Environment China

Today's podcast looks at the topic of sustainable forestry and the role of China, particularly at the role of Chinese banks. Our guest is Beibei Yin, who researches the intersection of China’s policies on forestry practices abroad and policies on green finance. Two years ago she founded her own consultancy called Bambu Consulting. Previously, she served for many years as Senior Policy Advisor at Global Witness based in London, where she researched topics such as addressing financing from China that leads to deforestation in Southeast Asia, stopping illegal timber trade, and the role of global supply chains in addressing deforestation and illegal timber. She previously joined the podcast in May 2018 to talk about her research following the 9000-mile path of illegal timber from Papua New Guinea to markets.  For further reading: Beibei Yin, "China’s new green finance guidelines have a deforestation blind spot," 1 August 2022, at https://chinadialogue.net/en/business/chinas-new-green-finance-guidelines-have-a-deforestation-blind-spot/.  Beibei Yin, "Who is Who No. 3 - Chinese Commercial Banks: an NGO Guide," Urgewald, January 2023, at https://www.urgewald.org/sites/default/files/media-files/WhoIsWho-No3-ChineseCommercialBanks.pdf.  Support us on Patreon - by becoming our very FIRST supporter! https://www.patreon.com/EnvironmentChina Episode Executive Producer: Anders Hove

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. 

In this episode, Minjie Lu, Energy Advisory Consultant at S&P Global Commodity Insights consulting group, discusses his career change from research to consulting. He shares insights into S&P's energy upstream research business and highlights interesting energy consulting projects. The podcast also explores recent major industry events and changes in the energy market.

Chunping Xie, Senior Policy Fellow at the Grantham Re, discusses China's carbon neutrality and the need for a paradigm shift in development strategy. Topics include focusing on individual well-being, achieving social consensus, and incorporating economic thinking into various sectors for sustainable development.

In this latest installment of our Women in Sustainability series, we talk with Yuan LIN,  Senior Specialist in Institutional Carbon Management at Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). She works closely with climate initiatives toward the Bank’s green mission as embraced in AIIB’s corporate strategy. She has 15 years of experience in Environmental Impact Assessments, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), carbon trading, and corporate carbon emission management. Before joining AIIB, she worked at the London Stock Exchange, the World Bank China office, and the Energy Foundation. She graduated from Imperial College London with an MSc in Environmental Technology and from the University of Cambridge with an MPhil in Engineering for Sustainable Development.   In this episode we'll explore:   Her academic and work background Trends in the '碳圈 - tanquan', aka carbon circle in the past ten years Chinese carbon market development from 2015 to 2023 A day in the life of an Institutional Carbon Management Senior Specialist at AIIB

Today we will be talking about China’s efforts to phase out hydrofluorocarbons (HFCS), a class of refrigerant with huge impacts on the climate. Our guest today is an expert on the topic, Prof Hu Jianxin. Professor Hu holds bachelor's and masters degrees in Chemistry from Peking University. He has been on the faculty at Peking University since 1986, and is currently professor at the College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, and also the Institute of Carbon Neutrality, Peking University. He has published numerous academic studies of HFCs, focusing on potential emissions reductions pathways as well as the cost of mitigation in various sectors. He was involved in the negotiations leading up to the Kigali Amendment as well as several other international agreements. Topics addressed in this episode: How Prof Hu got started investigating HFCs Who needs to take action to reduce emissions of HFCs: chemical manufacturers, equipment manufacturers, consumers and repair/maintenance industry Near-term strategies for reducing and recycling HFCs Substitutes for HFCs (HFOs) - their costs, efficiencies, and timelines What does it mean when your air conditioner breaks and the repair person says you need more refrigerant For further reading: Fuli Bai et al., “Pathway and Cost-Benefit Analysis to Achieve China's Zero Hydrofluorocarbon Emissions,” Environmental Science and Technology 57(16), April 2023, at https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c00166.  Liya Guo et al., "Projected increases in emissions of high global warming potential fluorinated gases in China" Communications Earth & Environment, June 2023, at htttps://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00859-6.  Lisha Liu et al., “Historical and projected HFC-410A emission from room air conditioning sector in China,” May 2019Atmospheric Environment 212(4), May 2019, at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2019.05.022. Feng Hao, "Chinese manufacturers under pressure to phase out HFCs," China Dialogue, 28 November 2016, at https://chinadialogue.net/en/pollution/9426-chinese-manufacturers-under-pressure-to-phase-out-hfcs/.  Some useful acronyms: HFCs: Hydrofluorocarbons (replacement for CFCs but a dangerous greenhouse gas and hence targeted for reduction under the Kigali Amendment) HCFCs: hydrochlorofluorocarbons (an ozone-depleting refrigerant) CFCs: Chlorofluorocarbons (ozone-depleting refrigerant phased out by the original Montreal Protocol) HFOs: Hydrofluoolefins (current and future substitute for HFCs) UNEP: United Nations Environment Programme, pronounced "you-nep" EPA: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency  

In this episode, we talk about China’s carbon emissions and go in for a detailed mid-2023 update, thanks to the data compiled from various Chinese statistical sources by the analysts at CREA, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. We’re talking to Qin Qi, an analyst at CREA and the co-author with Lauri Myllivirta of a recent Carbon Brief article on this subject.  Qin Qi recently joined CREA as an analyst. Before joining CREA she was at the UN Environment Programme for three years, and before that she was in Chinese state media for about 10 years, mainly serving at overseas bureaus in Nairobi and Washington, DC. She graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University in the field of simultaneous interpretation.  For further reading: Qin Qi and Lauri Myllyvirta, "Analysis: China’s CO2 emissions hit Q1 record high after 4% rise in early 2023," Carbon Brief, 12 May 2023, at https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-chinas-co2-emissions-hit-q1-record-high-after-4-rise-in-early-2023/. 

Today, we’re coming back to the power sector to discuss a new report about the pathways for scaling up renewables as China pursues its policy to peak CO2 emissions by 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2060. The report is entitled Renewable Energy Pathways to Carbon Neutrality in China, and it’s the fruit of a collaboration between scholars at Tsinghua School of the Environment, California China Climate Institute at Berkeley Law, Power Transformation Lab hosted at the UCSD. The report was released in May 2023. Michael Davidson is an assistant professor joint with the School of Global Policy and Strategy and the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of California, San Diego, where he leads the Power Transformation Lab. Dr. Davidson’s teaching and research focus on the engineering implications and institutional conflicts inherent in deploying low-carbon energy at scale to mitigate environmental harms, specializing in applications to China, India, and the U.S. Zhenhua is a PhD Student in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California in San Diego, and he is focusing on power systems modeling, electricity markets, and energy policy issues. We address: What makes this forecast and model different from others, in terms of methods and also results. What its forecast for renewable capacity and renewable share is, out to 2060. What the relative role for distributed energy is, compared to current trends. What the model assumes for the cost of transmission, and how it models transmission compared to present policy, which considers mainly utilization in considering the costs and benefits of new lines. What the role of power market reform is. What we expect for power outages this summer. Further reading: Michael Davidson et al., “Renewable Energy Pathways to Carbon Neutrality in China,” Tsinghua School of the Environment, Berkeley Law-California China Climate Institute, Power Transformation Lab, May 2023

In this latest instalment in our Young People in Sustainability series, we talk with with Chen Zhibin, senior manager at Adelphi and ICAP, the International Carbon Action Partnership. Zhibin has also engaged in carbon market policy research and corporate carbon asset management at the State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) and at Sino-Carbon Investment. He is also a member of the expert pool of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Zhibin participated in the system design and management of China’s national carbon market and carbon trading pilots, and provided carbon emission management consulting services for major companies. In this episode we'll explore: Opportunities to work in the carbon market Relevant academic and work background Zhibin’s work at the early team at Sino-Carbon Investment His work at Adelphi in Berlin, and the work style in Germany, including at the German Federal Ministry of the Environment A day in the life of a senior carbon market manager Recent major industry events and changes in the carbon markets

Starting from 2020, Beijing Energy Network has held an offline second-hand swap market in Beijing every quarter. In the fifth podcast of our Sustainability Professionals series, Joyce discusses the BEN swap market with Nina Ning, senior researcher at the Global Energy Interconnection Development Corporation (Geidco).  Nina is currently working as a senior researcher at GEIDCO, and her main research areas include energy transition, power system transition and carbon neutrality. She received a Ph.D. in Economics from Peking University in 2016 and is currently the head of the Beijing Energy Network. Topics discussed in the episode include: the origin of the BEN swap market, what makes swap markets important as compared to online markets for used items, and how BEN organizes swap events.