China | Grist

Some Rays of Hope for Global Efforts

Important week for global warming 0
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago
Today begins a week dubbed because of all the high-level climate discussions that are occurring. And they just all happen to be occurring in the U.S. at an important time for the domestic debate to pass a clean energy and climate bill in the Senate.
China’s rearview mirror

China is leaving the U.S. in the dust as it surges ahead on clean energy 14
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago
Even as China overtakes the U.S. in the dubious category of “world’s leading greenhouse gas producer,” it is also well ahead of the U.S. in developing the technologies and policies to solve the problem -- and selling those solutions to us at massive profits that could have been ours.
A happy ending after all?

Suddenly, a few reasons to be optimistic about Copenhagen 3
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago
Suddenly, unexpectedly, there is a ray of hope in the air, hope that a significant global climate deal may yet be struck at December's talks in Copenhagen.
Emissions per person in parts of China above rich nations, Stern says 1
Posted 2 months, 2 weeks ago
One of the world's top authorities on climate change warned Friday that carbon emissions per person in parts of China were higher than in some developed countries.
and she gives climate a bill a "50-50 chance"

Sen. Cantwell thinks a U.S.-China climate deal likely at Obama visit 1
Posted 2 months, 2 weeks ago
The United States and China are likely to sign a new bilateral agreement to combat climate change during President Barack Obama’s visit to Beijing in November, Washington senator Maria Cantwell said on Friday.
China launches differentiated wind energy tariffs 0
Posted 2 months, 3 weeks ago
China has instituted a new system of differentiated wind energy tariffs based on four wind energy zones.
A WALK THROUGH THE WEEK'S CLIMATE NEWS

The Climate Post: A climate for monkey business 1
Posted 3 months ago
A "tragedy of the commons," Chinese steps toward renewable energy, watermelon diesel, and other pure monkey business in this week's climate news.
Beginning the Great Leap

Four ways the U.S. & China can start cooperating now to tackle climate change 0
Posted 3 months, 1 week ago
The recent high-profile visits to China by leading members of Congress and the Obama administration have made it clear that China and the U.S. are taking climate change seriously and recognize the importance of working closely together to find ways to reduce global warming pollution.
trash crash

Throwing out the throwaway economy 0
Posted 3 months, 1 week ago
The throwaway economy is on a collision course with the earth's geological limits.
EP in the FT

Glaciers, cheetahs, and nukes, oh my! 0
Posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago
Financial Times South Asia Bureau Chief James Lamont has written a flood of environment-as-political-dialogue stories this week!
Save the world? Yes or No?

Citizens want their leaders to make climate a higher priority, new poll finds 1
Posted 4 months ago
Americans showed the least interest of 19 countries in asking their government to make climate change a higher priority. But there's encouraging news too!
Fools Russian

Why some Russians look forward to global warming 0
Posted 4 months ago
Brad Plumer walks through a dispatch from the Abu Dhabi newspaper The National that outlines what Russia stands to gain from a warming climate, and why it may have little interest in curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
The more we get together, the happier we'll be

Obama tells China the “ravages of climate change” demand cooperation 1
Posted 4 months ago
In a speech to head off the first meeting of the Strategic Economic Dialogue in Washington, D.C between the United States and China this morning, President Obama talks Chinese spending.
Lithium: Are “blood batteries” next? 3
Posted 4 months, 1 week ago
The lithium story and the complex social, economic, and political disputes it could engender in Bolivia should flag for us an important consideration in the fight against climate change: trying to do right by climate change and energy security might trigger unforeseen conflicts.
Clean Energy Economy

Is China winning the clean energy race? 7
Posted 4 months, 1 week ago
Industrialized nations may find themselves borrowing and begging for new technologies that China has been busy perfecting all along.
A WALK THROUGH THE WEEK'S CLIMATE NEWS

The Climate Post: Pools of oil, plumes of gas 1
Posted 4 months, 2 weeks ago
The Washington-to-Beijing diplomatic shuttle shows no sign of slowing down. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke visited China this week to prod collaboration on clean energy technology. Chu announced the U.S. would contribute $15 million to a partnership that will study how to capture carbon dioxide emissions and trap them underground. And that's just the beginning of this week's climate news.
Copin' with Copenhagen

What is Obama’s international climate strategy? 9
Posted 4 months, 3 weeks ago
International climate negotiations often seem like some sort of cosmic science fair project -- an aquarium full of hamsters connected to rudimentary motors. There's a lot of frantic running, a lot of sweat and heat, but in the end, very little light.

Faith in the UN climate process has dimmed. Joe Romm calls it a "dead man walking." The Copenhagen talks in December are generally discussed with the same dissonant mixture of urgency ("You have to do it in Copenhagen," says UNFCCC chair Yvo de Boer) and fatalism ("There is no movement," says German environment minister Sigmar Gabriel) as the last dozen rounds of international talks.

The Obama administration knows the danger of sclerosis and is working on several fronts to regain a sense of momentum.
Wind: still enough to save the world 14
Posted 5 months ago
Back in 2008, Christina Archer and Mark Z Jacobson published data showing worldwide commercial wind potential exceeded world energy use by many times. A new peer reviewed study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences now confirms his, and further shows that this potential is not limited to a lucky few.
Hinting (in the State Controlled News) from China

Coming global warming limits in China? 0
Posted 5 months, 3 weeks ago
News coming out of China provides hints that the country might adopt a domestic limit to reduce their global-warming pollution.
“Let’s get this damn thing started!”

Climate envoy Todd Stern on U.S. climate action and the possibility of deal with China 0
Posted 5 months, 3 weeks ago
U.S. Climate Envoy Todd Stern gives a glimpse into where U.S.-China negotiations are headed on climate.