Good COP? China, Asia and Climate Change

This week we take stock of COP26, the latest major international meeting on climate change which just wrapped up in Glasgow - billed beforehand as the "last best hope for the world to get its act together". 

Asia, of course, is crucial to the debate over climate change. It’s home to some of the world’s biggest polluters, but also some of its fastest-growing economies, that are at the forefront of the world’s shift to cleaner energy.

The 197 countries involved in COP26 did at least agree on rules to limit greenhouse gas emissions.  

But the meeting's outcome has drawn plenty of criticism, particularly over the final deal’s language on the use of coal - and China and India's role in shaping that language. 

Joining Andrew this week we have Dr Sam Geall. He's the CEO of China Dialogue, a website devoted to understanding and analyzing China’s approach to tackling climate change; and is also an associate fellow at Chatham House in London. 

Dr Tom Hale is an associate professor in public policy at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University, who specializes in the way multilateral institutions tackle global challenges. He also co-leads the Net Zero Tracker which monitors different countries’ and companies’ progress on meeting their climate change commitments.

We also have Yan Qin with us on the show; she is the lead analyst at Refinitiv, and has over a decade’s experience analyzing energy and carbon markets in China and Europe.