International: China
Biden’s landmark climate bill lures China’s clean energy giants
3 Apr 2023
China’s leading renewables firms are joining the rush to open factories in the U.S. after Washington passed a landmark climate bill that supports local clean energy manufacturing.
Legacy auto faces disaster in China with unsellable cars as pollution crunch looms
31 Mar 2023
We are currently witnessing a major disruption in the world’s largest car market, that will have massive implications for the biggest carmakers as they seek to manage the switch from fossil fuel vehicles to electric.
A warmer, wetter climate challenges a Chinese eco-farm
17 Mar 2023
In recent years, a new narrative has appeared on Chinese social media: that a warmer and wetter climate in Northwest China will herald a return to the “golden age” of the Tang dynasty (618–907 AD).
Chinese rice farming trials cut methane emissions
13 Mar 2023
In a mountain village in south-west China, the local people are playing a guessing game. A new climate-friendly way of growing rice is being trialed here that will reduce methane emissions. So, what’s the difference in yield between it and the conventional method?
China urged to place ‘wellbeing’ above GDP amid climate threat
24 Feb 2023
A team of influential economists has urged China to adopt a new development model based on “wellbeing” rather than gross domestic product (GDP) growth to fulfil its 2060 net-zero emissions goals and head off the mounting threats of climate change.
China: What the world’s largest food system means for climate change
21 Feb 2023
In 2019, China’s giant food system produced 1.9bn tonnes of CO2 equivalent – around the same as the total annual emissions of Russia, the world’s fourth largest polluter.
World’s largest onshore wind turbine, and the first to reach 10MW, debuts in China
15 Feb 2023
Chinese wind energy company Envision Energy has reportedly debuted a new 10MW onshore wind turbine, the largest of its kind and boasting the world’s largest rotor diameter.
China’s rice farming trials cut methane emissions and increase yields
9 Feb 2023
In a mountain village in south-west China, the local people are playing a guessing game. A new climate-friendly way of growing rice is being trialled here that will reduce methane emissions. So, what’s the difference in yield between it and the conventional method?
How will EU’s ‘green tariff’ impact China’s carbon market?
7 Feb 2023
European Union (EU) negotiators agreed in December to charge a carbon border tax on certain imports into the bloc, beginning in 2026.
China fast-tracking renewable energy
31 Jan 2023
China’s solar and wind power generating capacities are the largest in the world, accounting for more than 35% of the global total. As demand continues to grow to meet its climate goals, the need for storage facilities has also become critical to ensure a ready and consistent supply.
Climate-based tariffs by US, EU on Chinese steel and aluminium would ‘set a concerning precedent for China’
13 Dec 2022
The imposition of climate-based tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminium – reportedly being considered by the United States and European Union – would set a concerning precedent for China, but the overall impact on those sectors should be limited, according to analysts.
China, covid and climate
1 Dec 2022
The protests erupting across China deserve international solidarity. The future of the planet could be determined by their success - or failure.
Should China be let off the hook for climate finance?
30 Nov 2022
The most important outcome of COP27, the climate summit in Egypt earlier this month, was the creation of a new UN-administered fund to compensate developing countries for the costs they incur from climate change-related disasters.
Hong Kong exchange carries out first carbon credit trades
25 Nov 2022
The Hong Kong stock exchange has carried out the first batch of carbon credit trades on its new voluntary carbon market, joining a handful of Asian exchanges in tapping opportunities resulting from governments' push to achieve climate goals.
The world's biggest source of clean energy is evaporating fast
27 Oct 2022
China’s Three Gorges Dam is an awe-inspiring sight, a vast barrier across the Yangtze River that contains enough concrete to fill seven Wembley Stadiums and more steel than eight Empire State Buildings. Its turbines could singlehandedly power the Philippines. But this summer, the world’s largest power plant was eerily quiet.
Our solar powered future is already China’s reality
6 Oct 2022
Atop the Tibetan plateau in Qinghai province, northern China, sits the Longyangxia Dam facility, a 27-square-kilometer solar farm that is filled with a sea of four million deep blue-colored photovoltaic panels.
China’s climate push could spawn new global players, even if Beijing falls short on its pledge
5 Oct 2022
Two years ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping formally announced the world’s second largest economy would strive for peak carbon emissions in 2030, and carbon neutrality in 2060. These ambitions are spawning companies that could one day become global leaders in their fields.
China tells Europe to not backslide on climate commitments
23 Sep 2022
China has accused some European nations of a “backswing” in the implementation of urgent climate change goals as geopolitical turmoil grips the continent.
China droughts highlight energy challenge as climate heats up
8 Sep 2022
Hotter weather is expected to push China's enormous energy consumption even higher in the coming years.
Sichuan uses 5000 solar panels to boost power supply
31 Aug 2022
A total of 5,000 solar panels were put into use at an expressway section linking Southwest China’s Sichuan and Yunnan provinces on Wednesday. The panels are expected to generate 4.22 million kilowatt hours (kW) annually, in an effort to boost power supply and ease the power crunch in the province.
China's unprecedented 70-day heatwave is breaking multiple records
24 Aug 2022
China's more than two-month long heatwave has dried up as many as 66 rivers, including the critical Yangtze River, the world's third longest waterway.
Chinese companies seek global carbon market for green hydrogen
9 Aug 2022
Three Chinese organisations are leading the charge to create an international carbon market for green hydrogen.
China releases plan to guide carbon-intensive industries to reach peak emissions by 2030
3 Aug 2022
Seven industrial sectors in China have been assigned targets to reduce energy consumption and boost recycling to reach peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030.
China greenlights carbon economy degree to aid its climate goals
27 Jul 2022
China’s climate commitments are making their way into the country’s university classrooms.
China to build more low-carbon communities
14 Jul 2022
China will encourage more residential communities to evolve into low-carbon ones as part of the country's efforts to meet its climate goals.
China’s domination of solar a risk to zero-carbon future: IEA
11 Jul 2022
Countries must lessen their dependence on China’s production of solar panels and dramatically boost manufacturing capacity to reach net-zero emissions, the International Energy Agency has said.
Shanghai to trial personal carbon accounts
8 Jul 2022
China is trying to tap the emissions reduction potential of personal consumption, and package such reductions as a class of carbon asset to be incorporated into the country’s growing carbon market.
China announces ban on industrial projects to combat climate change in key zones
20 Jun 2022
China Friday announced that it will ban new steel, coking, oil refining, cement, and glass projects in key zones to combat climate change by lowering pollution and carbon emissions.
China cuts carbon emissions per unit of GDP by half from 2005
16 Jun 2022
China has made great achievements in carbon reduction, with its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP in 2021 plunging by 50.3 percent from 2005, an official said Wednesday.
Rebooting China’s carbon credits: What will 2022 bring?
10 Jun 2022
Carbon market players are watching closely to see how China’s version of carbon credits, the China Certified Emission Reductions (CCER) scheme, will be rebooted.
China’s climate change Pacific reset
31 May 2022
By Jeremy Rose | Last month saw the opening of the China-Pacific Island Countries Climate Action Cooperation Centre in Liaocheng City, Shandong Province. It’s opening, perhaps not surprisingly, barely rated a mention in the New Zealand and Australian media.
China’s CO2 emissions see longest sustained drop in a decade
31 May 2022
China’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions fell by an estimated 1.4% in the first three months of 2022, making it the third quarter in a row of falling emissions.
China’s emissions expected to peak in 2027: state think tank
8 Apr 2022
China’s carbon emissions could peak three years ahead of the 2030 government target, according to a report published on 31 March by the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), a state-affiliated think tank.
China’s funding for overseas coal projects under construction to release 300 million tonnes of emissions a year
4 Apr 2022
China’s decision to stop funding new coal power projects overseas has been welcomed by climate experts, but they were equally disappointed by Beijing’s commitment for projects already under construction, pointing out that this could lead to 300 million tonnes of carbon emissions a year.
What does China’s coal push mean for its climate goals?
30 Mar 2022
Late last year, following widespread power shortages, China’s leadership repeatedly emphasised the importance of ensuring energy security – a country’s ability to secure sufficient and affordable energy supplies without interruption.
China's carbon market has a credibility problem: analysts
28 Mar 2022
China’s newly launched national carbon emissions trading system (ETS), the world’s largest, needs to raise its game on fraud prevention by imposing steeper penalties on offending companies to deter cheating, analysts said.
Designer of China carbon market sees expansion delayed
23 Mar 2022
A researcher who helped design China’s national carbon market said it will expand into new sectors later than expected, a setback for a key tool in President Xi Jinping’s drive to cut the world’s biggest source of emissions.
China slams firms for falsifying carbon data
16 Mar 2022
China's environment ministry has slammed firms for falsifying carbon data, part of the country's efforts to improve data quality as it prepares to expand its national emissions trading scheme into more industrial sectors.
A reprieve for coal? Xi Jinping urges ‘realism’ on China’s road to carbon goals
7 Mar 2022
China’s declining coal industry got a boost on the weekend when Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a “realistic” approach to achieving the country’s carbon neutrality goals.
Reaching peak carbon early could save hundreds of thousands of lives in China
3 Mar 2022
Reaching peak carbon emissions before its 2030 target could help China to avoid more 600,000 deaths from exposure to the most deadly small particles over the following two decades, a study has found.
China mining ban adds to Bitcoin's environmental footprint: study
28 Feb 2022
Despite a crackdown on Bitcoin in China last year, mining the largest cryptocurrency actually got much dirtier and emits around the same amount of CO2 annually as a country the size of Greece, a new study shows.
290 million new city dwellers benefit China's climate balance
24 Feb 2022
Contrary to popular belief, China's massive emigration from rural areas to cities has been shown to have a positive effect on China's carbon stocks. Urbanization can even play a role in attaining climate neutrality. This is the conclusion of University of Copenhagen researchers based upon analyses of vast amounts of satellite data.
Covid shutdown linked to record rainfall in China
22 Feb 2022
Scientists say that a rapid drop in emissions because of Covid played a key role in record rainfall in China in 2020. The decline in greenhouse gases and small particles called aerosols caused atmospheric changes that intensified the downpours.
China's steelmakers get 5 more years to reach peak carbon output
11 Feb 2022
China has scrapped an ambitious push for its steel industry to reach maximum carbon emissions by 2025, pushing the deadline back five years in final guidelines published this week.
Beijing expected to relaunch the China Certified Emission Reduction scheme
1 Feb 2022
What is the China Certified Emission Reduction scheme and why is it important for Beijing’s carbon neutral goal? The South China Morning Post journalist Yujie Xue explains.
Cutting carbon to take backseat to ‘normal life’ in China: Xi Jinping
27 Jan 2022
Chinese President Xi Jinping has stated the Asian superpower’s low carbon desires must not get in the way of ‘normal life’.
Slow phasing out of polluting cars a drag on China’s climate targets
25 Jan 2022
“There are 9-million bicycles in Beijing, that’s a fact.” The opening lyrics to that 2005 hit song was a conservative estimate back then, and today millions of those bicycles have been replaced by planet-warming cars.
Ozone-destroying greenhouse gas emissions from China increased significantly: Study
24 Dec 2021
Emissions of industrially produced chlorocarbon, dichloromethane (CH2Cl2), increased in China from 2011-2019, a new study established. The emissions grew to 628 gigagrams (Gg) per year in 2019 from 231 Gg per year in 2011 in the country, with an average annual increase of 13% primarily from eastern China.
China ETS reduces carbon but needs map to cap-and-trade based system: study
23 Dec 2021
China’s regional emissions trading scheme (ETS) pilots were effective in reducing companies’ carbon emissions in the early trading phase, despite low carbon prices and infrequent allowance trading, according to Chinese researchers.
2022 is a year to call out greenwashing in China: Bloomburg
21 Dec 2021
If China chooses a phrase of the year for 2021,“carbon neutrality” has to be on the shortlist.
Darwin methane leak ‘covered up’ by gas companies and regulators
Tue 2 Sep 2025
At the heart of the project that heralded northern Australia’s gas boom — Darwin’s first liquefied natural gas plant — was a storage tank that operators hailed as a major feat of engineering.
The merchants of doubt are back
Today 12:15pm
OPINION: If you don’t follow climate policy closely, you might not know that the Trump administration is launching an effort to overturn one of the most fundamental pillars of American climate policy.
EU’s record wildfire emissions highlight threat to forest carbon sinks
Mon 1 Sep 2025
As carbon emissions from forest fires spike in Europe, experts warn that wildfires pose a growing risk to national efforts to meet climate goals.
UK Conservatives pledge to get all oil and gas out of North Sea
Tue 2 Sep 2025
Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch has said her party will remove all net zero requirements on oil and gas companies drilling in the North Sea if elected.
Challenges persist in bid to mine the deep sea, even after boost from Trump
29 Jul 2025
After years of delay, the deep-sea mining plans of Canadian firm The Metals Company (TMC) now appear to be progressing as it pursues a controversial new path to securing a license to mine in international waters under U.S. jurisdiction.
Singapore seals carbon credit deal with Thailand, its first South-east Asian partner
Thu 28 Aug 2025
The agreement, the eighth for Singapore, helps both nations meet climate targets under the Paris Agreement, directing finance to Thai projects.
Rise in dengue fever outbreaks across the Pacific driven by the climate crisis, experts say
13 Aug 2025
Samoa, Fiji and Tonga among the worst affected amid warning the disease and others will become ‘more common and more serious’ as the planet warms.
Iconic Antarctic species at risk amid 'regime shift', with 'rapid and self-perpetuating changes'
22 Aug 2025
Scientists say there is emerging evidence of abrupt and potentially unstoppable changes in the Antarctic environment.
Liberia has a new plan to protect its rainforests. Can it work?
Tue 2 Sep 2025
Half of West Africa’s remaining rainforests are in Liberia, but in 2024, it lost more than 38,000 hectares (94,000 acres) of humid primary forest, according to Global Forest Watch.
Lessons from the Incas: How llamas, terraces and trees could help the Andes survive climate change
Thu 28 Aug 2025
New research suggests solutions may lie in environmental knowledge that the Incas and their predecessors developed centuries ago.
Brazil issues last-ditch plea for countries to submit climate plans ahead of COP30
20 Aug 2025
Only 28 countries have submitted carbon-cutting proposals to the UN, with some of the biggest emitters yet to produce plans.
