Asia Society panel on US-China climate, Obama & Copenhagen (VIDEO)
The video of our recent Monday morning panel at the Asia Society in NY is available online. Professor Jerome Cohen presided over the event. NRDC China Program Director Barbara Finamore discussed China’s progress on climate and the opportunities for international collaboration. Orville Schell talked about the US-China dynamic and the recent Asia Society-Center for American Progress-Monitor Group report on carbon capture and sequestration. I talked about the thorny question of how China will implement and meet its energy and carbon targets on the ground.
Things are moving at a rapid clip these days. This panel was just two weeks ago, but the landscape has already shifted in a number of major ways – it came right before the series of US-China energy collaborations announced during Obama’s visit, prior to the US emissions reduction announcement, and before China’s carbon intensity target news.
During this panel, we talk about very interesting progress on the “how do we know China will do what it says it will?” front that many outside of China may not be aware of – including the push to use bureaucratic job evaluations to meet China’s energy intensity and environmental targets, as well as the Top 1000 energy consuming enterprises program. When China says that its recently announced carbon intensity targets will be “binding” domestically, the bureaucratic job evaluations (that determine the promotion prospects of government leaders), bureaucratic tools for punishing poor performance, and other measures are the types of initiatives that will be put in place to make this a reality on the ground. Xie Zhenhua, China’s lead climate negotiator, was explicit about this at last week’s press conference (“Domestically, they will be binding. We’ll use statistics, monitoring, bureaucratic evaluations and accountability systems to realize these targets.” “在国内来说它是有约束力的，我们要通过统计、监测、考核、问责来实现这个目标。”) Read more…
China, Law, and Copenhagen: Asia Society, CFR and NRDC Discuss
NRDC China Program Director Barbara Finamore and I will be speaking at the Asia Society in New York City on Monday morning at 8am, along with Jerome Cohen and Orville Schell. Hope to see you there. You can register here.
When President Barack Obama first sets foot in China as American President on November 15, only three weeks will remain before the start of negotiations in Copenhagen. President Obama’s first meetings with the superpower of the developing world present a key opportunity for the world’s two largest producers of greenhouse gases to overcome their remaining differences ahead of the talks in Denmark.
No meaningful agreement can be passed in Copenhagen without the U.S. and China’s endorsement, yet the two countries remain far apart on vital issues. Both President Obama and President Hu Jintao have acknowledged that immediate action is required if the fight against climate change is to succeed, but what form will realistically be acceptable to both nations? What obstacles to agreement remain on each side? What can each country do to build trust and demonstrate commitment to finding a workable solution?
On the morning of November 9 at Asia Society, Chinese legal expert Professor Jerome Cohen of New York University Law School brings together a panel of leading experts on U.S.-China climate policy to discuss the run-up to Copenhagen and the current state of U.S.-China environmental relations. Barbara Finamore, Director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s (NRDC) China Program, will detail existing on-the-ground cooperative projects. Orville Schell, Arthur Ross Director of the Asia Society’s Center on U.S.-China Relations, will explain the forces keeping the U.S. and China apart and how they might be overcome. Alex Wang, Director of the NRDC’s China Environmental Law Project, will cover environmental governance and transparency issues.
The talk is jointly hosted by Asia Society, the NRDC, NYU’s US-Asia Law Institute, and the Council on Foreign Relations. A simple buffet breakfast will be provided.
Please note: this event will also be a free video webcast from 8:00 to 9:30 pm EST on AsiaSociety.org. Online viewers are encouraged to send questions to moderator@asiasoc.org.
AMCHAM Shanghai and Asia Society to co-host “Greentech: a Call to Action”
From September 7-September 9, 2009 at the Shanghai World Financial Center, the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai and the Asia Society are co-hosting a gathering of over 100 notable entrepreneurs, NGO activists, technology leaders, investors, and government officials to discuss sustainable development and the future of green technology.
Among the speakers for the two-day event are Mr. Han Qide, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the NPC, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Dr. Shi Zhengrong, Chairman and CEO of Suntech.
For more information on the event, please visit their official website here.
CHINA GREEN film: Fourteen years of mine pollution in Big Tree County
CHINA GREEN, a program of the Asia Society’s (亚洲协会) Center on U.S.-China Relations, has been producing a series of short films covering critical aspects of China’s environment, its challenges, and its successes. This time, Michael Zhao [赵云峰], Managing Editor and Producer at CHINA GREEN, brings us a film on examining the effects of a sulfur mine on local residents in Big Tree County, Sichuan Province.
Da Shu Xian, or Big Tree Country, in remote Sichuan Province is the site of a large sulfur mine, which produces up to 12,000 tons of sulfur a month. In the 14 years since the mine became operational up until this film was produced in 1992, pollution from the sulfur mine wiped out the area’s trees that had given the county its name.
Fallout from the mine has affected the villagers’ health, their fields, homes, families, and the lives of their children.
CHINA GREEN film: Sohota Electric Retrofits China’s Energy Future
CHINA GREEN, a program of the Asia Society’s Center on U.S.-China Relations, has been producing a series of short films covering critical aspects of China’s environment, its challenges, and its successes. We last covered an insighful piece on Tibetan Glaciers. This time, Michael Zhao, Managing Editor and Producer at CHINA GREEN, brings us a story on energy efficiency.
Sohota Electric, an energy savings company in Zhuhai, Guangdong is one of those firms. Twelve years ago, company President Chen Xiaogang began selling energy efficient appliances and products, though demand for them was nowhere near it is today. He remembers trying to pitch the idea of energy retrofitting to oil refineries and other state-owned enterprises. Nobody bought it. Now, a decade later, Chen’s clientele includes state television broadcaster CCTV, whose energy bill Sohota has cut by 16 percent.
Asia Society: Tibetan Glacier melting threatens fresh water future of Asia
The Asia Society has posted a series of video clips highlighting the glacial retreat taking place at this moment in the Tibetan Plateau, an overlooked phenomenon that threatens the water supply and prosperity of the Asia region. Here is what they have to say:
As the source of most of the major river systems in Asia from China to Pakistan, including the Yellow, the Yangtze, the Mekong, the Salween, the Brahmaputra, the Ganges and the Indus, the Tibetan Plateau has become an epicenter of crisis. With the retreating of its glaciers – what glaciologist Lonnie Thompson has called the “fresh water bank account” of Asia – rivers and lakes have started running lower, pastures have become drier, deserts larger, weather patterns more unpredictable. Indeed, the whole ecosystem of the Tibetan Plateau and its hinterland are now slipping toward a catastrophic environmental disaster which will have continental implications far beyond the plateau itself.
After this video, you can watch other clips on our “Tibetan Plateau in Peril.” And, stay on to play with the interactive historical images that graphically document the changes of glaciers and lakes on the plateau.
Visit the project’s website at http://www.asiasociety.org/chinagreen