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July 06, 2025
 

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ENVIRONMENT

Sustainability

Climate change
Energy
Sustainability
Wildlife
Earth science
An employee of Daikin Cambodia explains the use of different tools during an air conditioner installation training session in Phnom Penh. Daikin is one of Japan’s oldest air conditioning companies, but as Japan’s population falls, the firm is keying in on overseas growth.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
As Southeast Asia heats up, a Japanese cooling giant sees a major opportunity
With hot weather and a growing population, the region is becoming a key growth market for Daikin and other players. But experts warn of a vicious cycle leading to more emissions.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
A corporate deal that protected the Amazon from soy farming starts to show cracks 
Many are taking advantage of a loophole in the Amazon Soy Moratorium, a voluntary agreement signed by the world's top grain traders in 2006.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Investors want clear ocean management rules to scale up funding
The lack of a clear governing framework and robust ocean-related data has stymied private sector finance to date.
Seeking access to pricier and more demanding foreign markets for its beef, Brazil's Amazonian state of Para has seized on the global spotlight of the U.N. COP 30 summit to burnish its environmental credentials.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jun 11, 2025
Why Brazil’s ‘King of Cattle’ is embracing a plan to save the Amazon
By Manuela Andreoni and Ana Mano
The rancher has his eyes on exporting to pricier and more demanding markets in the United States, Europe and Asia.
People swim in the Mediterranean Sea on a sunny and warm spring day during the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3), which gathers leaders, researchers and activists to discuss how to protect marine life, in Nice, France, on Tuesday.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jun 11, 2025
Leaders warn race for minerals could turn seabed into 'wild west'
By Nick Perry, Francesco FONTEMAGGI, Fanny CARRIER and Antoine AGASSE
Anxiety over Trump's push to fast-track deep-sea mining in international waters took center stage at the opening of the U.N. Ocean Conference in France.
A plastic bottle lies on the sand at Maccarese beach in Italy in 2018.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jun 10, 2025
Development banks to invest €3 billion in ocean plastics fight
By Simon Jessop, Virginia Furness and Kate Abnett
Plastic waste entering the water could triple to up to 37 million metric tons per year by 2040, from around 11 million tons in 2021, the U.N. estimates.
A worker sorts plastic waste for recycling at Minato Resource Recycle Center in Tokyo in 2019. Japan has been criticized by environmental groups for its strategy on plastics, which is heavily reliant on recycling instead of reduction.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
May 25, 2025
Are microplastics hurting our fertility?
By Tomoko Otake
While a lot remains unknown about how microplastics affect our health, scientists in Japan and around the world broadly agree there's an urgent need to reduce plastic production.
Afghans carry water canisters on the outskirts of Kabul on April 27.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
May 22, 2025
'Serious problem': Afghan capital losing race against water shortages
By Susannah Walden
Kabul's crisis, driven by unruly and rapid urbanization, mismanagement over years of conflict, and climate change, forces residents to choose between food and water.
Founded with a mission of promoting electric vehicles, Formula E has always placed sustainability at the forefront of its raison d’etre.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
May 18, 2025
For Formula E, ‘sustainability is at the heart’
By Joel Tansey
Now in its 11th season, Formula E's efforts to reduce emissions and promote electric vehicles are paying off.
Keen to end its reliance on rice imports, Indonesia wants to plant vast tracts of the crop, along with sugar cane for biofuel, in the restive eastern region of Papua. But environmentalists warn it could become the world's largest deforestation project, threatening endangered species and Jakarta's climate commitments.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Apr 22, 2025
Indonesia food plan risks 'world's largest' deforestation
By Marchio Gorbiano and Sara Hussein
Deforestation linked to the plan is already underway.

Japan braces for more quakes as authorities dismiss doomsday hype
Evacuees from Akuseki Island, located in the Tokara island chain in Kagoshima Prefecuture, arrive at Kagoshima Port on Friday.
Hidden AI prompts in academic papers spark concern about research integrity
Waseda University is one of 14 institutions in eight countries found to have used hidden prompts in research papers.
A prophesied disaster (likely) won’t strike Japan this weekend
A viral manga prediction of a July 5 disaster has gripped Japan with anxiety and triggered an economic impact, but experts warn that while such dates are unreliable, the threat of a massive earthquake remains real. 
Residents of Tokara Islands begin evacuation as seismic swarm continues
Details about evacuations from Akuseki Island, located in the Tokara island chain in Kagoshima Prefecture, is seen written on a whiteboard in the city of Kagoshima on Thursday.
U.S. military apologizes over Okinawa sexual assault case
Col. Neil Owens (right), chief of staff for the 3rd Marine Division, bows in apology at the Okinawa Prefectural Government office in Naha on Thursday.
Ghibli’s Isao Takahata exhibit shows how beloved anime is made
“The man who planted Japanese animation” exhibition includes a variety of sketches, drawings and animation cels from Isao Takahata films such as color design for characters by Michiyo Yasuda from "Grave of the Fireflies."
Flag football facing challenges and opportunities ahead
Japan’s women’s flag football team at the 2025 International Bowl in Los Angeles in June. The sport is enjoying continued growth in the country.
From Hokusai’s Great Wave, shinkansen to One Piece: a cultural treasure box for Lego Japan
Michael Ebbesen, general manager of Lego Japan, says Lego bricks based on Japanese culture have a rich global appeal and are sellable around the world.
With farmed fish, RelationFish swims against the tide in fine dining
Chef Hideaki Matsuo (middle) and the staff of Oseto Suisan Fisheries prepare to check on their sustainably farmed fish.
As Southeast Asia heats up, a Japanese cooling giant sees a major opportunity
An employee of Daikin Cambodia explains the use of different tools during an air conditioner installation training session in Phnom Penh. Daikin is one of Japan’s oldest air conditioning companies, but as Japan’s population falls, the firm is keying in on overseas growth.

Podcast

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

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning
Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

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