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This is Episode 1 of our sub-series "Environmental Issues along the Belt and Road"The series considers the complexities of Chinese actors' impacts on the environment, extractive activities, and role in driving sustainability solutions from the sands of the Mekong River to lithium mines in Argentina. China produces 80% of the world's solar panels, over 60% of all wind turbines, and more electric vehicles than the US and the EU combined. In this episode, we ask how China became so dominant in clean energy technology manufacturing, how its products are exported to other countries trying to transition their energy systems, and what impacts the clean energy tech sector is having in places where manufacturing occurs. We interview 3 experts in related topics: Anders Hove is Senior Research Fellow at the China Energy Research Programme at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. Previously, he was Project Director for the Sino-German Energy Transition project at GIZ, and a non-resident fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. Anders co-hosts the Environment China podcast. Related reading here, here and here. Dr. Cecilia Springer is a Principal at Global Efficiency Intelligence and Co-director of the Industrial Electrification Center. She has over 10 years of experience conducting technical research on energy policy and industrial decarbonization, with a regional focus on U.S., China, and Southeast Asia. She is a non-resident at the Global China Initiative (formerly the assistant director) at the BU Global Development Policy Center where she led the Energy and Climate research group and was a post-doctoral fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center. Related reading here, here and here. Dr. Nikita Sud is Professor of the Politics of Development at the University of Oxford and Governing Body Fellow of Wolfson College. She is author of the books "Liberalization, Hindu Nationalism and The State: A Biography of Gujarat" and "The Making of Land and the Making of India." Her work explores the transition to renewable energy, and the institutional, political and financial mechanisms that underlie this in regions that are geostrategically crucial, while being environmentally highly vulnerable. We discuss her research on Rempang Eco City, a planned Chinese investment of Solar PV manufacturing in Indonesia. Thanks for listening! Follow us on BlueSky @beltandroadpod.blsk.social
In this episode of Environment China, we are talking about China's long-term pathway to carbon neutrality and, in particular, about the recent publication of the China Energy Transformation Outlook, or CETO, which provides two scenarios of China's clean energy transition. We talk to Kaare Sandholt, International Chief Expert for the China Energy Transformation Programme. The programme is run by the Energy Research Institute of the NDRC. Topics we address include: The importance of long-term modeling, and its contribution compared to five-year plans or other policy planning How CETO's two main scenarios compare: both assume carbon neutrality by 2060 and similar GDP growth, but differ in terms of energy mix and technology progress The role of electrification and energy efficiency: starting with transport, but also in industry, which requires both a cleaner grid and lower direct combustion of fossil fuels, which wastes huge amounts of energy through waste heat The importance of structural economic transformation: CETO assumes China makes substantial progress transitioning away from heavy manufacturing The reforms that CETO anticipates, including especially in power markets (merit-order dispatch, cross-regional electricity trading, and price signals), but also in carbon markets and industry standards The role of gas: gas will rise rapidly in relative terms, with 50-50 growth between power sector and industry; in coastal provinces gas is for flexibility in the power sector, and inland provinces gas is for industry; but it will not become a major transition fuel that takes the place of coal The amount of wind and solar capacity that will be needed: while the RE capacity requirement has risen due to faster electricity demand growth, the annual additions needed are roughly in line with present wind and solar additions The report is available in English here: https://www.cet.energy/ And Kaare Sandholt has an excellent article in a recent issue of Carbon Brief, published together with Wang Zhongying: https://www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-china-will-need-10000gw-of-wind-and-solar-by-2060/ Executive Producer of this episode: Anders Hove
In the latest episode of Environment China's podcast, we speak to Maggie Yao. Maggie is a Senior Consultant at CCaSS EY Netherlands, primarily focusing on EU environmental policy, ESG due diligence, ESG strategy, and CSRD implementation. Prior to EY, she worked as an Associate at RMI China, where she conducted research on coal transition, renewable energy integration and system impact, and power market analysis. She also worked as a Senior Analyst for Coho Climate Advisors, a DC-based energy consulting firm and an ERM Group company. There, she engaged with multiple corporate and industrial companies to help them procure large-scale renewable energy in the United States. Maggie obtained her Bachelor's degree in Political Economy from UC Berkeley, and her Master's degrees from Yale School of the Environment and Johns Hopkins University. This episode is in Chinese and is produced by our Executive Producer 袁小丹 Yuan Xiaodan (Joyce)
In the latest episode of Environment China's podcast series on Young Professionals in Sustainability, we speak to UB Qiu. UB is a sustainability professional with diverse, international, cross-sector experiences, including in ESG consulting, in-house corporate sustainability, partnership development at a plant-based protein startup, and multiple internships and projects at climate-tech startups/social enterprises in the U.S., China, Kenya, and India. Additionally, she was part of Antler's inaugural Entrepreneur in Residence cohort in Saudi Arabia in 2023. UB holds a Master's Degree in Environmental Management from Yale University and a B.S. in Psychology and Environmental Policy from the College of William and Mary. She was an honoree of GreenBiz 30 Under 30 in 2021. This episode is in Chinese and is produced by our Executive Producer Xiaodan Yuan. 在环境中国最新一期的环境能源可持续圈打工人系列播客中,我们邀请到了邱洋圣菁 UB —— UB 在可持续发展领域拥有多年的国际化经验,特别是在 ESG 咨询和企业可持续发展管理领域。她也曾在一家植物蛋白初创企业负责企业的合作伙伴拓展。过去两年,她在肯尼亚、印度、及中美参与多个气候科技创业公司、社会企业和碳金融方面的实习和研究项目。2023年底,她入驻新加坡早期创投资本公司 Antler 在沙特阿拉伯的首个驻场创业项目。UB 拥有耶鲁大学的环境管理硕士,及威廉玛丽学院的心理学和环境政策学士。播客文字版记录请查看北京能源网络公众号。 播客制作人:袁小丹
In the latest episode of Environment China's podcast, we speak to Ruixin Li as part of our Young Professionals in Sustainability series. Ruixin currently works as the lead climate specialist at ICF International Consulting (Beijing). He has eight years of experience working on climate change issues and more than four years of experience implementing international cooperation projects. His focuses include carbon market, green finance, and sustainable aviation. Previously, Ruixin worked for Greenovation Hub and China Youth Climate Action Network. He has also assisted several international NGOs in climate communication and local climate action. Since 2014, he has been tracking international climate negotiations under the UNFCCC and witnessed the reach of the Paris Agreement and the Paris Rulebook. His negotiation tracking articles can be found in several media, such as China Economic Herald, Caixin Globus News, and Ming Pao. This episode is in Chinese and is produced by our Executive Producer Xiaodan Yuan. Support us on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/EnvironmentChina
Today, we have a special cross-over episode with the podcast called Preparing for AI, which is hosted by Matt Cartwright and Jimmy Rhodes. The guest for this episode is Anders Hove, long-time host of the Environment China podcast, and Beijing-based Matt Cartwright interviews him about the impact of AI on the clean energy transition. Anders ‘references several points related to China, such as efforts to locate data centers in colder regions, and the results of experiments seeking to make data centers respond to the output of renewables. We hope you enjoy it! You can read a full transcript of the episode on the Preparing for AI website here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2320704/14945514
In the latest episode of Environment China's podcast, we speak to Zhinan Chen as part of our Young Professionals in Sustainability series. Zhinan is a senior associate with Rocky Mountain Institute's India Program, based in Oakland, California, United States. She collaborates with national and state-level partners in India to accelerate the country's transition to zero-emission trucking. At RMI, she also helped shape the concrete and cement initiative as one of the founding members, where she designed net-zero strategies for the global concrete and cement industry through thought leadership and stakeholder engagement. Zhinan has worked in the non-profit sector for four years, mainly covering heavy industry, transportation decarbonization in Asia, and US-China climate cooperation. Zhinan holds a Master's Degree in Environmental Management from Yale University and a Bachelor's Degree in Arabic and Economics from Peking University. This episode is in Chinese and is produced by our Executive Producer Xiaodan Yuan. Support our podcast on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/EnvironmentChina
In the latest episode of Environment China's podcast, we speak to Wen Yi as part of our Young Professionals in Sustainability series. Wen Yi is a doctoral graduate in Transportation Engineering from the University of Tennessee in the United States and a master's degree in statistics. He previously received a master's degree in Environmental Science and Management from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Wen Yi has been deeply involved in the environmental field since his undergraduate degree. During his PhD, Wenyi's main research area was micro-mobility, especially the study of the impact of bike-sharing on the transportation system, environmental ecology, and personal health. Episode production: Joyce Yuan Support Environment China on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EnvironmentChina
In the latest episode of Environment China's Young Professionals in Sustainability Series, we talk with Qiwen Cui, the China editor at China Dialogue, which in 2024 will launch its new flagship website called Dialogue Earth. Qiwen has worked in various media outlets covering climate action, technology, and entrepreneurship. Her focuses at Dialogue Earth are biodiversity, food systems, energy and climate change. Before moving to London, Qiwen worked at Shanghai-based sustainable social enterprise BottleDream and Curiosity Daily, among others. In the podcast, we will discuss Qiwen's early academic and work background, career planning path, a day at Dialogue Earth's London office, and sustainable societies and events in London. This episode is in Chinese and is produced by our Executive Producer Xiaodan Yuan Please consider supporting us on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/EnvironmentChina 我们一生中有将近三分之一的时间都在工作中度过,所以我们要的不仅仅只是一份工作,而是一个与我们的目标、优势和价值观相一致的职业。2022年我们发起了“可持续宝藏青年都在做什么”圆桌并邀请了来自环境、能源和可持续发展领域的小伙伴们分享他们的工作机构和内容、职业发展规划及在工作上遇到的挑战。在经历了2022年每月一期的活动后,我们觉得还是非常有必要把这些宝贵的经验以文字或者播客的形式记录下来,所以环境能源可持续圈打工人系列播客诞生了! 在环境中国最新一期的播客中,我们邀请到了Dialogue Earth的中文编辑崔绮雯——绮雯在伦敦以写作为生,主要关注生物多样性,食物系统,能源和气候变化等议题。搬来伦敦前,绮雯在上海的可持续社会企业 BottleDream 和好奇心日报等机构任职。我们在播客中将探讨绮雯早期的学业和工作背景、职业规划路线、在 Dialogue Earth 伦敦办公室的一天,和伦敦的可持续社团和活动等。 您可以在各大播客平台、小宇宙上、和北京能源网络公众号收听环境中国播客。本集播客制作人:Xiaodan Yuan
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 certificates with Chinese characteristics: Will green certificates help China's clean energy transition?" Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, 8 August 2023, at https://a9w7k6q9.stackpathcdn.com/wpcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/CE9-Green-certificates-with-Chinese-characteristics.pdf. Anders Hove, "After China's new green certificate policy, major questions remain," Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (LinkedIn article), 11 August 2023, at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/after-chinas-new-green-certificate%3FtrackingId=ZOupiyoVR1GeYGktG%252BCJjw%253D%253D/?trackingId=ZOupiyoVR1GeYGktG%2BCJjw%3D%3D.
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
可持续女性系列第二期 - Eco Buyer创始人思晴 实在是听过到太多次"环保和可持续圈还是女生多”(也确实是事实),我们萌生了一个想法:那为什么不干脆做一系列在"可持续议题工作的女性”播客,一起来聊一聊她们独特又好玩的经历和故事,探一探她们所在行业的新鲜事呢? 第二期播客系列我们邀请到了”一棵Eco Buyer“的联合创始人思晴。Eco buyer是一家关心身体健康、动物福祉和地球环境的纯素、纯净美妆和植物基美食的集合店。店里只提供和推荐不含动物成分、不做动物测试的可持续纯素产品。我们在节目中将探讨: Eco Buyer的成立契机 两位创始人的日常 赛道转型:专攻纯素化妆品和植物基美食 Eco Buyer到底是怎么赚钱的 节目的最后,两位主播和嘉宾将共同探讨作为”可持续资深人士“的糟心瞬间和怨念;以及作为三档不同播客的主理人她们的播客制作经验分享。赶紧收听吧! You've likely heard there are more and more women in environmental and sustainability circles, which is indeed the case! This is the topic of Environment China's podcast series, Women in Sustainability, where we talk with unique and interesting experiences and stories of women across the sustainability field, and what's new in their industries. For the second podcast in the series, we invited Si Qing, co-founder of Eco Buyer. Eco Buyer is a collection of vegan, pure beauty and plant-based food that cares about health, animal welfare and the planet. The store only offers and recommends sustainable vegan products that are free of animal ingredients and not tested on animals. In the show we will explore: The establishment of Eco Buyer The daily life of the two founders Track transformation: specializing in vegan cosmetics and plant-based cuisine How exactly does Eco Buyer make money? At the end of the show, the two hosts and our guest discuss their experiences of being eco-friendly human beings, as well as their podcast production experience as the hosts of three different podcasts.
In this episode, we discuss the important topic of green finance in China, especially as it relates to China's investments abroad on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Our guest today is Christoph Nedopil-Wang, Associate Professor and Director of the Green Finance & Development Center, Fudan University, where he works on green finance. Christoph also previous worked in Beijing at the International Institute of Green Finance (IIGF), as well as at GIZ. He also joined us here at Environment China in December 2020 to introduce the traffic light system of evaluating BRI projects. One of the reasons we're coming together to talk today is the recent publication of an article in the Asia Pacific Policy Studies journal, which Christoph wrote together with Mathias Lund-Larson, Mengdi Yue and Yao Wang. You can find a link to the article in the show notes, but the full title is “Prospects of the Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance (MCDF) to catalyse infrastructure financing.” Other topics we discuss are: whether the traffic light system for evaluating BRI project impacts on the environment has had any impact, why China decided tProspects of the Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance (MCDF) to catalyse infrastructure financingo ban financing for new coal plants overseas, whether the recent policy to make BRI projects apply international ESG standards is having an effect, and why it was adopted now, instead of earlier, and whether the MCDF is really resulting in actual benefits in terms of project preparation. Other links: Christoph Nedopil, et al., "Prospects of the Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance (MCDF) to catalyse infrastructure financing," Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies, 27 April 2022, at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/app5.345.
In today's Chinese language Environment China podcast episode, we turn to the topic of women working in environmental and sustainability fields. We join two professionals to talk about their unique and interesting experiences and stories, and explore what's new in their particular fields. Today's guests are Si Jialing, who works on green finance at the British Embassy, and Zhang Miao, founder of R Cubic, who is sometimes known as the Walking Wastepedia. In terms of career paths, the two represent the extremes of having entered the field by chance, or having cultivated a topic on a straight line from academic study to professional career. We ask what challenges they face in their respective fields, and what advice they have for newcomers to the workplace. 实在是听过到太多次"环保和可持续圈还是女生多”(也确实是事实),我们萌生了一个想法:那为什么不干脆做一系列在"可持续议题工作的女性”播客,一起来聊一聊她们独特又好玩的经历和故事,探一探她们所在行业的新鲜事呢? 于是「环境中国」便有了个这期节目,在这次初尝试中,我们请到了在英国大使馆做绿色金融的佳灵和行走的“垃圾百科”张淼。她们或误打误撞入了圈,或从读书到工作一直在这个领域深耕,都逐渐在可持续议题的工作中找到了自己所关注和热爱的地方。她们在各自领域都有着什么样的挑战?对初入职场的小伙伴又有着什么样的建议呢?欢迎收听本期「环境中国」播客。
In today's episode of Environment China, we bring you up to date on recent climate and energy developments in China, especially how the renewed quest for energy security affects clean energy and carbon goals. We also address how coal price reforms affect renewables, and the situation of green power trading and corporate renewable energy procurement. We'll also briefly touch on the results of the Two Sessions of the National People's Congress. Today our guests are Liu Yujing, China Power Manager at RMI China, and Caroline Zhu, Senior Low Carbon Electricity Analyst at S&P Global, and a past colleague of Yujing's at RMI.
In today's episode of Environment China, host Anders Hove hosts a special, work-related talk with Ye Ruiqi (Angel) of Greenpeace East Asia, Prof Zhang Sufang of North China Electric Power University, and Katerina Simou of the German Energy Agency (dena) about the topic of data centers, which are having an increasing effect on the environment and climate due to their rapidly rising energy consumption. In this episode, we talk not only about how data center operators are trying to go green (a topic we discussed with Angel on Environment China back in November 2019), but also the related topic of flexibility. Data center flexibility is potentially important because it enables data centers to modulate their load to better meet the needs of the grid, which in turn would enable greater uptake of renewable energy such as wind and solar. Since data centers in China are now considered one of the energy-intensive industries subject to the Dual Control policies—which limit energy consumption and energy intensity of production—data centers are already facing pressure to become more efficient. In the future, China's carbon neutrality policies will undoubtedly push data centers to adopt renewable energy to support their growing energy loads—which, in turn, will require more flexible operations. In this podcast, Anders and his guests discuss their joint research of data center flexibility in China and Europe. The research was performed under the Sino-German Energy Transition Project, which is implemented by GIZ on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate, in partnership with the China National Energy Administration, and German and Chinese implementation partners including the report's lead author, dena. The research includes interviews with industry experts and companies on topics such as time-shifting of data and cooling loads, real-time geographic shifting of loads, the pros and cons of relocating data centers to colder climates for greater cooling efficiency, and using on-site energy storage to participate in power markets. They also discuss whether the many obstacles data center operators currently see to becoming more flexible are likely to be overcome—and what policies would help. Links: “China 5G and Data Center Carbon Emissions Outlook 2035,” Greenpeace East Asia, 2021, at https://www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/press/6608/electricity-consumption-from-chinas-digital-sector-on-track-to-increase/. “Clean Cloud 2021, Greenpeace East Asia, 2021, at https://www.greenpeace.org/static/planet4-eastasia-stateless/2021/04/03a3ce1a-clean-cloud-english-briefing.pdf.
https://twitter.com/derznovich Access our Live event on the link above!! Just a short teaser to tell you about an experiment we are planning to try on Monday morning BJ time, Sunday night U.S. time. Joyce and I will be hosting a Twitter Live interview with James Gao of BEN and Tu Le of Sino Auto Insights and the China EVs and More podcast. If we manage to figure out the technical stuff, it will start at 8:00 am Monday China time, and that's 7 pm Eastern, 4 pm Pacific on Sunday. In this upcoming episode, we are going to talk about the China EV market, which is poised to surpass 3 million vehicles this year and 5 million next year. We're going to talk about China's EV startups, international brands, and what makes China so disruptive in the EV space. We'll touch on some issues like range, design, battery size, and charging. We'll bring it back to the issue of emissions and the environment, and take your questions. If all goes well, we'll play a game of buy-sell-or-hold with our esteemed guests, and our audience will get to play too! So looking forward to seeing you there with us, LIVE, on the Environment China podcast on Twitter Spaces, Sunday night US time, Monday morning China time! You can access the Live event on the link above.
Today's episode is a very special episode for us, as we're honored to have three founding members of Beijing Energy Network, Brendan Acord, Jason Lee, and Julian Wong, with us to celebrate our approximately 100th episode at Environment China. The episode has 3 very different parts. These time stamps should help you navigate: In the first segment, starting at 0:03, we discuss how BEN got started, what made it different, and what it was like working on energy and the environment in 2008-09. At 0:22, Joyce and Helena discuss BEN in the past few years and how it has evolved. At 0:26, we look out to the next 13 years of world climate and energy futures, by playing a game of buy-sell-or-hold. Our guests: Brendan Acord came to China after graduating from UCSD, He worked at AES consulting and later BrightSource Energy, and he is currently in Chengdu where he manages a solar PV consultancy which has projects in China and abroad. Julian Wong is a corporate lawyer, currently at QuantumScape, a company in Silicon Valley developing advanced battery materials. He's been passionate about environmental issues since growing up. He moved to China in 2008. He returned to DC and worked at the Center for American Progress, and then worked with David Sandalow at the Department of Energy on US-China issues. Jason Lee, works in business strategy at AirBnB. He came to China under the Fulbright program working on China energy policy research. Afterwards he did energy consulting at McKinsey.
Ryder Cup golf is amazing TV. does Jordan play 36 or 54 holes per day? Markets up 19% YTD. Newsom to spend $15b on environment. Fine, but be careful shutting nuclear down. A Haitian migrated with his family from Chile to the US. Personally, I would have just stayed in Chile. China. Cyrpto banned. Jack Ma , Alibaba CEO, is not painting. Lobotomy anyone? Watch out for those fees...they'll kill ya! Netflix at all time highs. Will they bid on F-1? GM bolt is spontaneously combusting. Whoops.
In today's podcast, we’re talking about why it’s been so difficult to get financing for renewable energy in the Belt and Road, also known as the Belt-Road-Initiative or BRI. (Note the podcast was recorded prior to the announcement that China would pursue carbon neutrality by 2060.) Our first guest is Ma Tianjie, Tianjie is managing editor of China Dialogue and several times past guest of Environment China. Before joining China Dialogue, he was Greenpeace's Program Director for Mainland China. He holds a master’s degree in environmental policy from American University, Washington D.C. Our second guest is Bai Yunwen. Yunwen is the director of Greenovation Hub. Founded in 2012, Greenovation Hub is, an independent Chinese NGO advancing sound climate and environment governance. Over the years, Yunwen has worked on climate diplomacy, energy policy, and international financial flows. Recently, she and her colleagues have worked with financial regulators to strengthen environmental and social practices on belt-and-road investments. The Belt-and-Road Initiative, aka One Belt One Road, was launched in 2013, and though membership is unofficial it is said to include between 70 countries (Wikipedia) to over 130 countries (according to the BRI website). It’s stated goal is to “promote the connectivity of Asian, European and African continents and their adjacent seas, establish and strengthen partnerships among the countries … and realize diversified, independent, balanced and sustainable development in these countries.” An analysis by MERICS showed that of US$ 75 billion in completed investments, two-thirds was energy related, most of which was in coal, oil, and gas projects. https://merics.org/en/analysis/powering-belt-and-road The vast majority of coal plants outside of China are funded by investment from China. https://qz.com/1760615/china-quits-coal-at-home-but-promotes-the-fossil-fuel-in-developing-countries/ According to a Greenpeace analysis in 2019, China’s BRI investments have supported 67 GW of coal plants and just 12 GW of wind and solar plants. https://www.power-technology.com/news/china-belt-and-road-wind-solar/ The genesis of today’s podcast is a report by Greenovation Hub, which discussed some of the reasons why it is difficult for Chinese wind and solar companies to invest and do business abroad. https://chinadialogue.net/en/energy/11952-chinese-firms-struggle-to-fund-renewables-projects-overseas/
This is the second part of a two-part episode featuring Lauri Myllyvirta, an air pollution and climate expert from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. Lauri has over 10 years of experience as an air pollution and climate expert. He has led numerous research projects on air pollution, assessing air quality and health impacts of energy policies, including more than a dozen modeling studies of the air quality and health impacts of coal-fired power plants. Lauri has also contributed to numerous publications around energy solutions and air pollution. He served as a member of the Technical Working Group on regulating emissions from large combustion plants in the EU. He lived in Beijing for many years and was previously a senior member of the Greenpeace East Asia team based in Beijing. In this segment, Lauri and Environment China host Anders Hove discuss some of the issues and questions raised by Lauri's presentation and his other research.
China, like other major countries, is actively working on measures to stimulate the economy and recover from the coronavirus. The question is, how can China make its stimulus measures as green and beneficial for the economy as possible? In this episode, we cover what types of stimulus have been done in the past, what the principles should be for green stimulus, and what ideas each of us have for how green stimulus could be done this time in China. Finally, we talk about whether it’s likely to actually happen. Guests are: Dimitri DeBoer, who started and leads the china office of Client Earth, a European NGO focused on environmental law, which works with the Ministry of Ecology and Environment as well as the Supreme People’s Court helping with training of environmental judges. Dimitri is also special advisor to the CCICED, the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development. Wu Yixiu, who leads the Climate communications team with China Dialogue. She has been following and writing about China’s low carbon transition pathway, annual emissions, and other climate related topics for several years. Recently, Yixiu and frequent Environment China co-host Yao Zhe published a piece in China Dialogue, "Stimulating the economy sustainably after coronavirus," at https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/11896-Stimulating-the-economy-sustainably-after-coronavirus. Other items referenced in the episode include: Statement of European leaders on green stimulus: https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy-environment/news/eu-leaders-back-green-transition-in-pandemic-recovery-plan/ Various ideas from the U.S. on green stimulus: https://medium.com/@green_stimulus_now/a-green-stimulus-to-rebuild-our-economy-1e7030a1d9ee
In this special mini-episode of Environment China, we again talk to Li Shuo of Greenpeace, following up on his earlier interview on the Biodiversity COP, as well as discussing how the recent crisis in China could affect the country's policies and efforts on the broader topics of biodiversity, wildlife protection, and climate change. Li Shuo references a column by recent podcast guest Lauri Myllyvirta, of the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, available here: https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-coronavirus-has-temporarily-reduced-chinas-co2-emissions-by-a-quarter Here is another article illustrating graphically how the reduction in industrial activity has influenced emissions, as observed by satellites. The question is, will additional stimulus lead emissions to rebound even more strongly? https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-01/air-pollution-vanishes-across-china-s-industrial-heartland
This week we join past guest and recent host, Anders Hove, for a journey to Inner Mongolia, Northern California, and Central Europe, where he recently tested the charging infrastructure on three long-distance electric vehicle road trips. We examine how EVs compare on fueling cost, emissions, and convenience, and discuss how the experience compared across the three regions, along with potential recommendations for policy-makers. Anders is a non-resident fellow with Columbia University's Center for Global Energy Policy as well as Project Director at GIZ China. He is the co-author with Prof David Sandalow of Columbia University of the recent paper "Electric Vehicle Charging in China and the United States": https://energypolicy.columbia.edu/research/report/electric-vehicle-charging-china-and-united-states https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/11172-Electric-vehicle-charging-What-can-the-US-and-China-learn-from-each-other- Yiyang Chenzi and Cynthia Wang serve as co-hosts this week. We hope you enjoy the program!
As the way China eats transforms, food activism and education are rising to address these changes. This week’s episode of Environment China collaborates with Erwin Li of Chewing the Fat, a podcast from Yale’s sustainable food program, to interview Zhou Wanqing about her research and grassroots organizing in China. Starting with an overview of the country’s food system, we then discuss the ways Chinese people have historically eaten, and what this means for a trend like a plant-forward diet. In other words, in what ways should place and culture inform or complicate our approaches to food and agriculture, even ones sometimes seen as universal? How do collaborations then emerge to transform the relationships between people, food, farming, and the environment?
Environment China is back from hibernation with a series of new interviews! First up, today’s episode was recorded live at the Beijing Bookworm International Literary Festival. It was an honor to be invited back for the second year in a row to host a panel about the biggest stories coming out of China’s energy and environmental field over the past year. Our producer and host Lili Pike moderates a panel with three expert guests: Ma Tianjie, Managing Editor of chinadialogue Beijing; Alvin Lin, Climate and Energy Policy Director at Natural Resources Defense Council China; and Lijing, a freelance environmental journalist based in Beijing. They discuss the top environmental news stories from the past year from how the trade war has impacted environmental governance to the evolution of the Belt and Road Initiative. Tune in for a riveting conversation, and we’ll be back in two weeks with our next episode! Also be sure to check out our new website, created by our producer Erin Wong! https://www.environmentchinapodcast.com/ http://bookwormfestival.com/events/blf-2019-environmental-panel/
This week we catch up with Jake Parker, our head of operations in Beijing. Three main topics on the table; a negative change in tone in Chinese state media, Beijing’s response to the new list of tariffs on $300 billion […]
This week we catch up with Jake Parker, our head of operations in Beijing. Three main topics on the table; a negative change in tone in Chinese state media, Beijing’s response to the new list of tariffs on $300 billion
As the way China eats transforms, food activism and education are rising to address these changes. This week’s episode of Chewing the Fat collaborates with Kate Logan of Beijing Energy Network podcast Environment China to interview Wanqing Zhou to learn about her research and grassroots organizing in China. Starting with an overview of the country’s … Continue reading Wanqing Zhou: Plant-Forward and Backward in China →
This week, we have a special episode that was recorded LIVE in Beijing at an event on July 5th. Environment China hosted an evening panel discussion on the growing trend of podcasting and podcasters in Beijing. We were joined by hosts and producers from four relatively new Beijing-produced podcasts, including: Zhang Ya Jun from the Wo Men podcast, John Artman from the China Tech Talk podcast, Brendan Davis from the Big Fish in the Middle Kingdom podcast, and our own Noah Lerner from Environment China. The evening was moderated by another of our hosts and producers, Kate Logan. As you'll hear, Kate led an interesting discussion on the origin stories and motivations behind each of the shows, as well as on some technical talk and tips on how each of the guests sets up, records, and produces their show.
在良好的环境中工作、生活,是我们每个人都应当享有的权利。当环境污染侵害到了我们正常工作和生活的权益,我们可以通过法律途径要求污染者停止污染,向他们获取赔偿,维护自己的权益。然而,不具备环境法律权益知识的污染受害弱势群体,是否会被剥夺通过法律维护自身权益的权利?今天做客环境中国播客的嘉宾,中国政法大学王灿发教授,几十年来除了在环境法领域不断深耕,也致力于用自己的知识服务于社会大众,提高公众的环境维权意识,维护污染受害者的环境权益。他于1998年创立了全国第一家免费向污染受害者提供法律帮助的民间环保组织,并于1999年开通了污染受害者法律帮助热线,目前已经帮助700多起污染案件受害者向法院提起诉讼。希望了解更多污染受害者法律帮助中心,可以微信搜索“环境法律帮助”,关注他们的公众号。 We all have a right to work and live in a healthy environment. When pollution impedes this right, legal measures can be taken on behalf of victims. What happens to those who do not know their legal rights? How do victims that are not aware of environmental rights advocate for pollution compensation? Our guest on Environment China today is Professor Wang Canfa, a veteran environment law expert who is a vehement advocate of spreading legal knowledge to all members of society. In 1998, he established the first grassroots environmental NGO, China Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims, to provide legal help to pollution victims and opened a telephone hotline to serve as many people as possible. So far, he and his organization have successfully helped victims to file over 700 law suits on pollution cases. Professor Wang Canfa is devoted to improving public awareness on environmental rights and dedicated to providing safeguards to victims of pollution. Please visit www.clapv.org to find out more about China Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims.
During the recent international climate talks in Bonn, Environment China partnered with chinadialogue to produce an episode on China’s Belt and Road in the context of the climate conference. China’s Belt and Road Initiative, an overseas investment and development framework that has grown to include 68 countries, has taken centre stage in the discussion about how to direct investments away from carbon-intensive industries to clean and sustainable technologies. In this episode, representatives from non-governmental organisations and government officials from the Philippines, Pakistan, and Zambia, weigh in on what the Belt and Road means for climate action overseas. The episode then turns to Sam Geall, executive editor at chinadialogue, to learn how China’s Belt and Road Initiative, as well as South-South Climate Cooperation, fit into its emerging role on the international climate stage. Sam discusses how China can improve its approach to overseas finance to bring investments in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement.
BONUS Episode from Environment China! How many cops does it take to screw in a climate lightbulb? At least 23? This last week, Bonn, Germany, hosted the 23rd "Conference of the Parties" (COP23) -- the latest iteration of the UN climate negotiations that have dragged on since the early 1990s. Over two weeks, as national delegations from around the world try to hammer down the technical details of the Paris Agreement, tens of thousands of people -- researchers, activists, politicians, journalists, celebrities -- flock to Bonn to take part in the biggest climate event of the year. But what exactly is all this COP fuss about? In this COP miniseries, we'll be taking a dive into the weeds of the negotiations and the role of China on the international climate stage. But first, we're taking you behind the scenes at the UN climate talks, to hear a cross-section of voices, some young, some old, calling for urgent climate action.
Which company has a greener supply chain in China: Apple or Dell? Mobike or Ofo? Puma or Nike? China is often referred to as the “workshop of the world,” producing around a quarter of the world’s manufacturing output by value. But along with China’s rapid industrialization and modernization have come grave environmental impacts — the result, in part, of a “pollute first, clean up later” mindset. To address supply chain environmental impacts resulting from the globalization of trade, the Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs (IPE), a local NGO based in Beijing, is leveraging information transparency and corporate responsiveness to brand reputation. Environment China chats with IPE’s green supply chain project manager, Helen Ding, about how IPE applies its Blue Map Database of corporate environmental violation records to push major brands to improve the transparency and environmental performance of their supply chains in China. Helen discusses IPE’s Corporate Information Transparency Index (CITI) rankings of over 250 major multinational and Chinese companies, as well recent investigations into China’s growing shared bicycle industry, among other related topics. Listeners interested in learning more can check out the CITI rankings and annual report on IPE’s website (http://wwwen.ipe.org.cn/GreenSupplyChain/CITI.aspx), or watch a short PBS feature on IPE’s green supply work.
Environment China is on summer break this week! We will be back in two weeks' time, with our regular schedule of episodes and interviews with environmental professionals in China. Plus, listen in this week for a special announcement about our soon-to-launch series of Chinese-language episodes! In the meantime... we hope that you are enjoying your summer, too!
Tune in to learn about Environment China, a brand-new podcast from the Beijing Energy Network (BEN). We hope you'll join us in listening to our first series of podcasts as we chat with advocates, entrepreneurs, and experts in the environmental field in China and explore why now is the right time for real and positive change for China's environment. See you next time -- smog or shine!