Environment China

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.

In today's episode we're talking about hydrogen development in China, and its potential – or not – for helping with the country's dual carbon goals: carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. Our guest is Arabella Miller-Wang, recently an Aramco fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies and also a Research Assistant at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford. She has recently published a paper entitled, "China's Hydrogen Development: A Tale of Three Cities," which discusses the issue of China's hydrogen strategy based on the experiences and plans of the pilot hydrogen clusters located in Datong, Shanxi province, Chengdu in Sichuan province, and Zhangjiakou in the northern part of Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing. The paper can be found here: https://www.oxfordenergy.org/publications/chinas-hydrogen-development-a-tale-of-three-cities/

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

In the third episode of our Women in Sustainability podcast series, we speak to Yang Yifan, the sustainability manager of Oatly. Yang Yifan is concerned about the sustainable development of Oatly's entire value chain in the Asia-Pacific region, meaning she is responsible for the company's sustainable procurement, operations and carbon emission management. In this Chinese language program we will explore: The Sustainability Department of Oatly Global and China A day at work in Oatly's sustainable sector Oatly's factory in Ma'anshan, Anhui Oatly's recent big moves Sustainable job hunting tips 第三期播客系列我们邀请到了"Oatly"的可持续经理人一帆——她是Oatly中国区可持续发展经理，关注Oatly亚太区全价值链的可持续发展。一帆主要负责公司的可持续采购、运营和碳排放管理等。我们在节目中将探讨： Otaly在中国区的第六个年头 Otaly全球和中国区的可持续部门 在Otaly可持续部门工作的一天 可持续打工人内卷吗？ Otaly在安徽马鞍山的工厂 Otaly近期大动作剧透 可持续求职tips

Today, we're talking about China's low-carbon energy transition and the unique role of State Owned Enterprises, or SOEs. Our guest is Erlend Ek, Lead Analyst for Energy at China Policy. From 2018-2022 Erlend served as advisor for energy affairs at the Royal Norwegian Embassy in BJ. Prior to that role, he served in various consulting roles at China Policy. He has degrees from the University of Oslo, he studied Chinese at Xiamen University, and he is now at Stavanger University. You can find his content at China Policy. As sometimes happens, Erlend and I ended up having a longer conversation after I shut off the recording, and I took a few notes from that conversation and I'm inserting it here as an intro to our talk: First, Erlend is optimistic on SOEs being able to lead the energy transition, because he sees the central govt moving away from "project economy" (where the key performance indicator is how many projects are completed) to a performance evaluation system based on contribution to low-carbon, tax revenue, innovation. In terms of its low-carbon policy, Erlend considers that China is more transparent than the West, and more consistent. He thinks carbon peaking / neutrality is a clear path, the purpose of the 1+n docs is to get everyone aligned, not to make new policy. Nothing about energy security is against that, it's more of a short-term push for coal ... which he says is also mainly about substituting gas and China moving away from gas, to collect the revenue from reselling gas to Europe right now. Erlend is paying close attention to the new policy on Sci-Tech innovation, the list of 12 sectors. He thinks digital innovation is going to be big in the energy space, and there are all sorts of companies, including private ones, being subsidized to do digital energy transition projects. Finally, Erlend thinks the speech by the NEA head on making the demand side the main focus (and energy efficiency as the main fuel) was significant, though it's unclear if NEA has much influence on the demand side.

In this episode, we're continuing on the theme of food sustainability, this time looking at the huge topic of the food system and climate change. It's a topic that gets a lot less attention than emissions from industry and the energy sector, but, as we shall see, food system emissions are significant, and the task of addressing those emissions quite challenging. We're speaking with Sally Qiu and David Sandalow, and again starting with the Guide to Chinese Climate Policy, which we also covered in episode 116. This time, we're narrowing in on one chapter in the Guide: Chapter 22 on the food system. Sally Qiu is a research associate at the Center on Global Energy Policy of Columbia University. Most recently, she is the co-author of the 2022 version of the Guide to Chinese Climate Policy. Her research focuses on issues related to U.S.-China Climate Collaboration as well as the Food Systems. Professor David Sandalow is the Inaugural Fellow at Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy. Prior to Columbia, David served in senior positions in the US government – at the White House, State Department and US Department of Energy. He is the author of numerous reports and articles about China energy and environmental policies and trends. He is the lead author of the Guide to Chinese Climate Policy.