Asia: Environment

This Piece examines whether remediation, pollution-control, and restoration obligations of industrial corporate debtors survive, attach to assets, or extinguished during insolvency resolution under the IBC, and outlines a due-diligence framework for resolution applicants.

As Indian cities hurtle toward rapid urban expansion, often celebrated in terms of GDP growth, infrastructure, and high-rise skylines, a quieter crisis unfolds at the edge of this development: the disappearance of urban wetlands.

India generates an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 tonnes of plastic waste every day, of which a substantial share, approximately 10,556 tonnes daily, remains uncollected and enters landfills or the open environment. To address this, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (“MoEFCC”) has notified a national Extended Producer Responsibility (“EPR”) framework for plastic packaging under the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, as amended from time to time.

India has pledged to reduce its GDP emissions intensity by 45% by 2030 and reach net-zero by 2070. The Carbon Credit Trading Scheme, 2023 establishes a baseline-and-credit system requiring energy-intensive industries to meet greenhouse gas emission intensity targets or purchase carbon credit certificates. This framework shifts India's regulatory focus from energy efficiency to carbon intensity, creating both mandatory compliance obligations and voluntary offset opportunities.

Our monthly ESG bulletin provides a targeted snapshot of key developments we see as reflecting the “must know” trends in the Australian market and, where relevant, the international market.

Kazakhstan's environmental regulatory framework has undergone significant reform through amendments to the Environmental Code, introducing new facility classification criteria, enhanced state control mechanisms, and digital reporting requirements. The changes establish risk-based inspection protocols, financial security obligations for high-impact facilities, and provisions for voluntary carbon markets aligned with the Paris Agreement.

For many Indian businesses, the climate journey begins with a simple exercise: measuring their carbon footprint. But as India’s carbon market takes shape, knowing your emissions is only the starting point. A more important question then emerges: What do these numbers mean for business and what should we do next?

Victoria's new Sustainable Data Centre Action Plan introduces comprehensive planning, renewable energy, and community benefit requirements for data centre developments. The regulations establish location restrictions, noise limits, renewable energy mandates, and water supply requirements while creating new referral authorities to oversee compliance. These changes will significantly impact how developers and operators plan and execute data centre projects in Victoria's rapidly expanding market.

India has pledged to reduce its GDP emissions intensity by 45% by 2030 and reach net-zero by 2070. The Carbon Credit Trading Scheme, 2023 establishes a baseline-and-credit system requiring energy-intensive industries to meet greenhouse gas emission intensity targets or purchase carbon credit certificates. This framework shifts India's regulatory focus from energy efficiency to carbon intensity, creating both mandatory compliance obligations and voluntary offset opportunities.

Kazakhstan's environmental regulatory framework has undergone significant reform through amendments to the Environmental Code, introducing new facility classification criteria, enhanced state control mechanisms, and digital reporting requirements. The changes establish risk-based inspection protocols, financial security obligations for high-impact facilities, and provisions for voluntary carbon markets aligned with the Paris Agreement.

As foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) , including wholly foreignowned enterprises (WFOEs) and Sino -foreign joint ventures (JVs) , remain integral to China’s economic landscape, they face potential legal risks tied to operational violations that could trigger criminal investigations.

India’s climate commitments are substantial a net-zero target announced at COP26 and rapid growth in non-fossil energy capacity and clean-technology innovation across solar, wind, storage, electric mobility and waste management has grown alongside them. It is tempting to assume that a dedicated, incentive-rich “green patent” regime sits behind that innovation. The more accurate picture is of a patent system that accommodates green technology through general mechanisms, while stopping short of the bespoke incentives that some other jurisdictions have introduced.