International: China
Why China's critical minerals strategy leaves the US behind
Mon 8 Jun 2026
The United States cannot realistically recreate that dominance overnight even if the political will existed.
China’s CO2 climbs 2% in early 2026 due to ‘wasted’ wind and solar
Fri 5 Jun 2026
The country used more coal and gas to generate electricity than in the same quarter a year earlier, despite a record amount of new wind and solar capacity being built.
China seen tapping deeper into oil stockpiles as imports hit decade-low
Thu 4 Jun 2026
China is expected to tap deeper into its record crude oil inventories as refiners cut imports further while maintaining output curbs to minimise refining losses amid weak fuel demand, analysts and industry officials said.
Waves with world's first wind power undersea data center
Thu 4 Jun 2026
China has begun operations of the world's first undersea data center directly powered by offshore wind, as the country races to solve the soaring energy demands of artificial intelligence with greener and more efficient infrastructure.
Can China turn hydrogen into its next clean-energy industry?
29 May 2026
China has said that hydrogen is a key “future industry”, important to both its energy transition and its industrial policy.
China’s new carbon metric leaves Germany-sized gap in its emissions
27 May 2026
A major change in the way that China measures its core climate goal has effectively halved the growth in the country’s carbon dioxide emissions over the past five years.
At least 21 killed as heavy rains drench southern, central China
21 May 2026
Torrential rain continued across southern and central China on Tuesday with at least 21 people killed in widespread flooding that also closed schools and businesses, and disrupted transport and power supplies, authorities said.
China widens its clean energy lead
18 May 2026
Chinese companies account for more than half of global investments in clean energy manufacturing since 2019, while new U.S. investments declined last year.
China’s leadership calls for ‘strict control’ of fossil fuels
28 Apr 2026
Chinese government leaders published a policy document on 22 April – Earth Day – calling for stricter controls on fossil-fuel consumption and greater oversight of heavy emitters.
The Iran war has the world buying more clean energy. China stands to benefit the most
28 Apr 2026
The war in Iran has sent oil-starved countries scrambling for fuel. Many are opting for energy alternatives — and turning to the renewables king of the planet: China.
China warns strong El Nino this year may worsen global fossil fuel crisis
22 Apr 2026
This year’s El Nino could increase the global demand for fossil fuels and worsen the price rises caused by the Iran crisis, Chinese government scientists have said.
China's climate envoy warns of energy security risks, urges renewables shift
15 Apr 2026
The ongoing global energy crisis has highlighted the risks of heavy dependence on fossil fuel imports, prompting an urgent need for countries to rethink their energy security strategies and accelerate the transition to renewable energy, Liu Zhenmin, China's climate envoy for climate change, has said recently.
China's Xi urges faster development of new energy system as Middle East war continues
8 Apr 2026
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for accelerated planning and construction of a new energy system to safeguard the country's energy security, weeks into the Iran war that has triggered global energy shocks.
China launches two probes into US trade practices
31 Mar 2026
China's commerce ministry has initiated two counter-probes into U.S. practices that hamper the flow of Chinese products into the United States, it said on Friday, refraining from immediate retaliation to U.S. measures announced earlier this month.
China tells oil refiners to suspend exports
20 Mar 2026
China has told its largest oil refiners to suspend exports of diesel and gasoline, Bloomberg News reported Thursday, citing unidentified sources, as the war in the Middle East risks an energy supply crunch.
What does China’s 15th ‘five-year plan’ mean for climate change?
10 Mar 2026
China’s leadership has published a draft of its 15th five-year plan setting the strategic direction for the nation out to 2030, including support for clean energy and energy security.
China sets cautious climate target as carbon deadline looms
6 Mar 2026
China, the world’s top polluter, set a cautious new climate target for the rest of the decade, frustrating hopes for tighter policy that would accelerate the nation’s work to curb emissions.
3,600 times faster: China is shaking up the steel industry
25 Feb 2026
For over a century, making steel meant coal, heat, and hours of waiting. A Chinese research team now reports collapsing that process into just three to six seconds; no coal, near zero emissions, and a vortex lance already moving toward commercial production. The technology is called flash ironmaking, and in February 2026, its implications are still unfolding.
As Trump retreats from climate goals, China is becoming a green superpower
19 Feb 2026
How the world's biggest carbon emitter is now at the helm of a renewables revolution.
China starts sea trials for largest electric-powered container ship
17 Feb 2026
China’s first 10,000-ton electric containership is beginning sea trials. The shipyard is billing the ship as the largest of its kind and a further breakthrough in short-sea shipping.
China’s CO2 emissions have now been ‘flat or falling’ for 21 months
13 Feb 2026
China’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions fell by 1% in the final quarter of 2025, likely securing a decline of 0.3% for the full year as a whole.
China maximises battery recycling to shore up critical mineral supplies
11 Feb 2026
Beijing is bracing for a tsunami of spent EV batteries by taking steps to boost recycling – a strategy that could also cut its reliance on imports of clean energy minerals.
World's first 20 MW offshore wind turbine powers grid in China
10 Feb 2026
The world's most powerful offshore wind turbine has begun feeding electricity into the grid off the coast of southeast China, marking a major technological leap in the country's wind power industry.
‘Rush’ for new coal in China hits record high in 2025 as climate deadline looms
4 Feb 2026
Proposals to build coal-fired plants in China reached a record high in 2025, finds a new study.
Beijing-Ottawa deal reinforces China’s dominance in EV industry at expense of US: analysts
26 Jan 2026
New agreement is set to significantly boost Chinese carmakers’ global expansion and offers easier entry into the North American EV market
Verra cancels four tree planting projects in China. And starts reviews of 45 more projects
16 Dec 2025
“Multiple carbon projects in China are facing serious allegations regarding the authenticity of government approval documents."
10 years after Paris, China is shaping our climate future
15 Dec 2025
The seminal global climate agreement changed the world, just not in the way we thought it would.
China’s BEV trucks and the end of diesel’s dominance
4 Dec 2025
Cheap Chinese battery electric heavy trucks are no longer a rumor. They are real machines with real price tags that are so low that they force a reassessment of what the global freight industry is willing to pay for electrification.
China floods the world with gasoline cars it can't sell at home
3 Dec 2025
While Western nations focus on the competitive threat of Chinese EVs, a different challenge is reshaping the auto industry. Beijing's legacy automakers are saturating emerging and second-tier markets with fossil-fuel vehicles – often undercutting their foreign partners.
How China silences environmental reporters beyond its borders
1 Dec 2025
Journalists who report on the harms caused by China’s overseas infrastructure buildout in Africa face intimidation, surveillance and police pressure.
China's new coal plant permits set for four-year low in 2025, analysis finds
27 Nov 2025
China's new coal plant permits for 2025 are on track to fall to a four-year low, a new Greenpeace analysis showed on Tuesday, indicating that growing use of renewables is cutting into demand for new coal plants.
China’s diesel trucks are shifting to electric. That could change global LNG and diesel demand
21 Nov 2025
China is replacing its diesel trucks with electric models faster than expected, potentially reshaping global fuel demand and the future of heavy transport.
China’s top envoy blasts EU climate goals and Trump’s ‘bad example’
20 Nov 2025
The European Union’s new pollution-cutting targets are insufficient, China’s climate envoy told POLITICO on the sidelines of this year’s COP30 conference while also condemning the “bad example” set by the absent United States.
China’s carbon plateau: A turning point or a temporary pause?
19 Nov 2025
For a quarter century, China has been the dominant driver of rising global carbon emissions. Its rapid industrialisation, swelling electricity demand, and unprecedented construction boom have shaped the world’s carbon trajectory more than any other country.
Analysis: China’s CO2 emissions have now been flat or falling for 18 months
12 Nov 2025
China’s carbon dioxide emissions were unchanged from a year earlier in the third quarter of 2025, extending a flat or falling trend that started in March 2024.
Why climate change now threatens China’s future
4 Nov 2025
Extreme weather is hurting its economy and worrying its leaders.
How ‘vehicle-to-grid’ technology could boost China’s electricity system
31 Oct 2025
China’s surging electric vehicles ownership – now exceeding 25.5m – is opening the door to a new technology that can help to enhance the flexibility of electricity supply.
The Yangtze River is becoming the world’s largest electrified trade corridor
30 Oct 2025
The Gezhouba, a new 13,000-ton all-electric bulk carrier launched in Yichang, is more than a technical milestone. It is a sign that the electrification of inland shipping is moving from concept to inevitability.
In China, climate litigation starts with the state
16 Oct 2025
With thousands of dedicated courts and more than a million recent cases, environmental and climate litigation is booming in China, but it often looks different to the trend seen elsewhere.
China carbon prices hit two-year low as market faces oversupply pressures
14 Oct 2025
Carbon credit prices in China have fallen to their lowest point since mid-2023, pressured by an excess of supply and tepid demand amid ongoing adjustments to the national emissions trading system.
China accelerates oil reserve site build amid stockpiling drive
9 Oct 2025
China is building oil reserve sites at a rapid clip as part of a campaign to boost crude stockpiles that increased in urgency after Russia's Ukraine invasion upended global energy flows and has accelerated this year.
China's 'Great Green Wall' brings hope but also hardship
6 Oct 2025
China’s campaign to contain the expansion of deserts due to intensive farming, grazing, mining and climate change has increased available pastures, but also “erodes traditional farming practices and culture.”
China calls EU hypocritical over criticism of climate goal
1 Oct 2025
The EU climate chief's criticism of China's new climate pledges shows "double standards and selective blindness," China's foreign ministry said on Friday, accusing the bloc of being slow to act on its own climate targets.
What does China’s new Paris Agreement pledge mean for climate action?
29 Sep 2025
President Xi Jinping has personally pledged to cut China’s greenhouse gas emissions to 7-10% below peak levels by 2035, while “striving to do better”.
China makes landmark pledge to cut its climate emissions
25 Sep 2025
China, the world's biggest source of planet-warming gases, has for the first time committed to an absolute target to cut its emissions.
Will China and the BRICS fill the ‘leadership gap’ on climate change?
22 Sep 2025
Amid a rapidly fracturing geopolitical order, there have been growing calls for China to “step into [the] leadership gap” left by the US on climate change.
China aims to nearly double battery storage by 2027 in $35 billion plan
16 Sep 2025
China is looking to almost double its so-called new energy storage capacity to 180 gigawatts (GW) by 2027, according to an industry plan announced by authorities on Friday.
China on course to peak fossil fuel power as soon as this year, reports say
11 Sep 2025
The Asian nation’s energy transition is entering a new phase, with soaring renewables reducing demand for fossil fuels, analysis shows.
China's carbon market to introduce absolute emissions caps from 2027
27 Aug 2025
China will tighten its carbon trading market by introducing absolute emissions caps in some industries for the first time starting by 2027.
Is historically arid Beijing ready for a wetter future?
25 Aug 2025
Beijing's mountainous northern Huairou district and neighbouring Miyun district received a year's worth of rain in a single week, triggering flash floods that devastated entire villages and killed 44 people in the deadliest flood since 2012.
‘That’s a bad combination’: why Australia may be in for a slushy snow season
Today 12:30pm
Snow arrives in time for the start of ski season, but climate change and El Niño mean it may not stick around for long, experts say.
Trump administration in 'active dialogue' on strategic petroleum reserve in California
Today 12:30pm
The Trump administration is in “active dialogue” on creating a petroleum reserve in California, a move that would boost oil infrastructure in the state and undermine Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s bid to shrink the state’s fossil fuel footprint.
EU sues Ireland over failure to protect carbon-rich bogs
Mon 8 Jun 2026
The European Commission is taking Ireland to court over its failure to protect environmentally crucial boglands from commercial turf-cutters.
Britain sets 87% emissions reduction target by 2040
Thu 4 Jun 2026
Britain on Tuesday set a target to cut emissions by around 87% by 2040 from 1990 levels as it increases efforts to meet net zero goals that it says will help to curb energy costs and create jobs, but it has yet to outline how the goal will be met.
Canada signs landmark LNG energy deal with Germany
29 May 2026
Canada has announced a landmark energy agreement with Germany that will see the first-ever long-term shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Canada to Europe in the coming years.
Northern Thai residents march for action on polluted rivers. ‘This is an emergency’
Today 12:30pm
More than 600 residents of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces embarked May 31 on a roughly 68-kilometer, six-day ‘peace walk’ to demand the Thai government take action on the river pollution crisis that has seen Thai rivers polluted with heavy metals.
Coral reefs in French Polynesia are stuck between life and death
Wed 3 Jun 2026
Scientists’ discovery of hollowed coral skeletons after a 2019 bleaching event reveals a reef that isn’t coming back.
‘Triple whammy of climate chaos’: Why Antarctica's sea ice collapse is no longer a mystery
11 May 2026
Scientists have finally identified the ‘triple whammy’ behind Antarctica’s dramatic collapse, shedding new light on the chain reaction that has pushed its sea ice to record lows.
Aid cuts and climate change drive deadly malaria surge in Zimbabwe
29 May 2026
A surge in malaria cases in Zimbabwe is exposing fragile health systems and growing treatment shortages in rural areas.
Colombia’s climate crossroads: Trumpism casts shadow over presidential battle
26 May 2026
Colombia is a global leader in climate activism. Could US influence drag country to a future of mining and fracking?
Bonn Bulletin: Tackling climate crisis is “hardest” challenge ever, Stiell says
Today 12:30pm
The June Climate Meetings open with a reminder to delegates of the tough but ever-clearer imperative of shifting away from fossil fuels to clean energy.
