Forget Trump, UK Tories. The rest of the world cares about green rules
Thailand and South Korea plan binding environmental due diligence laws inspired by Europe, marking Southeast Asia’s first such measures to curb corporate abuses and protect communities from exploitation.
D on’t despair, all those taking in the Trump administration’s relentless rollback of environmental regulations, climate change initiatives and sustainable measures.
Fear not when you hear that the UK’s main opposition, the Conservative Party, is loudly trumpeting a promise to scrap green energy rules, carbon pricing and renewable energy subsidies should they return to power.
Stay positive… There is a bigger world out there, and parts of it are looking to create systems that allow for environmental protection as well as responsible business practices.
Devex reports that Thailand and South Korea are planning to create binding laws that enable environmental due diligence and give rights to people affected by unscrupulous businesses.
South Korea’s proposed legislation is modelled on Europe’s German Supply Chain Act. South Korea’s second attempt since 2023 to put the law in place, it’s supposed to have risen to the top of the legislative agenda because the 2021 Myanmar coup revealed a shameless scramble among Korean companies to get involved with the junta in Naypyidaw.
Thailand’s draft legislation is a great deal less stringent. Even so, if it goes through, companies would be required by law to do their due diligence, keeping in mind environmental and human rights concerns. Corporate entities would also be required to put in place grievance mechanisms and to compensate communities if they are able to prove harm.
Neither of these proposed laws would be quite as robust as the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. But if passed, they would be Southeast Asia’s first binding human rights and environmental due diligence laws.
Devex contributing reporter Rebecca Root notes that the region badly needs legislation to regulate business activities that affect the environment and local communities. She writes: “Adidas, Amazon, and Samsung are tied to forced labor in China; Korindo Group is accused of torching Indonesian forests; nickel mines in the Philippines pollute Indigenous lands.”
She adds a sobering statistic — 468 environmental and human rights defenders have been murdered in the region since 2012.
Laws will not be enough. But they are a start.
GOING FURTHER
Trump Tracker | CLIMATE ACTION CAMPAIGN
Tories pledge to cut bills as energy price battle takes shape | BBC NEWS
Asia looks to up its corporate sustainability game | DEVEX
South Korean Bill Takes Aim At Businesses And Human Rights | FORBES
Thailand to introduce mandatory supply chain due diligence law | WALK FREE
Corporate sustainability due diligence | EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Asia looks to up its corporate sustainability game | DEVEX
Sources:
▪ This piece was first published in Medium and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 14 October 2025 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity.
▪ Cover: Dreamstime/Erman Gunes.
