I enjoyed reading Barbara Finamore’s piece on transparency in environmental regulation in China which I posted earlier. This is a partial and somewhat shorter re-post.
The use of transparency as an environmental policy tool in China has particular interest for the US given the stumbling block of verifiability on Chinese carbon emissions reductions at the Copenhagen meetings. Indeed the current climate finance meetings in Geneva which seek to establish a $200b Green Fund to help developing countries address climate change sees the US continuing to hold out unless developing countries agree to allow monitoring and verification of their carbon emission cuts.
Finamore’s article, however, primarily deals with transparency as a way of advancing local Chinese environmental goals. Continue reading Environmental transparency policies in China
One of the plausible hypotheses I have seen raised is that China’s internal environmental problems (air, water) are improving but it is the regional and global problems that are continuing to worsen. This article in The Economist suggests that internal problems are not improving – they are worsening. The only possible ray of light is the [...]
I’ll be in Canberra tomorrow presenting a seminar at 2-30 pm in the Arndt-Corden Division of Economics, Crawford School of Economics and Government, Australian National University on:
Strategic Aspects of International Climate Agreements: China and the United States
If you are at the ANU and would like to catch up meet me there. Its a big day [...]
Huw Slater at East Asia Forum thinks so.
He argues that a carbon tax in China is being considered within the period of the 12th Five Year Plan, beginning next year. A workshop I attended earlier this year suggested the same. My own work suggests that strategically China needs to mitigate its emissions because it has no alternative. It [...]
Ex Rio Tinto employee Stern Hu cops 10 years in jail from a Shanghai Court. I am disappointed – not yet because of the verdict – but at present because of the way the way the trial was implemented. The bribery charges have not been fully articulated and the ‘stealing secrets’ charges have not been articulated at all – all that was said is that stealing the secrets led to a collapse of a contracting arrangement. There is the option to appeal and dealings in this case will continue I am sure. Australian’s should not start barking like ‘mad dogs’ at the verdict and should be respectful of the Chinese court decision. Until the ‘stealing secrets’ charges are articulated the process of normal commercial intelligence seeking in China will be disrupted to the disadvantage of China and the rest-of-the-world. Continue reading Hu gets 10 years jail
Another nice paper from PEW.
Abstract: Over the last decade, a growing body of evidence indicates that soot and smoke from incomplete combustion are major contributors to climate change. Black carbon (BC), a soot component, is a potent climate driver that absorbs sunlight in the atmosphere, changes rainfall patterns, and when deposited on snow and ice, accelerates melting. In addition, soot can cause direct effects on health and agriculture. Climate and other effects of soot are magnified in broad regions where the strongest source emissions occur, but transported soot is also a major concern in the Arctic. The short atmospheric lifetime of soot particles also means that emissions reductions produce nearly immediate results, in contrast to most greenhouse gases (GHGs). Continue reading Soot
It is China not the US – a fascinating report from PEW on the dawn of a new industry.
Globally the renewable energy sector is experiencing explosive growth – investment growth of 230% from 2005-2009. In 2009 global investment was $162 billion in clean energy. It is forecast to be $200 billion in 2010. Much of this has gone into [...]
India and China the world’s emerging economic giants will determine the world’s environmental future – there is also the threat of resource-driven conflicts between the two. This Science Magazine report sets out the issues. The report has to be purchased - I’ll summarise the main issues. Continue reading China & India & cooperation to sustain the global environment
Paul Krugman suggests that the US should impose a 25 per cent surcharge on imports from China to protect American exports from an undervalued renminbi. The effect of the alleged undervaluation of the Chinese exports is to provide US consumers with a bonus – to subsidize their consumption. Maintaining a stable RMB also preserves for China [...]
A fascinating and entertaining overview of Chinese history and where things will go from here – this is a podcast by Ross Garnaut. He is good at painting the broad picture.
Ross Garnaut only talked a little about climate change issues in China. This article suggests an approach to the issue close to my own heart – an internationally-oriented ETS. Continue reading China a great power
Spring has arrived in Beijing though the lakes are covered with a thin layer of grey ice and it is cold (2-4oC) with icy winds when you wander anywhere that has some open space. Pollution-smudged snow drifts are everywhere. Black-tailed magpies (so-called ‘happy birds’) are raucously setting up to breed in massive nests in the spartan winter-frozen trees anticipating warmer weather. The massive building/construction program that dominated the Beijing skyline before the GFC continues unabated after it although- at nominal interest rates that are lower than the current inflation rate – this last happened in 2008 when things seemed really grim. Continue reading China thoughts
As I plan to spend at least 4 months in China this year and, because I found difficulties getting around Beijing during my month-long 2009 stay without knowing any of the local language, I am doing a couple of units in elementary Mandarin here in Melbourne over the next few months. As part of these courses you learn the Pinyin system which is, to me, a quite complex way of representing the Chinese language in terms of the English alphabet and you learn the Chinese language characters as well. The objective is to ‘expose’ you to about 600 words of Mandarin although this (I imagine) is definitely an outer bound on what people can hope to assimilate. Continue reading Learning some Mandarin
Another hacked post recovered – it is a bit dated and was posted a couple of weeks ago. Thanks Christina.
Google was apparently subject to a cyber attack by people living in China - the inference was that these people were agents of the Chinese Government.
The attack was directed at Chinese human rights activists and at eliciting information about [...]
China’s is criticising the US in Copenhagen ostensibly because the US is refusing to endorse the developed-countries-alone-must-make-absolute-emissions-cutbacks implication of the soon to be defunct Kyoto Agreement. This is an empty negotiation stance. The Copenhagen meetings are seeking to devise a successor agreement to Kyoto and to rectify the obvious deficiencies of that agreement. Moreover, the US did not ratify the Kyoto Protocol largely because China and other large developing countries were not required to cut their emissions under it. The current Chinese objection amounts to no more than recognition of earlier very sound US (and Australian) objections. Continue reading China & the US at Copenhagen
I had to leave Beijing on Sunday afternoon. Around the previous Friday the mild autumn weather became sharply cooler and on Sunday Beijing was blanketed with snow – the earliest in a decade. The claim is that the event occurred because scientists injected the clouds around Beijing with silver iodide – it can be used to [...]
China must eventually curb its carbon emissions in absolute terms if aggregate GGEs are to be controlled. Continue reading Chinese environmental exchanges: carbon trade preliminaries?
There are now absurd claims by China that bribery by Rio Tinto has cost it $123b over 6 years – more than the total value of iron ore exports by Rio to China. The absurdity of these claims is compounded by the anger of the Chinese given that the current contract price offered to China by Rio is 20% below the current price of iron ore in spot markets. Cool down fellas you have got this seriously wrong. Continue reading China oversteps it on Rio & Kadeer
I found this particularly useful. My only question relates to the recorded reduction of growth in energy related GGEs from 2007 to 2008 from 2.8% to 1.8%. This seems too abrupt even given the recession ! Coal now dominates oil and China, whose use of coal is growing at 7.1% annually is dominating recent aggregate global GGE growth trends. This underscores what we already know – an agreement in Copenhagen must involve China. As a matter of arithmetic China must begin to mitigate its emissions more intensively.
Let me take an excerpt from this piece: Continue reading Recent GGE trends
The issue of devising an efficient and equitable global climate change mitigation agreement is examined. While there are strong damage cost reasons for self-interested, large countries to unilaterally move towards climate change mitigation there are practical reasons for them not to commit. A key issue for developed countries is that of possible carbon leakages while, for developing countries, the need to pursue growth objectives restricts their proclivity to mitigate. Carbon leakage issues can be addressed using such things as border tax adjustments which, however, raise computational complexity, GATT-rules consistency and, importantly for developing countries, equity issues. If the efficiency gains from utilising BTAs are to be realised, compensation schemes must also address the equity issues that bind practical policy-making in developing countries. The specific analysis is related to devising climate change agreements that include China and the United States.
I wrote this paper while being Visiting Scholar at Peking University. Continue reading Carbon Leakages, Climate Change ‘Free Riders’ and Copenhagen
Today I visited the Temple of Heaven which is south of the centre of Beijing. As I am based in the north west of the city I was driven through the centre of Beijing’s CBD. The Temple itself is one of the mainstream tourist attractions in Beijing – for good reason it is probably the best surviving example of Ming architecture. It was built from 1406-1420 during the reign of the Yongle Emperor – the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty and regarded as one of China’s great although – as seemed typical of the era – brutal emperors*. Continue reading Temple of Heaven & the 10 agnates
Recent Comments