Environment China

In this episode of our Women in Sustainability series, we are talking about the evolution and underpinnings of China's climate diplomacy. Our guest is Taylah Bland, Schwarzman Fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis. She specializes in China’s domestic climate politics and international environmental law. She is a graduate of New York University, Shanghai and Tsinghua University as a Schwarzman Scholar. In this episode we cover: China's tendency to boost domestic policy first, before making climate commitments. China's signing on to climate agreements in the early phases, such as the Kyoto Protocol and Clean Development Mechanism The importance of China's domestic policy leading up to its Paris commitment Whether China's climate diplomacy commitments lag domestic trends so much, such as on renewables, that they are more for splashy announcements and soft power What further domestic policy steps are needed before China can enhance its ambitions for the next round of climate tal

Today's episode looks at the topic of electric vehicles and their impact on both carbon emissions and urban air quality. China has the world’s largest market for electric vehicles, and it is the largest maker of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles manufactured worldwide. Hence, the environmental impact of EVs, even outside of China, often goes back upstream to China. Our guest is Zhang Shaojun, Associate Professor at the Tsinghua University School of the Environment. His research examines the environmental impacts of emissions from road transportation systems on air quality, climate and public health. Before joining Tsinghua University, he was a Postdoctoral Associate at University of Michigan and Atkinson Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Cornell University.  Shaojun and his colleagues have published two important papers on these topics this year. The first, in the journal PNAS Nexus, looks at the upstream greenhouse gas emissions from battery manufacturing as well as a regional breakdown of power s

Today's podcast looks at the topic of sustainable forestry and the role of China, particularly at the role of Chinese banks. Our guest is Beibei Yin, who researches the intersection of China’s policies on forestry practices abroad and policies on green finance. Two years ago she founded her own consultancy called Bambu Consulting. Previously, she served for many years as Senior Policy Advisor at Global Witness based in London, where she researched topics such as addressing financing from China that leads to deforestation in Southeast Asia, stopping illegal timber trade, and the role of global supply chains in addressing deforestation and illegal timber. She previously joined the podcast in May 2018 to talk about her research following the 9000-mile path of illegal timber from Papua New Guinea to markets.  For further reading: Beibei Yin, "China’s new green finance guidelines have a deforestation blind spot," 1 August 2022, at https://chinadialogue.net/en/business/chinas-new-green-finance-guidelines-have-a

Last week, China came out with a dramatic new policy on green certificates, radically reforming what had been a sleepy aspect of the clean energy transition in China. We don't usually do breaking news here on Environment China, but it happens that our co-producer, Anders Hove, has just published a paper on the topic as well as a short reaction article to the new policy. (Links below.) The new green certificate policy, issued by the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Finance, and National Energy Administration, expands China's domestic renewable energy certificate scheme from onshore wind and solar to all types of renewables. The expansion means that all renewable projects will now be able to generate Green Electricity Certificates, or GECs, though only some will be traded. The policy reforms how GECs are priced and it also bans domestic generators from selling international renewable energy certificates to prevent double counting.  Further reading: Anders Hove and Gary Sipeng Xie, "Green

In this latest installment in our Young Professionals in Sustainability series, we talk with Minjie LU, Energy Advisory Consultant at S&P Global Commodity Insights consulting group. He has six years of experience in the energy industry. His technical expertise includes oil and gas field development, project economics, and investment valuation. Prior to joining S&P, Minjie was a reservoir engineer at Totalenergies' Geoscience Centre in Scotland. He holds an MSc in petroleum engineering from Imperial College London and an ME in structural engineering and a BSc in engineering science from University College Dublin.   In this episode we'll explore:  His academic and work background Career change: research-oriented work to consulting S&P Global Commodity Insightsw's energy upstream research business A Day in the Life of an Energy Advisory Consultant Interesting energy consulting projects Recent major industry events and changes in the energy market     2022年我们萌生了一个想法：为什么不把北京能源网络的职场青年人聚起来，做一系列

In this episode of our Women in Sustainability series, we’re talking with the Grantham Institute's Chunping Xie, looking at the topic of China’s carbon neutrality from a wider economic perspective. Specifically, we discuss a paper published earlier this year by the Grantham Institute entitled: "Embracing the new paradigm of green Development: China Carbon Neutrality Policy Framework research report." One of the report's several authors, Chunping Xie is a Senior Policy Fellow at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, a programme to inform decision-making about China’s policies on climate change, energy, economics and development. She holds a PhD in Energy Economics, and her research interests focus on promoting clean energy transition and sustainable economic development. She has multidisciplinary expertise in economics, energy technologies and energy/climate policy. The report we discuss today also builds on a report from 2022 entitled, "China's New Growth Story: Linking the

In this latest installment of our Women in Sustainability series, we talk with Yuan LIN,  Senior Specialist in Institutional Carbon Management at Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). She works closely with climate initiatives toward the Bank’s green mission as embraced in AIIB’s corporate strategy. She has 15 years of experience in Environmental Impact Assessments, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), carbon trading, and corporate carbon emission management. Before joining AIIB, she worked at the London Stock Exchange, the World Bank China office, and the Energy Foundation. She graduated from Imperial College London with an MSc in Environmental Technology and from the University of Cambridge with an MPhil in Engineering for Sustainable Development.   In this episode we'll explore:   Her academic and work background Trends in the '碳圈 - tanquan', aka carbon circle in the past ten years Chinese carbon market development from 2015 to 2023 A day in the life of an Institutional Carbon Management Senior

Today we will be talking about China’s efforts to phase out hydrofluorocarbons (HFCS), a class of refrigerant with huge impacts on the climate. Our guest today is an expert on the topic, Prof Hu Jianxin. Professor Hu holds bachelor's and masters degrees in Chemistry from Peking University. He has been on the faculty at Peking University since 1986, and is currently professor at the College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, and also the Institute of Carbon Neutrality, Peking University. He has published numerous academic studies of HFCs, focusing on potential emissions reductions pathways as well as the cost of mitigation in various sectors. He was involved in the negotiations leading up to the Kigali Amendment as well as several other international agreements. Topics addressed in this episode: How Prof Hu got started investigating HFCs Who needs to take action to reduce emissions of HFCs: chemical manufacturers, equipment manufacturers, consumers and repair/maintenance industr

In this episode, we talk about China’s carbon emissions and go in for a detailed mid-2023 update, thanks to the data compiled from various Chinese statistical sources by the analysts at CREA, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. We’re talking to Qin Qi, an analyst at CREA and the co-author with Lauri Myllivirta of a recent Carbon Brief article on this subject.  Qin Qi recently joined CREA as an analyst. Before joining CREA she was at the UN Environment Programme for three years, and before that she was in Chinese state media for about 10 years, mainly serving at overseas bureaus in Nairobi and Washington, DC. She graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University in the field of simultaneous interpretation.  For further reading: Qin Qi and Lauri Myllyvirta, "Analysis: China’s CO2 emissions hit Q1 record high after 4% rise in early 2023," Carbon Brief, 12 May 2023, at https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-chinas-co2-emissions-hit-q1-record-high-after-4-rise-in-early-2023/. 

Today, we’re coming back to the power sector to discuss a new report about the pathways for scaling up renewables as China pursues its policy to peak CO2 emissions by 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2060. The report is entitled Renewable Energy Pathways to Carbon Neutrality in China, and it’s the fruit of a collaboration between scholars at Tsinghua School of the Environment, California China Climate Institute at Berkeley Law, Power Transformation Lab hosted at the UCSD. The report was released in May 2023. Michael Davidson is an assistant professor joint with the School of Global Policy and Strategy and the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of California, San Diego, where he leads the Power Transformation Lab. Dr. Davidson’s teaching and research focus on the engineering implications and institutional conflicts inherent in deploying low-carbon energy at scale to mitigate environmental harms, specializing in applications to China, India, and the U.S. Zhenhua is a PhD Stu

In this latest instalment in our Young People in Sustainability series, we talk with with Chen Zhibin, senior manager at Adelphi and ICAP, the International Carbon Action Partnership. Zhibin has also engaged in carbon market policy research and corporate carbon asset management at the State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) and at Sino-Carbon Investment. He is also a member of the expert pool of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Zhibin participated in the system design and management of China’s national carbon market and carbon trading pilots, and provided carbon emission management consulting services for major companies. In this episode we'll explore: Opportunities to work in the carbon market Relevant academic and work background Zhibin’s work at the early team at Sino-Carbon Investment His work at Adelphi in Berlin, and the work style in Germany, including at the German Federal Ministry of the Environment A day in the life of a senior carbon market manager Recent major industry event

Starting from 2020, Beijing Energy Network has held an offline second-hand swap market in Beijing every quarter. In the fifth podcast of our Sustainability Professionals series, Joyce discusses the BEN swap market with Nina Ning, senior researcher at the Global Energy Interconnection Development Corporation (Geidco).  Nina is currently working as a senior researcher at GEIDCO, and her main research areas include energy transition, power system transition and carbon neutrality. She received a Ph.D. in Economics from Peking University in 2016 and is currently the head of the Beijing Energy Network. Topics discussed in the episode include: the origin of the BEN swap market, what makes swap markets important as compared to online markets for used items, and how BEN organizes swap events.

In today's episode we’re talking about hydrogen development in China, and its potential – or not – for helping with the country’s dual carbon goals: carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. Our guest is Arabella Miller-Wang, recently an Aramco fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies and also a Research Assistant at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford. She has recently published a paper entitled, "China’s Hydrogen Development: A Tale of Three Cities," which discusses the issue of China’s hydrogen strategy based on the experiences and plans of the pilot hydrogen clusters located in Datong, Shanxi province, Chengdu in Sichuan province, and Zhangjiakou in the northern part of Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing. The paper can be found here: https://www.oxfordenergy.org/publications/chinas-hydrogen-development-a-tale-of-three-cities/ 

Building on our 2022 series of Beijing Energy Network roundtables on young professionals in the field of sustainability and sustainable energy, Environment China has been interviewing various sustainable energy young professionals about their experiences and outlooks. In this episode of the series, we talk to Lai Shengling of Vestas. Shengling is a wind resources and micro-site selection engineer for the Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas in the Asia-Pacific region. He is mainly responsible for the pre-sales technical support of Vestas, including wind resource and climate condition assessment of the wind farm, calculation of power generation, load verification and safety. In this episode of our podcast we'll explore: A day in the life of a renewable energy engineer Differences between the Australian and New Zealand markets and the Chinese market The dilemmas Vestas faces in the Chinese market Renewable energy and renewable engineering jobs  

In the third episode of our Women in Sustainability podcast series, we speak to Yang Yifan, the sustainability manager of Oatly. Yang Yifan is concerned about the sustainable development of Oatly's entire value chain in the Asia-Pacific region, meaning she is responsible for the company's sustainable procurement, operations and carbon emission management.  In this Chinese language program we will explore: The Sustainability Department of Oatly Global and China A day at work in Oatly's sustainable sector Oatly's factory in Ma'anshan, Anhui Oatly's recent big moves Sustainable job hunting tips 第三期播客系列我们邀请到了”Oatly“的可持续经理人一帆——她是Oatly中国区可持续发展经理，关注Oatly亚太区全价值链的可持续发展。一帆主要负责公司的可持续采购、运营和碳排放管理等。我们在节目中将探讨： Otaly在中国区的第六个年头 Otaly全球和中国区的可持续部门 在Otaly可持续部门工作的一天 可持续打工人内卷吗？ Otaly在安徽马鞍山的工厂 Otaly近期大动作剧透 可持续求职tips

Today, we’re talking about China’s low-carbon energy transition and the unique role of State Owned Enterprises, or SOEs. Our guest is Erlend Ek, Lead Analyst for Energy at China Policy. From 2018-2022 Erlend served as advisor for energy affairs at the Royal Norwegian Embassy in BJ. Prior to that role, he served in various consulting roles at China Policy. He has degrees from the University of Oslo, he studied Chinese at Xiamen University, and he is now at Stavanger University. You can find his content at China Policy. As sometimes happens, Erlend and I ended up having a longer conversation after I shut off the recording, and I took a few notes from that conversation and I’m inserting it here as an intro to our talk: First, Erlend is optimistic on SOEs being able to lead the energy transition, because he sees the central govt moving away from "project economy" (where the key performance indicator is how many projects are completed) to a performance evaluation system based on contribution to low-carbon, ta

In this episode, we’re continuing on the theme of food sustainability, this time looking at the huge topic of the food system and climate change. It’s a topic that gets a lot less attention than emissions from industry and the energy sector, but, as we shall see, food system emissions are significant, and the task of addressing those emissions quite challenging.  We’re speaking with Sally Qiu and David Sandalow, and again starting with the Guide to Chinese Climate Policy, which we also covered in episode 116. This time, we’re narrowing in on one chapter in the Guide: Chapter 22 on the food system. Sally Qiu is a research associate at the Center on Global Energy Policy of Columbia University. Most recently, she is the co-author of the 2022 version of the Guide to Chinese Climate Policy. Her research focuses on issues related to U.S.-China Climate Collaboration as well as the Food Systems. Professor David Sandalow is the Inaugural Fellow at Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy. Prior to Columb

Today, we’re speaking about the topic of sustainable fishing, and especially the role of finance, with Alice Chen. Qianming (Alice) Chen is a researcher at the International Institute of Green Finance, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing. She and colleagues at IIGF and WWF recently authored a series on Financing Sustainable Seafood, and she is also the author of a column summarizing the report’s findings and other related ideas in China Dialogue. For further reading: https://chinadialogueocean.net/en/fisheries/finance-is-crucial-to-making-fishing-and-aquaculture-sustainable/ https://iigf-china.com/financing-sustainable-seafood-a-baseline-study-of-sustainable-seafood-finance-in-china https://iigf-china.com/financing-sustainable-seafood-a-study-of-environment-related-financial-risks-in-chinas-seafood-sector 

In today’s episode, we are looking at Shanxi province, known as the country’s most coal-intensive provincial economy. Over the past several years, various research cooperation efforts have looked at how Shanxi could transition away from its heavy emphasis on coal, and eventually phase down coal in line with China’s 2030-2060 goals. Today, we are talking to Zhou Yang, Advisor at Agora Energiewende’s China programme, which has just published a Chinese-language report, Experience and Lessons learned from Regional Coal Transitions in Germany. A link to the report is below. In the podcast, we will discuss a few of the potential lessons described in the report, namely (1) the importance of breaking energy monopolies and diversifying energy supply and markets to include regular citizens, (2) ways to diversify the local economy away from resource-intensive sectors, including tourism, drawing on the example of Lusatia in eastern Germany, and (3) reducing the cultural emphasis on the resource economy by boosting educat

Today, we're discussing the newly released Guide to Chinese Climate Policy, published by the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. The book is available for free download at https://chineseclimatepolicy.oxfordenergy.org/. We are welcoming two past guests back onto the podcast: David Sandalow and Michal Meidan, who co-authored the Guide along with Anders Hove (OIES), Philip Andrews-Speed, Edmund Downie (Princeton), and Sally Qiu (Columbia). In our discussion, we touch on the following: China's emissions trends The main drivers of emissions for each fossil fuel Whether China is committed to its climate goals, given near-term economic issues Why China is still building coal Trends in nuclear power The role of market reforms And lastly, David reports on his main takeaways from COP27 in Egypt   Professor David Sandalow is the Inaugural Fellow at Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy. Prior to Columbia, David served in senior positions in the US government – at the White House, State Department and