China Digital Times

Stories tagged with: global warming (191)

• Big Chinese Companies Join Climate Group

  

  The Guardian is reporting that one of China’s largest companies, China Mobile, along with two other smaller companies, is joining the Climate Group, an international agreement to cut greenhouse gases. All together, the group is targeting 20 Chinese companies:

  The Chinese government and many businesses have set targets to reduce energy used and increase renewable energy. However the three Climate Group members are said to be the first to make more ambitious commitments to the organisation’s aims, which include significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, publishing information on emissions, and supporting international climate change agreements.

  China Mobile has agreed, initially, to reduce energy intensity of its $47bn (about £29bn) annual business by 40%, double the national target. This could pave the way for these and other Chinese companies to publish plans to reduce absolute emissions, and to join voluntary carbon trading schemes.

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  • October 23, 2008 7:26 PM

• Shanghai highrises could worsen threat of rising seas

  

  Reuters reports that Shanghai is particularly at-risk of flooding as global warming melts polar ice.

  “‘Shanghai came from the ocean, and has been facing the threat of rising sea levels,’ said Wang Pingxian, a member of the prestigious China Academy of Sciences and professor of ocean geology at Tongji University in Shanghai.

  “‘The rising sea level is a worldwide problem, caused by global warming, but Shanghai and Tianjin, among China’s coastal cities, face the biggest challenge, mainly because of land subsidence,’ Wang said as part of the Reuters Global Environment Summit.”

  Read more here.

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  • October 5, 2008 11:35 PM

• Government Adviser Breaks with Beijing, Promotes Greenhouse Gas Reductions

  

  Reuters reports that influential government adviser Hu Angang is breaking with Beijing to promote the economic and diplomatic benefits of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Hu is proposing a plan to reduce China’s greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2030:

  China should commit to cuts in a global pact, even if the United States resists, Hu said. Washington refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, under which China and other poorer nations need not accept emissions limits.

  “Like joining the WTO, this should be used as international pressure to spur our own transformation,” he added, referring to the World Trade Organisation, which China joined in 2001.

  “If China makes a 1 percent error in handling climate change, that could mean 100 percent failure in making agreement.”

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  • September 15, 2008 11:14 AM

• Rudd Soft on China Over Climate Change: Hunt

  

  The Australian Federal Opposition does not approve of the way Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is handling China when it comes to climate change and clean energy. From ABC News, Australia.

  The Opposition’s environment spokesman, Greg Hunt, says Mr Rudd has sent the wrong message to China by cutting $50 million in funding from the Asia Pacific Partnership on clean development.

  Mr Hunt says that money would have gone directly towards clean energy in China, and Mr Rudd has set progress back by cutting it.

  Mr Hunt says China will not take Australia’s clean energy efforts seriously if funding is cut.

  “The Chinese response is to say, ‘Well Australia’s not serious’ … and the end result is higher petrol, higher grocery, and higher electricity prices for Australian mums and dads who’ll have to do the heavy lifting.”

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  • August 8, 2008 9:46 PM

• Cultural Devolution

  

  The New Republic looks at various efforts to slow China’s environmental degradation:

  At U.N. conferences, officials keep pushing the country to take stronger action on climate change. Europe and Japan have helped fund clean-energy projects in China, largely through the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism. In the United States, it’s become common to hear politicians say that Beijing needs to be strong-armed into action. “If we do not act [on global warming],” Virginia Senator John Warner said recently, “China and India will hide behind America’s skirts of inaction and take no steps of their own.” Warner’s cap-and-trade bill, which would limit U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions, even had a provision to slap carbon tariffs on Chinese imports if the country didn’t take steps to tackle its emissions.

  These ideas aren’t without merit. But they also miss a key point: China’s central government is well aware that its blackened rivers and sunless skies are a problem, not just because they’re sparking riots and social unrest, but because out-of-control environmental degradation is imperiling the country’s economic growth. Lately, Beijing has issued a slew of bold–at least on paper–environmental regulations. But the laws are doing little good because the central government can barely enforce them in its own provinces. This structural problem will remain the key to China’s environmental dilemma, and, as countries attempt to push Beijing toward a cleaner future, they’ll discover that the capital is the least of their troubles.

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  • July 11, 2008 8:24 PM

• China, India Snub World on Targets

  

  China and India are among a group of developing nations that have rejected a plan by the G-8 to limit carbon emissions, a plan which environmentalists say doesn’t go far enough to combat global warming. From The Age:

  In a setback for international climate negotiations, the emerging giants of the world economy yesterday refused to endorse a statement by the Group of Eight wealthy nations in which they proclaimed a “shared vision” to at least halve emissions by 2050.

  The so-called “Group of Five” developing economies - China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa - say rich nations must take the lead on emissions cuts, as they were historically responsible for climate change.

  [...] In closed-door negotiations involving the G8 nations and leaders from eight other countries, only Australia, Indonesia and South Korea backed the G8 position on climate change.

  Meanwhile, Italy’s La Stampa says that given the weight accorded to China in the talks, the G-8 may be ready to become the G-9:

  Besides its size, China is, in fact, the main factor in many talks: There are the issues of the falling dollar and the surge of the exchange rate with the Euro. China can’t easily be ignored or forgotten, since it is the largest single creditor of the U.S., holding perhaps one trillion of its reserves in U.S. dollars.

  Similarly, a central issue is the appreciation of the RMB. All the “big eight” are concerned about the inflow of cheap Chinese exports and would like to see a rapid revaluation of the RMB to stem those exports. However, given the looming global danger of inflation, expensive Chinese exports, which in turn would fuel domestic price hikes, could be dangerous as well. Even riskier, a stronger RMB could enable China to gobble up more oil and raw material imports, driving up international prices. Pundits already point at China’s new thirst for energy and commodities as one of the main forces raising prices worldwide.

  See also “Divisions emerge over G8 climate change goals” from The Telegraph.

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  • July 9, 2008 1:28 PM

• Bush to Meet Leaders of India, China, South Korea

  

  President Bush will be meeting with President Hu Jintao following the G-8 summit held in Japan, as G-8 leaders try to bring China and India on board carbon emission reduction plans. From AFP:

  The stalled US-India atomic cooperation pact, six-country diplomacy aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear programmes, and hard-fought efforts to ratify a US-South Korea free trade pact were to be the key issues, US officials said.

  The leaders were also expected to discuss Tuesday’s pledges from the G8 to seek to halve carbon emissions blamed for climate change by 2050, as well as mid-term cuts including from major developing nations like China and India.

  AP has more on the G-8 climate change agreement:

  Leaders of some of the world’s richest nations praised the agreement, which endorsed President Bush’s insistence that fast-developing countries like China and India join in the effort. But one environmental critic suggested that by 2050 those leaders would be forgotten and “the world will be cooked.”

  Details were scant in the statement issued by the Group of Eight. Some could become clearer Wednesday when China, India and six other fast-developing nations sit down with the Group of Eight industrial nations — the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, Germany, Russia, Italy and Canada — to discuss climate change strategies.

  While CNN reports that environmentalists think the agreement doesn’t go far enough.

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  • July 8, 2008 3:00 PM

• DHL Introduces GoGreen Service To China

  

  International express delivery giant DHL is set to offer it’s “carbon-neutral” shipping service in China, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, starting next month. From China Daily:

  A first in the logistics industry, DHL calculates the carbon emissions generated by transporting each specific customer shipment from the country of origin to destination, and offsets these emissions by reinvesting in certified carbon management programs such as alternative fuel vehicle technology, solar panels and reforestation projects.

  …Customers have the option to choose the GoGreen service when ordering international express shipments and pay a 3 percent “green premium” on top of standard delivery charges to ship “carbon neutral”.

  …In addition to that, DHL is also stepping up its use of low emission and energy efficient vehicles for its pick-up and delivery services in China.

  DHL-Sinotrans, a 50-50 joint venture between DHL and China National Foreign Trade Transportation (Group) Corp, has bought 43 delivery vans that meet the stringent Europe IV emission standard.

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  • June 29, 2008 11:38 PM

• Just Blame It on China and India

  

  Asia Times has a piece which asks who really should bear the blame for a host of current global issues, including climate change and the food crisis:

  Bush’s implication of China and India in global warming and food shortages has one common theme - that the rise of these two countries is problematic. In his April 17 comment, the US president said the economic growth of the two was “good for their people and good for the world”, but suffixed it with the caveat that this is harming the environment. In his May 3 address, Bush said that “prosperity in the developing world is good”, but quickly elaborated its supposed negative repercussions on food supplies.

  In plain language, the American president is reflecting a deep-seated belief that Asia’s rising powers are irresponsible “free riders” as opposed to the more benevolent and magnanimous West. Bush’s accusations mask deeper structural malaises in the global environment and economy that can be traced back to Western over-consumption and exploitation of resources.

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  • May 5, 2008 9:57 AM

• California to Sign UN Compact to Help China Cut Emissions

  

  From AP:

  California, which puts out more greenhouse gases than any other state, is promising to share ideas and research to help China cut back on its own emissions, which rival those of the U.S. as the world’s largest.

  Despite its output, California is leading efforts to curb emissions. The state’s top environmental official is in Beijing to sign an agreement with the United Nations to help China’s efforts.

  According to the four-page agreement to be signed Tuesday on Earth Day, the state also would mobilize public agencies and encourage private entities in California to support climate change projects in China.

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  • April 21, 2008 11:07 PM

• Beijing Pressures Automakers to Improve Efficiency

  

  From the New York Times:

  The Chinese government is putting pressure on automakers to improve energy efficiency, but consumers are increasingly interested in large sport utility vehicles and full-size luxury cars, auto executives said on Sunday at the opening of the Beijing auto show.

  The shift of the Chinese market toward larger vehicles will probably push up the country’s already voracious demand for imported oil and make China an even bigger emitter of global warming gases. The trend toward big vehicles is being driven by rising incomes for China’s elite as well as government price controls on gasoline and diesel fuel that are keeping fuel prices below world levels as a way to limit broader inflation in the economy.

  For the first two months of 2008, sales of sport utility vehicles in China were up 38 percent and sales of luxury cars climbed 30 percent compared with the corresponding period a year ago. By contrast, overall sales of cars, S.U.V.’s and minivans rose 16 percent.

  Sales of hybrid cars have also slumped due to their higher cost and a low level of environmental awareness among new car-buyers. The Wall Street Journal reports:

  At the Beijing auto show this week, companies are showing off their latest environmentally friendly technologies, including hybrid engines, electric cars and fuel-cell vehicles.

  But there is little chance such innovations will help reduce the environmental fallout of the car-buying boom sweeping across China and other emerging markets like Russia and India soon.

  The problem is cost. . .

  Chinese manufacturers haven’t yet reached the stage of trying to make hybrids affordable as they work out technical issues, such as battery endurance and cold-weather operation.

  Wu Zhixin, director of research and development at the China Automotive Technology and Research Center, a think tank in Shanghai, says his survey research shows that the majority of Chinese drivers would be willing to buy a hybrid — if the price tag were no more than 20% higher than that of a conventional car. That is a tough challenge since compact and smaller cars, which made up 67% of all car sales in China last year, are selling for as little as $4,500.

  “The money being saved on gas isn’t enough to cover the higher cost of the vehicles,” says Wu Zongxin, dean of Tsinghua University’s Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology. Mr. Wu says the government should start replacing its own vehicle fleets with hybrids to help auto makers gain economies of scale and bring prices down.

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  • April 20, 2008 10:32 PM

• Methane Plants: China’s Clean Energy Alternative

  

  For their Climate Connections series, NPR reports on an engineer who created the first methane power plant to provide an alternative to coal to fill the country’s energy demands:

  Coal is the dirtiest of fossil fuels. It is responsible for the vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions in China. So the country is trying to modernize its coal-fired power plants to make them cleaner and more efficient, reducing emissions.

  One way is to use captured methane gas, a natural byproduct of coal mining.

  Huang Shengchu, an engineer, adopted the idea a decade ago. It gave rise to the country’s biggest methane power plant — and one of its best tools in its fight against climate change.

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  • April 15, 2008 9:34 PM

• China, India Urged to Avoid Obsession with Cars

  

  An alarm was sounded by Nobel Peace Prize winner and UN climate panel head at Boao Forum, according to Reuters:

  China and other big developing countries such as India need to take steps to avoid being over-reliant on private cars, the head of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning U.N. climate panel said.

  Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told Reuters that investing in improving railways and urban public transportation was one way countries such as China could balance the need for fighting climate change with that for economic growth.

  “This excessive and growing reliance on private vehicular transport is certainly something that doesn’t suit large, populous countries like China and India,” Pachauri said.

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  • April 14, 2008 4:16 PM

• Xinjiang’s Melting Glaciers

  

  Tibetan riots aren’t the only crisis the government faces in western China. A couple hundred kilometers north of Lhasa, the Xinjiang capital is struggling with an ominous climate change problem that appears to be threatening its very existence. From China Dialogue:

  Urumqi would seem relatively safe from the more immediate threats of climate change. Located roughly halfway between Beijing and Baghdad, at the foot of the Tianshan (“Heavenly Mountain”) Range near the northern end of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the city sits at far remove from the dangers of rising seas and intensified coastal storms—farther removed than any city on earth, in fact. But if residents of this former Silk Road outpost have a hard time sympathizing with the frantic dike builders of the Netherlands’ sub-tidal Zuidplaspolder, they occupy no less precarious a position on the map of potential climate catastrophe.

  The danger to Urumqi comes not from climate change alone, but from a lethal coincidence of the effects of global warming and the needs of another seemingly unstoppable force: Chinese economic development. According to government calculations, average temperatures in Xinjiang have risen by as much as 1.6 degrees Celsius since the 1980s, three times the average rate of warming for the northern hemisphere. As a result, the region’s glaciers have been melting with astonishing speed. For one of Asia’s most glacier-dependent cities, that is decidedly bad news. But for a perpetually parched settlement high on the government’s list of economic priorities—the locus of a multi-billion dollar “megacity” development effort featuring, among other things, golf courses and ski resorts—the sudden availability of excess glacial melt water is also good news.

  While climate change typically scares people into rethinking the wasteful old models of development, in Urumqi rising temperatures appear to be the factor that makes the old model feasible. That has experts nervous. “You can support this type of expansion in the short term,” renowned glaciologist Lonnie Thompson says of the city’s plans. “But in the long term, you will find yourself in deep trouble.”

  One of the authors of the article has posted photos and from the glaciers here.

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  • March 28, 2008 1:56 AM

• Melting Mountain Glaciers Will Shrink Grain Harvests in China and India

  

  For Earth Policy Institute, Lester Brown writes that shrinking glaciers in China and India could affect the food supply not only in those countries but around the world:

  Yao Tandong, a leading Chinese glaciologist, reports that the glaciers on the Tibet-Qinghai Plateau in western China are now melting at an accelerating rate. He believes that two thirds of these glaciers could be gone by 2060, greatly reducing the dry-season flow of the Yellow and Yangtze rivers. Like the Ganges, the Yellow River, which flows through the arid northern part of China, could become seasonal. If this melting of glaciers continues, Yao says, “[it] will eventually lead to an ecological catastrophe.”…

  In a world where grain prices have recently climbed to record highs, with no relief in sight, any disruption of the wheat or rice harvests due to water shortages in these two leading grain producers will greatly affect not only people living there but consumers everywhere. In both of these countries, food prices will likely rise and grain consumption per person can be expected to fall. In India, where just over 40 percent of all children under five years of age are underweight and undernourished, hunger will intensify and child mortality will likely climb.

  For China, a country already struggling to contain food price inflation, there may well be spreading social unrest as food supplies tighten.

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  • March 24, 2008 9:44 PM