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This excellent EU reports tells us – up to 2010 – where the world is in terms of carbon emission trajectories. Over 2009 to 2010 there was a rapid switch back to trend in global carbon emissions. World emissions fell by 1% in 2009 but rose by more than 5% in 2010, an unprecedented increase [...] II have taken a break from golfing and enjoying my ‘rich social life’ to attend the Beijing Forum 2011 at Peking University, Beijing. Its my fourth Beijing Forum and, in format, it follows the standard, immaculately-organised pattern. Some amazing speakers are presenting – Roger Myerson and James Mirrlees are both Nobel Laureates in economics – [...] The Chinese government have embarked on an active campaign to reduce the incidence of smoking in China. About 1.2 million Chinese die annually from smoking-related and another 100,000 die from the effects of passive smoking. This paper, co-written with Ms. Bao Jia a student at Peking University, examines some of the main policy issues. [...] I posted these thoughts on the CHED’S website at Peking University. China is set to levy a range of charges on various types of pollutants over the next 5 years. It is expected to be announced soon in the next 5-year plan – by far the greenest five-year plan in China’s modern history once renewable resource investments are included. The environmental tax – which will levy fees [...] I have posted before on the relative success that Asian kids have in Western education systems. Amy Chua has written a strident defense of the role of Chinese mothers in using discipline to bring out the best in their children. I am sympathetic. Westerners do undervalue the abilities of their kids and apologize for childish laziness [...] A major source of tourism in Australia is now from mainland China. Last year more Chinese visited Australia than Americans. Moreover they stay longer and spend much more than other groups such as Japanese – in 2009 Chinese visitors contributed $7287 to the economy compared with $3420 from the Japanese. The average Chinese visitor stayed [...] My 4.5 month visit to China is complete and I return to Australia tomorrow. Its been an amazing experience teaching at BEDA (Peking University) and teaching the sort of environmental economics I have always wanted to teach to the best students one could imagine. People here ask me if I am sad to leave and [...] I was delighted to see an advertisement on CCTV Beijing where a legendary Chinese basket baller, the 7 foot 6 inch, Yao Min, rejects a plate of shark’s fin soup. In fact, as I later found out, he has been pursuing a campaign against the appalling practice of ‘finning’ (removal of a shark’s fin and then dumping [...] I wrote a brief note earlier this year on how Beijing should resolve its traffic problems. The interesting news over the past few days is that the Beijing administration has announced a whole set of anti-traffic congestion policies. The Vice-Mayor of Beijing in charge of traffic ‘resigned’ the day the measures were introduced and is [...] It’s my last month in China and I am trying to cram a lot into the last few weeks. Currently in Shanghai and enjoying it’s magnificent seafood and southern cuisine. It’s a cliche but true – this is the Paris of the east -a vibrant, modern European-style city with, yes, a Chinese twist. Shanghai has [...] This purely descriptive report from the IEA (here) on CO2 emissions from fuel use is useful for those thinking about climate agreements. There is a longer report from which this selects highlights but plenty of information in this report alone. Data runs to 2008. In 2008 emissions of CO2 from Annex 2 countries exceeded those [...] I found this Guardian article by Chun Lin on the crisis in the Koreas interesting. The island on which the North Korean attack was launched is in disputed territory. The caution China is displaying in criticising North Korea will be partly driven by the huge scale of the joint US-South Korean naval exercises taking place close [...] I am spent a week in the central southern part of China – specifically in Changsha the capital of Hunan Province. I gave a seminar at a local university – The Central South University of Forestry and Technology – and for the first time in my life I received a certificated award as ‘Guest Professor’ – and then [...] I am interested in the way China manages receipts for various types of transactions. A fa pio is a type of super-receipt that is given for many transactions (large durable items, taxi, car rental and interesting to me, for restaurant meals). It can act as a type of warranty and a contract and is also used [...] During the Tianjin meetings on climate change China hit back on US claims it was shirking in the fight against climate change, likening the criticisms to a mythic pig – Zhu Bajie – that was preening itself. Su Wei, a senior Chinese climate change negotiator, swiped at comments from top US climate envoy Todd Stern [...] I have been very busy over the past couple of weeks and hence the break from posting. It is now noticeably getting colder in Beijing. With close to freezing temperatures in the mornings it is clear that winter is not far away. The smog and pollution issues interest me. Last Sunday the air pollution index (API) in Beijing was [...] I attended an interesting seminar in Beijing today organised by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) on “Social Protection and Human Development in the Era of the Post-Financial Crisis’. China’s achievement in reducing poverty is one of the most important development experiences in world history. According to one source in 24 years China shifted [...] This is my 7th week in Beijing and I continue to enjoy the experience. I have been to three workshops over the past 3 days all of which have dealt with poverty in China, with rural-urban issues and the environment. The huge strides China has taken in eliminating poverty cannot conceal the huge disparities between [...] What a waste of breath these climate change talks proved to be. The large developing countries (the BASIC countries, South Africa, India, China, Brazil) continue to reject carbon tariffs (border tax adjustments, BTAs) and international monitoring of their emissions cuts on the grounds that the US and other countries are not doing enough to mitigate their emissions. [...] |
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