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Cloud technology could be the most disruptive digital tool for empowering ASEAN’s vulnerable communities

Posted on by dishanth
Cloud technology could be the most disruptive digital tool for empowering ASEAN’s vulnerable communities

Cloud technology in Asia Pacific is projected to grow dramatically in the next few years, and plays a crucial role in modernising and empowering communities across the region. But it is not without challenges to ensure its benefits are broadly felt.

Cloud technology plays a crucial role in modernising and empowering communities across Southeast Asia, from boosting financial inclusion to streamlining access to formal markets for smallholder farmers, according to a report by Eco-Business Research launched on Friday (19 March). But multiple stakeholders must collaborate to ensure that there is true democratisation of cloud technology across the region.  

Cloud technology – the delivery of on-demand computing services through a network of remote servers – is projected to grow by 117 per cent in Asia Pacific between 2019 and 2024, according to GlobalData with more businesses allotting bigger budgets towards it.

Cloud needs minimal infrastructure and investment while it has the ability for companies to operate at scale quickly making it particularly appealing for emerging economies. 

Nevertheless, the development and adoption of cloud technology vary considerably across the five focus countries studied in the Eco-Buisness report.

Singapore is a leader in cloud adoption and growth potential, which is underpinned by its robust infrastructure and enabling policies. It is ranked top in the Eco-Business Cloud Opportunity Matrix. Its ‘Smart City, Smart Nation’ initiative places heavy focus on cloud technology to enable a more efficient provision of services and to streamline government systems. 

Parking, tax and government platforms allowing you to register births and businesses are powered by cloud technology. “We now have the ability to use data to manage transport systems like never before,” Jamie Leather, chief of Transport Sector Group, Asian Development Bank said in the report.

 

Source: Eco Business

 

Thailand and Malaysia are ranked next in the matrix, with conducive regulatory environments and relatively high digital penetration at around 80 per cent of the populations in both countries.

Indonesia, the most populous country in Southeast Asia, and the Philippines still have some way to go, the report noted, with both countries lacking the bedrock digital infrastructure needed to propel cloud technology. 

Nevertheless, Indonesia is one to watch as it is one of the fastest growing markets for cloud computing, with a thriving digital start-up industry boasting companies such as multi-service platform and digital payment group, Gojek and e-commerce company, Tokopedia.   

Growing pains are to be expected as digital infrastructure, awareness and enabling policies develop alongside the uptake of cloud technology.

“Everyone is still on this journey, no-one has a solution for best practice,” said Calum Handforth during a panel discussion launching the paper, and who advises on smart cities and digitalisation for the United Nations Development Programme. 

 

Breaches in data privacy are a headache for both public and private sector entities and could undermine the adoption of cloud technology, despite most providers having robust security systems in place, the report said. Singapore’s digital success story is marred by serious data breaches including one in 2018 when hackers accessed 1.5 million medical records, including those of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. 

“Governments are upskilling their ability to understand the discussions around privacy and security,” May Ann Lim, executive director of Asia Cloud Computing Association, said in the report.  

Cloud technology is in a strong position to be a “force for good” the report said, enabling collaborative cross-border efforts to cohesively deal with cybercrime. However, borders must stay open to allow cloudtech to maximise on trade and economic opportunities. The report suggests the creation of a “common set of principles governing cross-border data flows” will boost economic competitiveness collectively as a region.

The report said that the digital divide is a major impediment to cloud technology. Some in Southeast Asia are being left behind in the race to digitise with stuttering power supply and unstable internet provision in developing markets including the Philippines and Indonesia. 

Even in markets with high internet provision, “policymakers and digital service providers need to address the disparity between different segments of society,” the report charged. Meanwhile, improving computer literacy is instrumental in ensuring cloud technology is inclusive of all.  

The report showcases several examples of best-practice in the region. Indonesia has rising potential in using cloud technology to help support and modernise agribusiness. “The farm-to-customer model has also helped the industry address the ongoing problem of multiple middlemen who typically take a 10 to 15 per cent margin each,” according to the report.  

 

There is potential for smallholders to tap into the e-commerce market using cloud-powered apps as the country’s growing middle class opts for online shopping over the traditional open-air ‘wet’ market, Purnama Adil Marata, an expert in agribusiness in Indonesia told the panel. Meanwhile, cloud-powered innovations can “make modern farming more inclusive for the smallholder farmer,” Marata added.  

Cloud has also played a part in facilitating access to finance for smallholder farmers in Southeast Asia, home to one of the world’s largest unbanked populations. By leapfrogging bricks-and-mortar banking, Indonesia’s farmers, one of the poorest groups in the region that would be ordinarily regarded as high-risk borrowers by traditional financers, can tap into micro-loans as well as agricultural cooperatives where farmers can pool their resources.

“These cloud-enabled lending platforms have also provided farmers with legitimate and safer alternatives to predatory loan sharks,” said the report.

More collaboration is needed in the region to maximise cloud potential. “For this to work, it requires more than just technology…you need to combine it with leadership,” Jane Treadwell from Amazon Web Services said during the panel discussion, whose backlog of experience also includes the digital transformation of governments for the World Bank.

Greater collaboration is needed between government, the private sector, academia and customers to ensure democratisation of the cloud, and that the benefits of this technology can help the most vulnerable people in the region. “Without partnerships, collaborations, we have nothing,” Akanksha Bilani, regional alliance head at Intel told panellists.

 

 

By Gillian Parker

Source Eco Business

Sydney pitches for green hydrogen leadership

Posted on by dishanth
Sydney pitches for green hydrogen leadership

The New South Wales capital, Sydney, will host the largest renewable gas trial in Australia after the conservative Liberal-National state government approved NSW’s first hydrogen gas facility.

The Western Sydney Green Gas Project was given so-called fast-track approval status as part of NSW’s post-coronavirus recovery just three weeks ago, and now has a formal sign-off.

NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes told The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper the project, backed by Jemena and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), would serves as a prototype for future green hydrogen projects.

“It will operate as a trial over five years to demonstrate the commercial feasibility of power-to-gas technology, providing NSW with an opportunity to revolutionise the fuel and gas industry and create opportunities for low emissions technologies and jobs,” Mr Stokes said.

 

NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes | Source: NSW Government

 

The $15 million-plus project will convert mains tap water and grid electricity from renewable sources into hydrogen gas, hence the “green hydrogen” tag.

The hydrogen gas will then be injected into the gas distribution network to supply homes, power buses and generate electricity.

Michael Pintabona, a Jemena spokesman, said the company welcomed the announcement as “a crucial next step towards bringing renewable hydrogen gas to the New South Wales gas network”.

“At this challenging time, government support for projects like this is pivotal and will help bring new jobs and economic activity to Western Sydney,” he said.

Construction, including the installation of NSW’s first electrolyser, which uses electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, will start within three months and be completed by early next year.

NSW Energy Minister Matt Kean told The Sydney Morning Herald the project would help position NSW as a national leader in green gas supply and storage projects and assist the state’s transition to a low-greenhouse gas energy system.

“It will also help us reach our ambitious aspiration of injecting 10 per cent hydrogen into our gas network by 2030,” Mr Kean said.

 

NSW Energy Minister Matt Kean | Source: Monthly Chronicle

 

The state government had drawn some criticism for its plan to accelerate a range of coal or methane gas-related projects, some of which were unlikely to generate many near-term jobs or fresh investment.

While hydrogen is expected to play a major role in the future, the source of the energy to make it could be controversial.

So-called blue hydrogen could be made using gas or coal although the related emissions generated would make it less attractive to importers seeking to wean themselves off fossil fuels to combat climate change.

 

 

By  David Twomey
Source Eco News

Back to work: How businesses can promote sustainable and socially-distanced commutes

Posted on by dishanth
Back to work: How businesses can promote sustainable and socially-distanced commutes

As people slowly return to work following the government’s announcement on Sunday, employers can encourage staff to embrace sustainable routes into work by launching cycle-to-work schemes, installing on-site facilities such as bike storage and showers, while working with local authorities to encourage better local walking and cycling infrastrucutre.

Business leaders could play a significant role in helping to tackle an expected uptick in road congestion and air pollution as commuters attempt to return to work while following explicit government advice to avoid public transport wherever possible.

In modest changes to the lockdown regime announced yesterday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that construction and manufacturing workers as well as other groups unable to work remotely should return to work from this week. But with the government still fearful of any uptick in the rate of coronavirus transmission, Johnson added that where possible workers should commute by car, foot, or bike in order to maintain social distancing measures critical to fighting spread of the coronavirus.

“We want it to be safe for you to get to work. So, you should avoid public transport if at all possible – because we must and will maintain social distancing, and capacity will therefore be limited,” Johnson said in pre-recorded address to the nation.

But an embrace of the car as the primary method of socially-distanced transportation for work or to travel to exercise destinations comes comes with its own host of environmental and health considerations. A sharp rise in people shunning public transport in favour of driving to work risks increasing carbon emissions and worsening air pollution – a factor that early research suggests may aggravate the coronavirus death rate – as well as increasing levels of congestion and traffic accident risks, especially as roads will also cater to a surge in the number of cyclists. The AA’s head of road policy Jack Cousens confirmed to BusinessGreen today that the group expects an increase in car, motorcycle, and bicycle usage as workers avoid public transport – a spike he said would prompt more traffic jams.

What is more, environmental and sustainable transport groups contend that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s endorsement of driving on Sunday was somewhat at odds with a historic £2bn emergency fund dedicated to short-term cycling and walking measures and infrastructure unveiled by the Secretary of Transport the day before. Johnson may have stressed that people should cycle and walk if possible, but for many commuters active transport is not yet a viable option.

Rachel White, head of policy at walking and cycling charity Sustrans, told BusinessGreen that the government’s encouragement of motoring to work and other destinations was a “concern” that was “out of kilter with the briefing the day before from the Secretary of State”.

A new £250m “emergency active travel fund” – unveiled by the Transport Secretary Grant Shapps in the government’s Saturday coronavirus briefing – is set to deliver pop-up bike lanes, wider pavements, safer junctions and cycle and bus-only corridors in England “within weeks”. The Department for Transport also said that it had fast-tracked statutory guidance that would allow councils to reallocate road space for cyclists and pedestrians, and announced that it had brought forward e-scooter trials planned for 2021 to next month in order to encourage a broader range of greener alternatives to public transport. The proposed investment, described as the largest ever boost for cycling and pedestrians, is the first stage of a £2bn investment commitment to boost active travel across the UK.

“The government is beginning to talk about cycling and walking in the same way that they talk about roads,” enthused White. “Roads often gets a huge funding settlement over five-year period and cycling and walking haven’t seen that long-term funding certainty for a long time.” She commended Shapps for the “ackowledgement that this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver lasting transformative change in the way we make short journeys in our towns and cities”.

Meanwhile, the government’s recently-unveiled five-year £27bn road funding programme is facing a legal challenge amid warnings that the scheme will undermine government commitments to tackling air pollution and achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

Roz Bulleid, interim policy director of Green Alliance, also pointed to the disconnect between the government’s two big bank holiday weekend announcements. “The government’s recent funding pledge indicates that it wants the public to embrace active travel,” she said. “But to make sure this happens, it must be at the heart of messages from the Prime Minister and others, not an afterthought.”

The promised space for walkers and cyclists must be delivered quickly, she argued, in order to convince commuters who are currently considering making the shift to cycling. Furthermore, Bulleid warned “the government should also be careful not to stigmatise public transport at this time: Increasing car use is not a long-term solution and will worsen the health problems associated with air pollution, as well as contributing to climate change”.

It remains to be seen whether the government will continue to promote both driving and cycling in tandem or back up its new funding programme with a longer term effort to curb car use. But in the meantime, businesses can and should take an active approach in encouraging employees to embrace commuting on foot or by bicycle, green groups told BusinessGreen.

Sustrans’ White pointed to three key ways business leaders can encourage employees that can cycle to work to do so. “Provide facilities, work with local authorities – contact them to get road layouts changed – and bring in other organisations to help with behaviour change,” she advised.

Cycle to work schemes, which give employees’ discounts on cycle equipment, are a good starting point for any corporate active transport strategy, White said, as is ensuring that offices are fitted with cyclist-friendly facilities, such as showers and secure on-site cycle parking. Proactive communication with local authorities is key to ensuring that the right cycle and foot infrastructure is in place for employees, she said, adding that groups like Sustrans can encourage employee behaviour change by delivering cycling and bike maintenance workshops, she added.

“All those things together will helpfully create an environment where it’s a natural choice to cycle where possible,” White said. “Not everyone will be able to, but it’s about minimising the turn to driving and preventing in the short-term more people driving than before because they are not taking public transport.”

Meanwhile, Darren Shirley, chief executive at the Campaign for Better Transport, said that “clear communication” between employers and staff on how to manage their commutes to work would be imperative as workplaces reopen over the coming weeks.

“Large employers should engage with their local authorities and transport operators before reopening their workplaces to high numbers of employees so as to ensure that their commuting needs can be managed against the local transport capacity and circumstances,” he said. “They should request that local authorities expand footpaths and cycleways connecting to their offices and sites to make the journey into work safer.” Free bike hire and storage should also be made available, he added, and large employees should also consider contracting socially-distanced bus services.

He also warned the government’s directive for people to avoid public transport carries a risk of causing “immeasurable and permanent damage to the public transport system leaving communities disconnected, and those on lower incomes, or who don’t drive, unable to get to work or access shops and services”. As such he argued that it was vital for the government to develop “a concrete plan for the later stages of recovery on how public transport will be renewed to allow people to continue to get to work safely and sustainably and to ensure there is still a transport industry after the pandemic”.

Commenting on the weekend’s new cycling and walking funding announcement, Nicholas Boyes Smith, executive director of urban housing research institute Create Streets, provided some pointers on what a longer-term strategy might look like for central, city, and local governments looking to break what he described as the “diabolical alliance” between cars and urban design. His suggested measures ranged from more bike lanes and on-street bike storage and the rapid legalisation of e-scooters, to free bike training sessions, cheaper off-peak commuter fares, and on-street trading for shops, restaurants and cafés.

“Good consequences can flow from awful situations,” Smith wrote. “For three generations, a diabolical alliance between cars in town centres and modernist architecture –  I call it ‘traffic modernism’ – combined to make our human settlements less pleasant, less prosperous, and less popular. This can now change. And this should be the point of inflexion.”

However, as green groups today noted, such a transformation will only happen if governments, businesses, and commuters proactively pursue it. Alternatively, the coronavirus crisis risks throwing a lifeline to the polluting car-based commuter model that had appeared to be on the retreat.

Source: www.businessgreen.com

This London street is the first in Britain to ban all petrol and diesel cars.

Posted on by dishanth
This London street is the first in Britain to ban all petrol and diesel cars.
  • A street in the heart of London’s financial district has banned petrol and diesel vehicles.
  • The aim is to bring nitrogen dioxide levels within guideline limits.
  • The 18-month trial will be used to consider similar plans for other streets.
  • Air pollution is the biggest environmental threat to health in the UK, according to Public Health England.

One London street is taking extreme action against air pollution by banning all petrol and diesel cars.

Beech Street, in the heart of London’s financial district, will be restricted to zero-emission vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians by spring 2020, with exceptions made for emergency vehicles, access to car parks and for refuse collection and deliveries. The road, much of which runs underneath a housing estate, will participate in an initial trial for 18 months, while air quality and traffic are monitored.

 

“Drastically reducing air pollution requires radical actions, and these plans will help us eliminate toxic air on our streets,” said Jeremy Simons, chair of the City of London Corporation’s Environment Committee. “Nobody should have to breathe in dirty air.”

 

 

Road transport is responsible for around a fifth of UK greenhouse gas emissions, according to the country’s Office for National Statistics. While the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions fell by more than 30% from 1990 to 2017, emissions from road transport increased by 6% over the same period, it says.

 

While emissions overall have gone down in the UK, vehicle emissions have risen.
Image: UK Office for National Statistics

 

Air pollution is the biggest environmental threat to health in the UK, according to Public Health England, with between 28,000 and 36,000 deaths a year attributed to long-term exposure. It has been linked to a range of diseases including coronary heart disease, strokes, respiratory disease and lung cancer.

And it’s a worldwide issue, with the World Health Organization estimating that more than 90% of the global population live in places where air quality levels exceed their recommended limits. London is among more than 30 cities that have signed the Fossil Fuel Free Streets Declaration, pledging to procure only zero-emission buses from 2025 and make a major area zero-emission by 2030.

 

Road traffic is on the up in the UK.
Image: UK Office for National Statistics

 

And capitals around the globe, including Oslo, Madrid and Mexico City, have started to look at banning cars from their streets.

Cutting greenhouse gas emissions will also be key in the fight against global warming. Public Health England says governments and local authorities must take action to limit and mitigate air pollutants.

The City of London Corporation’s plan aims to bring nitrogen dioxide levels on Beech Street within air-quality guidelines set out by the European Union and World Health Organization. After the trial, the corporation will decide whether similar measures are suitable for other streets.

“It will bring substantial health benefits,” says Oliver Sells, Streets and Walkways Committee Chairman. “The experimental scheme will be enforced using the latest in smart-camera technology and I hope it will be the first of many other schemes like this.”

 

 

Written by

Emma Charlton, Senior Writer, Formative Content

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.