Environment
03.29.16
Xinjiang Ban on Glacier Tourism Ignores the Bigger Problem
from chinadialogue
The Xinjiang government has banned tourists from glaciers under the 13th Five-Year Plan in order to try and save the far northwestern province’s fast-disappearing ice caps. Home to China’s largest glaciers, the Xinjiang province has seen its...
Green Space
03.14.16
Leonardo DiCaprio Wins Oscar and Green Chinese Hearts
The Oscars are a big deal among Chinese movie fans. So it was an especially big deal last month when Leonardo DiCaprio, whose fame in China is as big as the name of the film which held the box office crown there from 1997-2009—Titanic—became what...
ChinaFile Recommends
03.07.16China CO2 Emissions May Have Peaked in 2014: Study
Reuters
China's carbon emissions may have peaked in 2014, putting Beijing under pressure to toughen climate pledges perceived as too lax.
Green Space
02.04.16
Rescuing China’s Abused Animals
We start with a heartwarming note, which I recently heard about in a New Year’s greeting from Animals Asia, a NGO started by Jill Robinson, originally from the U.K., in Chengdu to rescue Asian bears from their torture-chamber-like cages throughout...
Sinica Podcast
01.27.16
Air Pollution and Climate Change
from Sinica Podcast
This week on Sinica, Kaiser Kuo and David Moser are joined by Deborah Seligsohn, former science counselor for the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and currently a doctoral candidate at the University of California, San Diego, where she studies environmental...
Green Space
01.22.16
Sea Level Rise In Pictures, Cancer Villages Near Beijing
I think a big part of the reason why citizens of the world have not rallied to deal with climate change is the lack of a certain deadline that would warrant our immediate response to the grave consequences of our warming planet. There is no...
Environment
01.19.16
Is Industrial Farming a Tech-Fix or Dead End for Tackling Climate Change?
from chinadialogue
Researchers estimate that between 44 and 57 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) come from the global food system. Agriculture and deforestation caused by agriculture account for 26-33 percent of total emissions, making it a major...
Environment
01.11.16
Chinese Cities Most at Risk from Rising Sea Levels
from chinadialogue
A study by Climate Central, a non-profit news organization focusing on climate science, showed that 12 other nations have more than 10 million people living on land that would be destroyed should the earth’s temperature rise to 4 degrees Celsius.As...
Green Space
12.22.15
Nu River Saved, Jack Ma Buys Preservation Land
A great piece of news came from China on the night of December 16, that the Yunnan provincial government in southwest China has announced its decision to not develop hydro-electric projects on the Nu River, also known as the Salween (link in Chinese...
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12.15.15Another Kind of Climate Change: China Warms to Superpower Role
Wall Street Journal
Paris talks gave a whiff of Beijing’s ambitions to lead—but critics fear that could upend status quo.
Green Space
12.15.15
China is ‘Rational’ Leader on Climate Change, Says Retired NASA Scientist James Hansen
James Hansen, retired NASA scientist and “father of climate change awareness,” believes China, the world’s largest CO2 emitter, will now step up to provide the carbon emissions reduction leadership lacking from the U.S., according to a Guardian...
Green Space
12.11.15
Tiananmen Police Don Smog Masks, Wind Makes or Breaks the Blue Sky
Now that Beijing has had its first red alert since institutionalizing its smog alert system in 2013, it was news when the special forces who guard Tiananmen Square were seen, for the first time, wearing face masks to protect them from the smog, too...
ChinaFile Recommends
12.09.15Why Pollution is Good for China
New York Review of Books
I am a member of a martial arts group that performs at annual temples fairs around Beijing.
Conversation
12.09.15
Is China a Leader or Laggard on Climate Change?
As ongoing climate talks wind down at COP21 this week, participants in and observers of the summit in Paris wrote in to share their assessment of the message coming from the official delegation from China, currently the world’s largest emitter of...
Green Space
12.08.15
Smog Strike Round II
Not surprisingly, smog yet again strikes back in much of China. Using the automatic weapon of our archive of daily photos of three of China’s major cities, I’d like to share a flashback of Beijing’s air quality throughout the month of November,...
Green Space
12.04.15
Green Activists Detained for ‘Prostitution,’ Yangtze Dolphins Rebound
Given that the Paris climate negotiations are underway, it is fair to start off with something about rising temperatures. This comes from a neat animation posted on Data Seeds’ WeChat Account that visualizes the warming trend within China’s borders...
ChinaFile Recommends
12.04.15China Has An Awful Safety Record — And Wants To Run 110 Nuclear Reactors By 2030
Washington Post
The country will have 110 working nuclear reactors by 2030.
ChinaFile Recommends
12.03.15China Plans to Upgrade Coal Plants
New York Times
China's cabinet announced that it would try to cut pollution from coal-fired power plants by 60 percent by 2020 through upgrades to plants.
Infographics
11.27.15
The Chinese Road to Paris 2015
from Chinese Doodles
Beginning on November 30, Paris will host the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework on Climate Change (COP21). Whatever progress is made toward the parties’ agreement on a path forward will depend in large...
ChinaFile Recommends
11.19.15Asia-Pacific Leaders See Trade as Solution to Economic, Security Troubles
Wall Street Journal
Leaders stay quiet on territorial disputes in South China Sea.
ChinaFile Recommends
11.18.15Obama Calls on Beijing to Stop Construction in South China Sea
New York Times
President Obama addressed the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting in Manila, where he discussed China, trade and climate change.
ChinaFile Recommends
11.06.15U.S., China Least Concerned About Climate Change
Agence France-Presse
China and the United States are the world's biggest polluters, but their residents are among the least concerned about the harms of climate change.
ChinaFile Recommends
11.04.15China Underreporting Coal Consumption by Up to 17%, Data Suggests
Guardian
Revelation may mean China has emitted close to a billion additional tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year.
Environment
10.14.15
U.S.-China Announcement is the Most Significant Milestone to Date for Battling Global Climate Change
from Rocky Mountain Institute
The September 25 joint announcement by President Obama and President Xi represents the second time in two years the leaders have met to make significant climate commitments. Last year’s meeting focused on setting aggressive goals that reflect each...
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10.06.15China Is Working to Reach Its Emissions Peak Before 2030 Deadline, Analyst Says
Guardian
Qi Ye, director of public policy centre in Beijing, says China is showing ‘global leadership’ on climate change.
Environment
09.30.15
Less Snow in Tibet Means More Heatwaves in Europe
from chinadialogue
Recent summer heatwaves in Europe and northeast Asia have caused massive water shortages and a large number of deaths. But the mechanism behind these extreme weather events is not fully understood.Scientists at China’s Nanjing University of...
ChinaFile Recommends
09.28.15Chinese President Xi Jinping Will Arrive At The UN Armed With A List Of Things He Wants Changed
Quartz
Xi Jinping will make his first speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
ChinaFile Recommends
09.25.15Obama, the Pope, and the President of China Are Teaming Up to Save the World
Mother Jones
Something big and strange is happening in the United States this week.
Conversation
09.16.15
What Would New Breakthroughs on Climate Change Mean for the U.S.-China Relationship?
With just over a week to go before Chinese President Xi Jinping begins his first State Visit to the United States, there is much evidence to suggest that bilateral action to fight climate change is an area most ripe for meaningful Sino-U.S...
Environment
07.15.15
Scientists Call for More Emission Cuts
from chinadialogue
It is still possible to limit average global temperature rise to two degrees Celsius (2˚C) and avoid catastrophic climate change, but the remaining global carbon budget—the amount of carbon that can be safely released into the atmosphere if this...
Conversation
07.08.15
Are China’s Limits on Greenhouse Gas Emissions Meaningful?
Last week, Premier Li Keqiang said China would cut its “carbon intensity”—the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of GDP—to 60-65 percent of 2005 levels by 2030. Visiting Paris, the site in September of the United Nations Climate Change...
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05.25.15Paris Can’t Be Another Copenhagen
New York Times
The U.S. and China must rapidly increase collaboration on climate change both within and beyond the framework of the conference.
ChinaFile Recommends
05.20.15Traces II
Granta
Few rivers have captured the soul of a nation more deeply than the Yellow River. Historically a symbol of enduring glory, a force of nature both feared and revered, it has provided water for life downstream for thousands of years.
Infographics
05.18.15
Submerged
Urban planner and cartographer Jeffrey Linn mapped a possible future for China’s coast, where some 43% of its population currently lives, when the earth's polar ice caps and glaciers have all melted and the sea rises if the planet’s temperature...
Books
04.30.15
Fantasy Islands
The rise of China and its status as a leading global factory are altering the way people live and consume. At the same time, the world appears wary of the real costs involved. Fantasy Islands probes Chinese, European, and American eco-desire and eco-technological dreams, and examines the solutions they offer to environmental degradation in this age of global economic change.Uncovering the stories of sites in China, including the plan for a new eco-city called Dongtan on the island of Chongming, mega-suburbs, and the Shanghai World Expo, Julie Sze explores the flows, fears, and fantasies of Pacific Rim politics that shaped them. She charts how climate change discussions align with U.S. fears of China’s ascendancy and the related demise of the American Century, and she considers the motives of financial and political capital for eco-city and ecological development supported by elite power structures in the U.K. and China. Fantasy Islands shows how ineffectual these efforts are while challenging us to see what a true eco-city would be. —University of California Press{chop}
ChinaFile Recommends
04.14.15Can the US and China Save the World?
Diplomat
The Department of Commerce emphasized Obama's commitment to fighting climate change through clean energy development.
ChinaFile Recommends
03.19.15Coal Boomtowns Fade as China Declares War on Pollution
Science
China is headed towards peak coal which means cities reliant on coal mining struggle.
Environment
03.19.15
World Coal Investments Increasingly Risky, Especially China’s
from chinadialogue
The investment case for coal-fired power is looking increasingly unconvincing, but more plants will need to be cancelled if the world is to avoid runaway climate change, a report published on Monday said.The report which was co-authored by green...
ChinaFile Recommends
03.06.15China’s Real Inconvenient Truth: Its Class Divide
Foreign Policy
Solving China's air and water pollution will require addressing the gap between rich urbanites and rural peasants.
ChinaFile Recommends
03.02.15China’s Coal Use and Estimated CO2 Emissions Fell in 2014
Huffington Post
Glen Peters of the Global Carbon Project calculates that China's CO2 emissions have also fallen, by 0.7 percent, for the first time this century.
ChinaFile Recommends
03.02.15The Film That Is Going to Change China
Business Spectator
Chai Jing's stunning documentary on the smog problem was viewed more than 100 million times in little over two days.
Environment
02.23.15
Chinese Firms Must Act Decisively on Climate Change, Report Says
from chinadialogue
Chinese companies will need to cut direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of their operations by up to 2.7% a year if China is to stay on track with the level of action required to keep global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius, says a new report...
Environment
02.11.15
China’s New Environment Minister Has Work Cut Out For Him
from chinadialogue
The elevation of the president of China's most prestigious university to the job of government minister was unexpected. It is rare to bring in an academic without a goverment background. But given the tarnished reputation of a ministry that is...
Books
02.10.15
The People’s Republic of Chemicals
Maverick environmental writers William J. Kelly and Chip Jacobs follow up their acclaimed Smogtown with a provocative examination of China’s ecological calamity already imperiling a warming planet. Toxic smog most people figured was obsolete needlessly kills as many as died in the 9/11 attacks every day, while sometimes Grand Canyon-sized drifts of industrial particles aloft on the winds rain down ozone and waterway-poisoning mercury in America.In vivid, gonzo prose blending first-person reportage with exhaustive research and a sense of karma, Kelly and Jacobs describe China’s ancient love affair with coal, Bill Clinton’s blunders cutting free-trade deals enabling the U.S. to "export" manufacturing emissions to Asia in a shift that pilloried the West's middle class, Communist Party manipulation of eco-statistics, the horror of cancer villages, the deception of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and spellbinding peasant revolts against cancer-spreading plants involving thousands in mostly-censored melées. Ending with China’s monumental coal-bases decried by climatologists as a global warming dagger, The People's Republic of Chemicals names names and emphasizes humanity over bloodless statistics in a classic sure to ruffle feathers as an indictment of money as the real green that not even Al Gore can deny. —Rare Bird Books, A Vireo Book {chop}
ChinaFile Recommends
12.15.14China’s Double-Edged Pact
New York Times
Whether China is a climate hero or a climate villain is a matter of polarized debate. At one extreme, the world’s biggest carbon-emitter is portrayed as a wasteful bogeyman that obstructs efforts to halt global warming and “steals” clean-tech jobs...
Caixin Media
12.02.14
Clearing the Air With a Sino-U.S. Climate Pact
A long-anticipated, Sino-U.S. agreement aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions was announced on November 12 at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Beijing.The deal marked a surprise turn toward compromise for the world's largest...
Viewpoint
11.21.14
What Will Make the U.S.-China Climate Deal Work
Nearly everyone agrees that the U.S.-China climate announcement is a big deal, but most observers have overlooked what truly makes it a game-changer: if the world’s two climate change superpowers limit their greenhouse gas emissions, it will have...
Conversation
11.19.14
Was the U.S.-China Climate Deal Worth the Wait?
Last week, Ann Carlson and Alex Wang, environmental experts at UCLA Law School, called the November 12 U.S.-China Joint Announcement on Climate Change "monumental." "No two countries are more important to tackling the problem than the...
Environment
11.18.14
Four Reasons Why the U.S.-China Climate Statement Matters
from chinadialogue
The joint U.S.-China statement on climate change is both inspiring and historic. The two parties have sought common ground, set aside their differences, and put global interests first—as responsible great powers should.The agreement will have four...
Viewpoint
11.14.14
The Domestic Politics of the U.S.-China Climate Change Announcement
The news from Beijing this week that the U.S. and China are committing to ambitious goals on climate change is, we think, monumental. No two countries are more important to tackling the problem than the largest carbon emitter over the past two...
ChinaFile Recommends
10.24.14China’s Coal Use Actually Falling Now (For the First Time this Century)
Greenpeace
The data suggests the world's largest economy is finally starting to radically slow down its emission growth, and it comes ahead of key talks next year on a new global climate and energy deal.
Environment
10.23.14
Tibetan Plateau Faces Massive ‘Ecosystem Shift’
from chinadialogue
Large areas of grasslands, alpine meadows, wetlands, and permafrost will disappear on the Tibetan plateau by 2050, with serious implications for environmental security in China and South Asia, a research paper published by scientists at the Kunming...
Environment
10.02.14
China ‘Not Ready to be a World Leader’ on Climate Change
from chinadialogue
The U.N. Climate Summit 2014 in New York last week passed, as expected, with public statements of intent but no sign of firm commitments to reducing climate emissions.If a deal is to be reached in Paris next year, at the latest “last hope” climate...
Photo Gallery
09.28.14
Traces
One in five people in the world get their water from great Asian rivers linked to the Qinghai-Tibet plateau in northwestern China. Here, beneath a gently undulating landscape, spring the headwaters of the Yellow River, which sweep three thousands...
Environment
09.25.14
New York Climate Summit Fails to Bridge Rich-Poor Divide
from chinadialogue
India reiterated its need to develop, China listed the steps it was taking and the United States repeated that all countries should control greenhouse-gas emissions.Despite notable advances in many areas, the special climate summit convened by...
Viewpoint
09.25.14
How Bad Does the Air Pollution Have to Be Before You’d Wear a Face Mask?
“Mommy, why don’t I wear a face mask?” asked my nine-year-old daughter Maggie nearly every day during the first few weeks of school. Two of her expat classmates had been in Beijing less than a year, but it seemed as if they wore theirs all the time...
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09.24.14UN Climate Summit: China Pledges Emissions Action
BBC
China has pledged for the first time to take firm action on climate change, telling a UN summit that its emissions, the world's highest, would soon peak.
ChinaFile Recommends
09.23.14Obama Presses Chinese on Global Warming
New York Times
Declaring that the United States and China—the world’s two largest economies and largest polluters—bear a “special responsibility to lead,” Mr. Obama said, “That’s what big nations have to do.”
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09.22.14China Surpasses EU in Per-Capita Pollution for First Time
Bloomberg
If pollution continues at the current rate, the limit for carbon will be reached in 30 years, the scientists concluded in a report issued on the eve of a United Nations summit designed to step up the fight against climate change.
Conversation
09.19.14
China and Climate Change: What’s Next?
Climate Week at the United Nations General Assembly is upon us and we asked a group of experts to bring us up-to-date about the areas where progress on climate change looks most possible for China, now the world's largest emitter of greenhouse...