1,721,018 research outputs found
Reimagining Disability : is inclusion a macroforce that will shape Asia and the Pacific for the next 20 years?
No full textThe next two decades will be defined by several megatrends: climate and energy, health, geopolitics, digital transformation, AI and automation, and governance. These trends are reshaping critical areas such as sustainable energy, healthcare innovation, global power dynamics, technological disruption, and governance structures. This paper by the Griffith Asia Institute and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) explores how these megatrends can profoundly transform the Asia-Pacific region, particularly through the lens of disability inclusion. To ensure these changes benefit everyone—especially marginalised communities such as people with disabilities—policymakers must adopt an inclusive approach to navigating these trends. This paper highlights recommendations for how to do this
John Howard delivers inaugural Asia Lecture
No full textThe former Prime Minister delivered a compelling analysis in an hour-long speech at the Queensland Conservatorium in the first Asia Lecture hosted by the Griffith Asia Institute. Author Stephen O\u27Grady reviewed a speech by the Honourable John Howard OM AC at Griffith University. 
Gender equality in the Mekong region: Role of leadership
No full textBetween 2021 to 2023, the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) funded training programs on gender and inclusive leadership, conducted by the Griffith Asia Institute in partnership with the Laos Australia Institute and the Laos Gender Development Association. The programs aimed to support women and men of diverse backgrounds from the government, private sector, and not-for-profit organisations to develop inclusive leadership capabilities which generate a competitive advantage for Mekong countries in the newly established Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. Independent of these funded training programs, Griffith University scholars conducted research with some participants who volunteered to inform this research and policy brief.Full Tex
Enhancing the ecosystem for entrepreneurship and innovation in the Pacific
No full textIn the wake of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, revitalising the small-scale enterprise sector presents an opportunity for economic recovery and capacity building. Recognising the potential of technology as a transformative tool, the Griffith Asia Institute, with funding from the Foundation for Development Cooperation (FDC), has partnered with the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) to explore interventions aimed at fostering growth-oriented small-scale enterprises through digital technology. This project, in collaboration with the development banks of Samoa, Solomon Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), seeks to enhance small-scale enterprise access to finance, education, human capital, and enterprise support systems across the region.
This report presents the findings from the initial phase of the project, which involved data collection from Samoa, Solomon Islands, and FSM. Through interviews with local institutions and surveys of current and prospective small-scale entrepreneurs, the research highlighted how entrepreneurial behaviors impact the ability to overcome development constraints and identified existing support mechanisms. A key finding is that many small-scale enterprises function primarily as livelihoods, lacking formal business models or growth aspirations, which limits the potential impact of the support provided by financial institutions and development practitioners.Full Tex
Climate conversations and disconnected discourses: An examination of how Chinese engagement on climate change aligns with Pacific priorities (Working paper)
No full textThis research comes at a timely juncture. Increased geostrategic focus on the Pacific islands region increasingly intersects with the growing urgency in addressing the impacts of climate change. And it is this that Pacific island countries (PICs) have long identified as their first and foremost concern when it comes to security.
Much has been written about the increasing presence of China in the Pacific islands region. However, the place of climate change in engagement between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and PICs has been given very little attention to date.
The findings of this pilot research project indicate that this is an area that reflects diversity and complexity. It is also an aspect of China-Pacific engagement that is developing and evolving. Even during the time in which this research was conducted, significant changes and developments have emerged. Our findings indicate that engagement with China in relation to climate change is a diverse concept, as is so often the way in the Pacific islands region. The nature of the engagement differs between different countries, and the way the engagement operates at the regional level is often different again. This is influenced by several factors, including the maturity of given diplomatic relationships, the attitudes that Pacific officials adopt, and the nature of initiatives that may be under consideration. At this particular time, the geostrategic focus on the Pacific islands region intersects with longstanding discourses, creating opportunity and challenge. [...]Full Tex
China Green Finance Status and Trends 2023-2024
No full textEchoing the central government's "30/60" decarbonisation goal of reaching a carbon peak before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060, China attaches great importance to the role of finance in green and low-carbon transition, putting in place a multi-tiered green finance market system, with outstanding green loans and bonds both ranking among the top in the world. Benefiting from “top” government policies and “bottom” local initiatives like the carbon trading market and green finance pilot zones, China has seen rapid development of green industries over the past decade. For instance, China’s BYD overtook Tesla as the world’s best-selling brand of electric vehicles; China’s share of renewable energy capacity—mostly solar, wind and hydro—reached about 50 per cent of its total generation capacity; and the clean energy sector1 contributed 40 per cent to the 2023 growth of China’s GDP.2
In 2023, green finance has been mentioned in several high-level policy documents and by China’s President Xi to support China’s green economic ambitions. Yet progress in policy and green finance application have been mixed.
On the policy side, an important development impacting green finance in China was the establishment of the Central Financial Commission (CFC) for financial decision-making, the creation of the National Financial Regulation Administration (NFRA) to replace the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC), the strengthened role of the CSRC in capital market regulation and the streamline of PBoC on monetary policy and macro-prudential supervision. The governance reshuffle might have led to a slower pace of green finance policy advancement in 2023, for example in transition finance standards or sustainable finance disclosure guidelines. Nevertheless, progress was evident in segments like green insurance and carbon markets through the re-introduction of China Certified Emission Reductions (CCER) after a hiatus since 2017 as well as on sub-national level through new pilots and local regulatory advances (e.g., in Shanghai, Shenzhen).
On the application side, the growth of green financial instruments has been mixed: green loans have grown, while green bond issuances have declined (possibly due to stricter standards on the use of proceeds in force since 2023). This brief, building on the previous report analyses the development of China’s green finance policies and tools in 2023 to identify trends and provide recommended actions to further scale green finance in China. It is a snapshot of various developments and uses specific examples to understand trends and directions. It is by no means a complete guide to Chinese green finance and its developments.Full Tex
Green independent power producers (IPPs) in Asia: A practical guide for negotiations and agreements between Chinese and international partners
Full text linkAsia’s transition to renewable energy is accelerating, but the region still faces significant barriers to scaling clean power. State-owned utilities—the dominant off-takers in most markets—must manage rising demand, system reliability, and political expectations while integrating intermittent renewable energy. At the same time, Independent Power Producer (IPP) sponsors are playing a growing role in financing, constructing, and operating large-scale energy infrastructure, especially through greenfield solar, wind, and hydro projects.
This guidance outlines how Asian off-takers and IPP sponsors, particularly Chinese IPP sponsors, can work more effectively together to deliver bankable, operationally sound, and socially accepted green IPPs. It provides actionable insights across the project lifecycle—from request for proposals (RfP) and power purchase agreement (PPA) structuring to construction, financing, and long-term operation.Full Tex
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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