Mark L. Clifford

September 29, 2015

Anti-Ivory In Hong Kong: ‘Broken System Greased With The Fresh Blood Of Innocent Elephants’

Markus Jebsen might be known in Hong Kong for his family’s 120-year-old trading business, which imports Porsches and owns Blue Girl beer. But Jebsen, who split from the family trading firm to form MF Jebsen in 2002 is making a name in environmental issues. By Asia Business Council Executive Director Mark Clifford.

August 12, 2015

China’s Risky Bet On Devaluation: Are China’s Leaders Turning Their Backs On History?

We can only guess at the pressures China’s policy makers must be under to have made the decision to devalue the Renminbi on August 11. By Asia Business Council Executive Director Mark Clifford.

September 11, 2015

When Donald ‘I Know China’ Trump Met His Match On A Hong Kong Golf Course

Some of the big-money crowd in the former British colony saw what a cautious side of Trump, more pussycat than tiger. By Asia Business Council Executive Director Mark Clifford

July 5, 2016

Hong Kong’s E-Waste Nightmare: Where Old Phones Go To Die

Where do old phones and computers go to die? More and more, aging motherboards and hard disk drives and touch-screens are broken up in illegal waste dumps in Hong Kong. By Asia Business Council Executive Director Mark Clifford.

June 29, 2016

Watch Out, Coal! Dubai Announces Plans For World’s Lowest Cost Solar Plant

King Coal is taking a lot of blows recently. But at least it could usually count on being the cheapest alternative. Now even that’s called into question. By Asia Business Council Executive Director Mark Clifford.

October 30, 2015

2015 Chris Welles Prize interview

Asia Business Council Executive Director Mark Clifford discussed in an interview the book The Greening of Asia: The Business Case for Solving Asia’s Environmental Emergency. He was awarded the 2015 Chris Welles Prize by the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism for describing the environmental cost of Asia’s growth.

October 12, 2015

Hong Kong Utility Executive On Paris Climate Talks: ‘The World Doesn’t Want Another Failure’

Business is getting tired of waiting for climate negotiators to get their act together on pricing carbon, says Richard Lancaster, the CEO of CLP Holdings. By Asia Business Council Executive Director Mark Clifford.

September 30, 2015

China’s Xi Jinping Announces Cap-and-Trade Carbon Program: Will it Work?

China’s President Xi Jinping won kudos for announcing on his state visit to Washington, D.C. in late September that China will by 2017 enact a cap-and-trade system designed to cut carbon emissions. By Asia Business Council Executive Director Mark Clifford.

September 10, 2015

Indonesia’s Forest Fires Choke Malaysia, Singapore: ‘Burning Land….Just for Fun’

Planes can’t land, schools are closed, states of emergency imposed and the Indonesian President Joko Widodo makes a surprise visit to still-smoking South Sumatra. This is the new normal for Southeast Asian summers — choking haze from Indonesian forest fires. By Asia Business Council Executive Director Mark Clifford.

September 3, 2015

China’s Economic Slowdown: We May Have Seen Peak Coal

The coal market has known that China’s economy has been slowing even before the recent bout of stock market turbulence. By Asia Business Council Executive Director Mark Clifford.