China Digital Times

SECTION: Environmental Crisis

• Japan, U.S. Seek to Divide Developing Nations at Climate Talks

  

  Japan and U.S. seek to separate developing countries, such as China and India, into a different category in order to apply emissions cap and targets to these countries. From Bloomberg:

  China, with an economic boom and no emissions limits, is expected to replace the U.S. in 2008 as the world’s biggest air polluter. That’s spurring calls for it to join Japan, Britain and other developed nations that already have greenhouse-gas caps.

  “In the developing countries there are no targets, and there are more than 100 countries,” Takiguchi said in a telephone interview from Tokyo. “The world has changed, so we need more categories, and we propose differentiation.”

  Japan’s proposal to the United Nations, which is not formally endorsed by the U.S., would divide the developing world into three groups: countries most vulnerable to climate change, such as small islands at risk of rising sea levels; an intermediate group; and the most-polluting of the developing nations. The last group would be forced to slash emissions based on pollution per capita or per unit of economic output, Takiguchi said, without naming specific countries.

  
  China Carbon Emissions to Rise Sharply @ Yahoo! Video

  However, China has rejected carbon emissions caps according to ClimateBiz:

  China has long rejected emissions caps and was exempt from the Kyoto Protocol, a point of contention for the U.S., which pulled out of the treaty. A United Nations meeting will take place in Poland in December that is part of the ongoing negotiations on a climate change treaty that will succeed Kyoto. There is also a U.N.-backed conference in Beijing this month to promote the exchange of green technologies, the Wall Street Journal reported.

  While China admits to its emission contribution, it demands developed countries to provide technologies and resources in the fight against climate change according to the follow CDT articles here and here.

  » Read more
  • December 2, 2008 12:38 PM

• China Urges Practical Steps To Help Developing Countries In Confronting Crisis

  

  From Xinhua:

  On Saturday, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei called for efforts to support global development partnerships and for the global community to help developing nations with the global financial crisis. He was quoted as saying:

  The spreading international financial crisis, coupled with the complicated and grave international economic situation, is posing a challenge to efforts to implement the Millennium Development Goals…...Special attention should be given to efforts to minimize the impact of the financial crisis on developing countries, so as to maintain a good balance between stabilizing the financial market and helping vulnerable countries and communities.

  He also commented that developed nations should provide aid to developing countries and offer debt forgiveness and technology transfers.

  For more information on China’s involvement with developing nations, please see the following China Digital Times articles:

  China Helps Fight Cholera in Zimbabawe

  China Concerned Over Situation in DR Congo

  China has been heavily involved in the international response to the global financial crisis, as the video above discusses.

  » Read more
  • November 30, 2008 10:16 PM

• China Earmarks 73 mln USD for Rural Environment Protection

  

  According to Xinhua:

  China has decided to allocate 500 million yuan (US$73 million) from the central fiscal for rural environment treatment, the Ministry of Environment Protection said Friday.

  The fund would help save 600 villages out of severe environment problems and award 100 others which play exemplary roles in ecology. The program would directly benefit 4 million people, the ministry said.

  The money would be mainly used to address problems of drinking water contamination in rural areas and pollution arising from household livestock raising, and to build polluted water treatment facilities.

  » Read more

  • November 29, 2008 11:15 AM

• Desertification Causes Yearly Loss of 54 Billion Yuan in China

  

  According to People’s Daily Online, desertification is costing China 54 billion yuan every year.

  Tang Yuan, general director of the Research Department for Industry, Transportation and Trade, of the State Council Development Research Center, disclosed on November 25 that the direct economic loss from desertification reaches 54 billion yuan every year. This has already affected the lives and productivity of nearly 400 million people.

  The Cleaner Green China blog argues that these numbers are under-reporting.

  Realistically, given the various unmeasurable costs this number is vastly under reported [...] For anyone who follows climate change, and the impact of human beings, it does not require a lot more information to understand the size of the problem that is being faced in China’s Northern territory.

  To learn more about the desertification in China, follow CDT’s desertification tag for more articles.

  » Read more
  • November 29, 2008 10:54 AM

• A ‘Green Lining’ in China’s Economic Stimulus Plan

  

  “It may be counter-intuitive, but a global economic slowdown could help the United States and China work together on climate change,” writes Deborah Seligsohn from the World Resources Institute in the Guardian:

  After years of very rapid growth, China’s energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions now look to be slowing sharply. One major factor: China’s energy efficiency and renewable energy policies—now in their third year—have begun to make a real impact at the provincial and local levels.

  We are already seen slowing growth in the cement industry and a decline in annual steel output. Electricity demand in October was down 4% over the same month a year ago, the first such decline in almost seven years. The global economic slowdown will accelerate these trends.

  For several years, the Chinese government has been sponsoring a shift from energy-intensive to knowledge-intensive jobs and economic activity. China’s recently-announced $586 billion stimulus package (Rmb4,000bn, £380bn) will transform its economy even faster, by promoting economic restructuring and essential green infrastructure

  .

  » Read more
  • November 28, 2008 5:27 PM

• One-third of China’s Yellow River ‘Unfit for Drinking or Agriculture’

  

  A research group in China has found that industrial pollution and urban sewage has made one-third of the water in the Yellow River unusable. From The Guardian:

  The survey, based on data taken last year, covered more than 8,384 miles of the river, one of the longest waterways in the world, and its tributaries.

  The Yellow River Conservancy Committee, affiliated to the ministry of water resources, said 33.8% of the river system’s water sampled in 2007 registered worse than level five. That means it is unfit for drinking, aquaculture, industrial use and even agriculture, according to criteria used by the UN Environment Programme.

  Only 16% of the river samples reached level one or two, the standard considered safe for domestic use.

  Show on map

  » Read more
  • November 25, 2008 3:47 PM

• China’s Disappearing Land Puts Food Supplies at Risk

  

  Soil erosion has been costing economic losses in China according to a report by China’s bio-environment security research team. From NewScientist:

  Over a third of China’s land is being scoured by erosion that is putting its crops and water supplies at risk, a three-year nationwide survey finds.

  Soil is being washed and blown away not only in remote rural areas, but near mines, factories and even in cities, according to the country’s official Xinhua news agency. The agency is citing a report compiled by China’s bio-environment security research team – the largest on soil conservation since the communist party took control of China in 1949.

  The team found that since 2000, erosion has cost China 200 billion yuan ($29 billion) in economic losses. Each year some 4.5 billion tonnes of soil are lost, threatening the country’s ability to feed itself. If erosion continues at this rate, harvests in China’s north-eastern breadbasket could fall by 40% in 50 years.

  Soil erosion leads to sediment buildup, which affects China’s crops. From Guardian:

  

  Sediments discharge into the Bo Hai Bay and western Yellow Sea colouring the surface waters caramel in this satellite view of China. Light brown hues show bare land, darker browns areas of vegetation. Photograph: Modis/Nasa

  Almost 100 million people in south-west China will lose the land they live on within 35 years if soil erosion continues at its current rate, a nationwide survey has found.

  Crops and water supplies are suffering serious damage as earth is washed and blown away across a third of the country, according to the largest-scale study for 60 years.

  Harvests in the north-east, known as China’s breadbasket, will fall 40% within half a century on current trends, even as the 1.3 billion population continues to grow.

  To understand the structure of China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection, follow this link.

  Another article on soil erosion in CDT can be found here.

  Show on map

  » Read more
  • November 24, 2008 1:21 PM

• Hydropower on the Nu River

  

  China’s Green Beat produced a story and video on building a hydropower station on the Nu River:

  In 2004, there was a plan to put 13 dams along the Nu River, one of the most biodiverse regions of China.  The total output of the dams would surpass that of the Three Gorges Dam, and would be used to supply electricity to Southwest China.  Wen Jiabao put a stop to the projects that year after a public outcry from environmentalists and foreign governments alike.  Later in 2005, some smaller proposals received approval.  It seems that construction has begun on at least one of the dams.  Is there another way for this region to develop and use hydropower for its electricity needs without building dams which harm the natural and social environment?  Maybe the picture seems bleak and the future inevitable, but there are a few signs and examples of a more sustainable route…

  Information about the Nu River in Yunnan is also described in the China River Project:

  The Nu River flows some 3059 kilometers from the slopes of Tangula Mountain in the Qinghai-Tibet plateau to the northeast corner of the Indian Ocean. For approximately 700 kilometers of this length, it carves what has been called the “Grand Canyon of the East.” The river is flanked by the Gao Li Gong Shan range to the west, and the Bi Luo Snow Mountain and Mei Li Snow Mountain Ranges to the east, forming a canyon of 4500 meters in depth.

  The Nu River flows through Yunnan Province in China before it broadens and enters eastern Burma, where it is more commonly known as the Salween River. The Salween River forms a portion of the Burmese-Thai border and empties into the Andaman Sea in Kayin State.

  [...] The Nu River is threatened by a proposed cascade of thirteen hydropower dams, which would generate as much power as China’s Three Gorges Dam and would displace local ethnic communities.

  For other posts regarding China’s construction of dams and hydropower plants in CDT, follow the hydropower and dams tags.

  Show on map

  » Read more
  • November 20, 2008 5:34 PM

• Embodied Carbon in Chinese Commercial Buildings and Potential for Building Materials Innovation

  

  In view of the recent research publication from the China Energy Group at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the China Green Building blog discusses the embodied and operational carbon emissions in China’s buildings.

  China’s buildings officially account for 19% of China’s total energy consumption but according to various Chinese academics, buildings probably account for more like 23%. This is expected to rise to 30% by 2010, broadly in line with the US.

  Unfortunately, the paper does not state explicitly what percentage of total CO2 emissions is accounted for by buildings, but since China’s fuel source is so predominantly coal driven, it’s probably fair to say that buildings currently account for about a third of total CO2 emissions. However, according to a presentation at JUCCCE by Marc Porat, CEO of CalStar Cement and Chairman of Serious Materials (see below for more info on CalStar), buildings- both their operation and construction- account for 52% of total CO2 emissions in China.

  This is significant, especially when coupled with the data from the global McKinsey Carbon Abatement Cost Curve, which calculates building efficiency to be one of the cheapest sources of carbon abatement available globally. Buildings are therefore a key leverage point for reducing carbon emissions in a cost-effective manner.

  To understand how China is tackling the challenge of carbon emission, you can follow the CDT green building tag for more posts.

  » Read more
  • November 20, 2008 5:18 PM

• China’s Environmental Retreat

  

  From Washington Post:

  In February, the Fuan textile factory became one of the first major casualties of China’s anti-pollution campaign when the multimillion-dollar company was shut down for dumping waste from dyes into a neighboring river and turning it red.

  But as the country’s economy began to cool this fall and job losses mounted, the company was resurrected. Encouraged by the government, Fuan changed its name, moved to a new location and quietly reopened.

  With the global economy at the edge of recession, China appears to be turning away from previous pledges to improve its record on environmental protection. In this, China is hardly alone: A climate-change proposal in Europe that a few months ago seemed like a sure thing has now divided the continent because of its anticipated expense, and worldwide, money for the development of renewable energy sources has been drying up.

  » Read more
  • November 19, 2008 4:01 AM

• China’s Journey to the Dark Ages

  

  An new report from the United Nations Environment Programme gives an alarming picture of the effects of air pollution in China and South Asia. In China alone, air pollution has caused $82 billion in economic losses, the report says. From the Globe and Mail:

  The study says the toxic clouds - more than three kilometres thick - are contributing to a huge range of dangerous effects: extreme weather; damage to crops; melting of glaciers; the dimming of big cities; shifts in rainfall; massive economic losses; higher food prices; and a growing number of human deaths from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

  Up to 25 per cent of the sunlight has disappeared in Chinese cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, India’s New Delhi and Karachi, Pakistan, the study concluded. In India, the dimming of cities has more than doubled since 1980, it said.

  [...] Achim Steiner, the UNEP executive director, said he expects the phenomenon of toxic brown clouds to be “firmly on the international community’s radar” as a result of the latest study, which was released yesterday. The clouds need “urgent and detailed research,” he said.

  Read the full UNEP report here.

  » Read more
  • November 14, 2008 11:27 AM

• Residents Shut Down Garbage Plant in Jiaxing

  

  Jiaxing residents demonstrated their complaints against Jiaxing’s Buyun Garbage Incineration Power Plant by laying waste outside of the disposal plant. From Xinhua:

  

  From Xinhua

  Rotting rubbish has been piling up on the streets of Jiaxing City for four days after residents blocked garbage trucks at a waste disposal plant in a protest against pollution.

  Villagers living near Jiaxing’s Buyun Garbage Incineration Power Plant gathered at its gate on Saturday and lay down in the road, stopping rubbish trucks from entering. They claimed the smell and dust the plant produced had affected their health and the harvest.

  A spokesman for the local government said it had persuaded the villagers to leave, with promises to replace the plant’s old furnaces with new ones that meet environmental standards.

  Show on map

  » Read more
  • November 13, 2008 9:30 PM

• “Smart” Energy Management for China’s Transmission Grid

  

  Merging electricity infrastructure with information technology, the Smart Grid is a project that aims to reduce China’s energy consumption per unit of GDP. From Renewable Energy World:

  On November 9th the Chinese government approved a US $586 billion stimulus plan focused on large-scale investment in low-income housing, water, rural infrastructure and electricity in China. Though the primary purpose of this initiative is to spur economic growth at a time when exports are falling, as the Chinese stock market is in the doldrums and GDP growth is flagging, a secondary effect of this stimulus plan may be increased investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency in China.

  This effort would include accelerating efforts to achieve the goal of reducing China’s energy consumption per unit of GDP by a cumulative 20% by 2010. One very promising approach for China to build energy conservation into its infrastructure is the construction of a “smart grid.”

  The “smart grid” is the merging of electricity infrastructure with information technology. The purpose is to add monitoring, analysis, control and communication capabilities to any national electrical delivery system to maximize efficiency while reducing energy consumption. Creating a unified power grid and upgrading aging power systems will increase productivity, reduce carbon dioxide emissions and increase national security.

  The detail of the Smart Grid project is described on Joint US-China Cooperation on Clean Energy (JUCCCE)’s website. This project was discussed in JUCCCE’s recent convention in Beijing on November 10-11.

  The Smart Grid Program’s initial goals: stimulate interest in Smart Grid planning, in China, and identify a few key Chinese leaders. Smart Grid will involve bringing in a series of international experts to China, over time. These discussions will help disparate groups begin to define Smart Grid in the context of China—as JUCCCE investigates case studies on return on investment (ROI). Smart Grid will outline a set of necessary early decisions, in China, so as not to make later implementation unnecessarily expensive.

  The Smart Grid Program’s secondary goal: create a feasibility study of the financial, policy and technical requirements of a Smart Grid in China.

  The Smart Grid Program’s third goal: catalyze a regional pilot for Smart Grid.

  Follow CDT’s alternative energy and energy conservation tags to see what other technologies China is pursuing to meet its growing energy demand.

  Show on map

  » Read more
  • November 13, 2008 9:06 PM

• Under a Sooty Exterior, A Green China Emerges

  

  An analysis in Environment 360, a publication of Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, gives an optimistic picture of China’s environmental record and efforts to go green:

  So China is not responsible for where we are today on climate change. And I doubt that either its cumulative or its its per-capita emissions will ever approach those of the U.S. Why? Because, believe it or not, China is going green.

  We hear a lot about China building a new coal-fired power station every week. I checked the stats. It’s worse. It has recently been building two new 1000-megawatt plants each week. But last year, China also built more wind turbines than any other country. And its biogas and solar power industries are also growing fast.

  China’s green credentials are surprisingly good in many respects. China has long led the world in aquaculture. By raising most of its fish in artificial ponds it has done a huge good turn for the world’s ocean fisheries.

  » Read more
  • November 13, 2008 11:18 AM

• Cutting Emissions in Rural China

  

  Professor Jiang Gaoming discusses how farmers in rural China could use straw to reduce China’s carbon footprint in his China Dialogue article:

  China’s population is mainly rural, and if that population realises its full potential for consumption, we will have no way to control the continually increasing greenhouse-gas emissions. Many wealthy farmers already are using energy-hungry appliances such as air-conditioners, refrigerators and microwave ovens, as well as coal for heating and cooking. Yet, they ignore the traditional bioenergy sources at their doorsteps — like straw – by simply burning them off in the fields.

  So what if the millions of villages in China were mobilised? For answers, let us look at the experimental data collected by the Institute of Botany at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Shandong Agricultural University.

  [...] Solving the energy crisis will require a multi-pronged approach. Reducing the country’s dependence on fossil fuels must include our rural residents. Chinese policies should encourage them to use the energy sources naturally available rather than force rural locations to compete with cities and industry for fossil fuels. If China pays some attention to rural energy and makes full use of biological converters such as cows, sheep and methanogenic bacteria, 700 million tonnes of straw can be converted to energy and high-quality fertiliser.

  Another form of alternative energy source recorded by CDT are methane plants, though they are not available to farmers.

  » Read more
  • November 13, 2008 1:38 AM