05/2024
» As communities across the country suffer from pollution from irresponsible factories, the cabinet has ordered officials to accommodate investors by fast-tracking over 100 applications to open factories.
What TikTok got wrong about America
Oped, Published on 09/05/2024
» TikTok is now one of the biggest stories in business and geopolitics. US President Joe Biden has just signed a law that will ban the massively popular app in nine months if its Chinese owner, ByteDance, does not sell it to a non-Chinese entity.
Southeast Asian banks must stop funding coal
Oped, Published on 11/04/2024
» Indonesia is by far a major top producer of dangerous climate emissions -- more than any country in the Southeast Asian region, mainly due to its burning of coal. The country is also feeling the full force of worsening climate disasters, from floods and storms to deadly landslides. My hometown, Jakarta, is sinking -- and this is compounded by regular catastrophic flooding and air pollution that disrupts millions of lives. Indonesia faces huge risks as it currently sits as the second most disaster-prone country in the world, according to the World Risk Report 2023.
Democracies can win tech race
Oped, Published on 04/04/2024
» The world is on the precipice of a technological cold war. As authoritarian regimes develop new digital tools that endanger open societies and threaten democratic values, the West must decide whether to compete or concede. Today, the battle for freedom is being fought in Ukraine; but the frontline could one day be in Taiwan, a global technology hub, producing the world's most advanced microchips, and a flourishing democracy less than 160 kilometres off the coast of China, which seems bent on annexing the island.
Making exports for a low-carbon era
Oped, Published on 27/03/2024
» Exports have been Thailand's important growth engine for many decades. A number of Thailand's export destinations have shown increasing interest in and support for low-carbon products. Failure to meet global demand for low-carbon products risks Thailand's competitiveness in international trade.
US TikTok ban not the right move
Oped, Published on 27/03/2024
» On March 13, the United States House of Representatives passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. It is no secret that the bill takes aim at TikTok. The massively popular video-sharing platform is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance and is thus subject to the laws of the People's Republic of China and potentially to the control of the Communist Party of China (CPC), despite assurances to the contrary from company executives.