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☆ 'Climate time bomb ticking', emissions must urgently be cut, UN chief says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( David Stanway | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 20 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that the "climate time bomb is ticking" as he urged rich nations on Monday to slash emissions sooner after a new assessment from scientists said there was little time to lose in tackling climate change. "The rate of temperature rise in the last half century is the highest in 2,000 years," he said. The synthesis report summarised findings from three expert assessments published between 2021 and 2022 that looked at the physical science, impacts, and mitigation of climate change. The summary report is designed to provide clarity for policymakers as they consider further action to slash emissions. The document will also serve as a guide for a global climate change "stocktake" set to take place this year, in which countries will assess progress.

☆ Plastic entering oceans could nearly triple by 2040 if left unchecked -research
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Antonio BronicSINGAPORE, March 8 (Reuters) - Plastics entering the world's oceans have surged by an "unprecedented" amount since 2005 and could nearly triple by 2040 if no further action is taken, according to research published on Wednesday. Marine plastic pollution could rise 2.6 fold by 2040 if legally binding global policies are not introduced, it predicted. "We need a strong legally binding U.N. global treaty on plastic pollution that stops the problem at the source," he added. Experts said the study showed that the level of marine plastic pollution in the oceans has been underestimated. Environmental group Greenpeace said that without a strong global treaty, plastic production could double within the next 10 to 15 years, and triple by 2050.

☆ Pollution returns to northern China as industrial activities rise
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIJING, March 6 (Reuters) - Thirteen northern Chinese cities surrounding the capital Beijing have issued pollution alerts over the last few days, raising concerns that an industrial recovery in the region is increasing smog levels. All 13 cities, including Tianjin and Tangshan, China's biggest steelmaking centre, had issued "orange" heavy pollution alerts by Sunday, the second-highest alert, the National Joint Research Center for Tackling Key Problems in Air Pollution Control (NJRC) said. NJRC said the recent spike had been driven by an increase in industrial activity, with steel and cement plants operating at higher levels, and diesel truck traffic also rising. China has been trying to re-energise its economy since lifting strict COVID-19 curbs at the end of last year, raising fears that pollution could be allowed to rise. An orange alert means the three-day average air quality index (AQI) has risen above 200, classified as "heavy pollution", and normally triggers industrial closures or output cuts under Chinese regulations.

☆ Nations secure U.N. global high seas biodiversity pact
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( David Stanway | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 5 (Reuters) - Negotiators from more than 100 countries completed a U.N. treaty to protect the high seas on Saturday, a long-awaited step that environmental groups say will help reverse marine biodiversity losses and ensure sustainable development. "The ship has reached the shore," the U.N. conference president, Rena Lee, said after a marathon final day of talks. Greenpeace says 11 million square km (4.2 million square miles) of ocean needs to be put under protection every year until 2030 to meet the target. Very little of the high seas is subject to any protection, with pollution, acidification and overfishing posing a growing threat. "The clock is still ticking to deliver 30 by 30.

☆ China leans on coal amid energy security push
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Andrew Hayley | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Soaring global energy prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and domestic supply disruption have prompted Beijing to step up its focus on energy security in recent years. Fluctuating output from renewable plants, however, has led policymakers to lean on reliable and easily dispatchable coal power to shore up the country's baseload supply. "The energy security narrative is still going strong," said Greenpeace China policy advisor Li Shuo. Concerned about supply shortages amid high global prices, the planner pledged to "strictly control the expansion of projects to replace coal with natural gas". "(We shall) develop sound mechanisms to adjust urban end-user prices of natural gas in step with procurement costs," the report said.

☆ Plastic consumption on course to nearly double by 2050 - research
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SINGAPORE, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Plastic use in G20 countries is on course to nearly double by the middle of the century unless a comprehensive and legally binding global treaty to curb consumption is drawn up, according to research published on Monday. However, if negotiations fail, annual plastic production in G20 countries could rise to 451 million tonnes by 2050 according to current rates of growth, Back to Blue said - up nearly three-quarters from 2019. "There should be no illusions that the treaty negotiations will be anything but difficult and treacherous," the research group said. It called for a more aggressive ban on single-use plastic together with higher production taxes and mandatory schemes to make firms responsible for the entire lifespan of their products, including recycling and disposal. Among the G20 countries that have yet to introduce national bans on single-use plastic products are Brazil, the United States, Indonesia and Turkey, the report said.

☆ China's new coal plant approvals surge in 2022, highest since 2015 -research
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SINGAPORE, Feb 27 (Reuters) - China approved the construction of another 106 gigawatts of coal-fired power capacity last year, four times higher than a year earlier and the highest since 2015, driven by energy security considerations, research showed on Monday. Many of the newly approved projects are identified as "supporting" baseload capacity designed to ensure the stability of the power grid and minimise blackout risks, the CREA-GEM report said. However, many are being built in regions which already have a clear capacity surplus, and power supply problems would be better addressed by improving grid reliability and efficiency, the authors said. China suffered a wave of blackouts in September 2021 as a result of coal supply shortages, cutting off thousands of homes and factories. However, renewable power capacity additions have remained at record levels, with solar installations at 87 GW in 2022 and expected to rise further in 2023.

☆ Economists urge China to think 'beyond GDP' to head off climate risks
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( David Stanway | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SINGAPORE, Feb 23 (Reuters) - A team of influential economists has urged China to adopt a new development model based on "wellbeing" rather than GDP growth in order to fulfil its 2060 net-zero emissions goals and head off the mounting threats of climate change. The old development model drove rapid growth in China over the last four decades, but is putting the world at "grave risk", the report said. China began experimenting with "green GDP" in 2005 as concerns mounted about the environmental damage done by rapid industrialisation. A 2006 government report concluded that environmental losses amounted to 3% of total GDP, but critics believed the actual figure was much higher. China is home to 16 of the 20 global regions most vulnerable to climate change, data showed on Monday.

☆ Countries gather to thrash out U.N. ocean protection treaty
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( David Stanway | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SINGAPORE, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Delegations from hundreds of countries will meet in New York this week in an attempt to hammer out a new legally binding ocean protection treaty that green groups believe will decide whether efforts to safeguard global biodiversity can succeed. Last August, an earlier round of talks on the new United Nations ocean conservation treaty were suspended, with countries unable to reach an agreement on financing. Sharing the proceeds of "marine genetic resources" and the establishment of ocean environmental impact assessment rules for development were also major sticking points. "There seems to be an appetite to actually finalise the treaty now," said Jessica Battle, ocean expert at the Worldwide Fund for Nature. "Genetic resources and the issue of finance will be the end game," said Greenpeace's Li.

☆ China provinces top list of world's most climate-vulnerable regions - data
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( David Stanway | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SINGAPORE, Feb 20 (Reuters) - China is home to 16 of the 20 global regions most vulnerable to climate change, according to data published on Monday, with some of the world's most important manufacturing hubs at risk from rising water levels and extreme weather. The data showed that some of the engine rooms of the global economy face catastrophic hazards such as rising sea levels, river flooding and wildfires, which could also depress property prices and deter investment, XDI said. "We're already feeling the significant impacts of weather events around the world, and they will only increase," XDI Chief Executive Rohan Hamden told reporters. "Finally, we just want to make sure that every investment decision is made in a climate-resilient way." The shift of global manufacturing to Asia has driven a substantial increase in infrastructure investment in already vulnerable regions throughout China, making it more susceptible to the impacts of climate change, Hamden said.

☆ China's BYD raises car prices after subsidy cuts
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

SHANGHAI, Jan 1 (Reuters) - Leading Chinese electric car manufacturer BYD Co has adjusted its product prices starting from Jan. 1, citing the impact of reduced subsidies for new energy vehicles since November last year. Official guidance prices will rise by between 2,000 yuan ($290) and 6,000 yuan for its various models, the company said on its official Weibo account. ($1 = 6.8972 yuan)Reporting by David Stanway; Editing by Kim CoghillOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ China accuses U.S. of distorting facts after aircraft clash
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SHANGHAI, Jan 1 (Reuters) - A U.S. military plane involved in a confrontation with Chinese aircraft in disputed southern waters last week had violated international law and put the safety of Chinese pilots at risk, a defence ministry spokesman said. But Tian Junli, spokesman for China's Southern Theatre Command, said in a statement late on Saturday that the United States had misled the public about the incident near the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea. He said the U.S. plane violated international law, disregarded repeated warnings by China and made dangerous approaches that threatened the safety of China's aircraft. "The United States deliberately misleads public opinion... in an attempt to confuse the international audience," Tian said. China claims almost the entire South China Sea as its sovereign territory, but parts of it are contested by Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei.

☆ Chinese state media seek to reassure public over COVID-19
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Martin Quin Pollard | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

WUHAN, Jan 1 (Reuters) - Thousands of Chinese took to the streets to mark the New Year as authorities and state media sought to reassure the public that the COVID-19 outbreak sweeping across the country was under control and nearing its peak. China reported one new COVID-19 death in the mainland for Dec. 31, the same as a day earlier, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on Sunday. State media in the city of Guangzhou in southeastern China said on Sunday that daily cases peaked at around 60,000 recently, and now stand at around 19,000. On Sunday, Australia and Canada joined the United States and others in requiring travellers from China to provide negative COVID-19 tests when they arrive. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen offered on Sunday to provide China with "necessary assistance" to help it deal with the surge in COVID-19 cases.

☆ China's top diplomat calls for 'dialogue', cooperation with U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SHANGHAI, Jan 1 (Reuters) - China and the United States must pursue dialogue rather than confrontation and avoid the mistakes made during the Cold War, top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi said on Sunday in his first public comments since his appointment as head of the ruling Communist Party's foreign affairs office. In an essay published in the official Party journal Seeking Truth, Wang urged major countries to "set an example" in the face of multiple challenges, citing China's strengthened cooperation with Russia over 2022. "Over the past year, we have unremittingly explored the correct way for the two major countries of China and the United States to get along with each other," he wrote. Wang's stint as foreign minister saw a sharp rise in tensions between Beijing and Washington on a wide range of issues ranging from trade to Taiwan. He said in his Sunday essay that Taiwan remained at the "core of China's core interests" and the "foundation" on which China's political relationship with the United States is built.

SummarySummary Companies COVID infections may peak next week- Chinese health officialChina reports no new COVID deaths for 3rd dayOverstretched health system braces for more severe casesBEIJING/SHANGHAI, Dec 23 (Reuters) - China is expecting a peak in COVID-19 infections within a week, a health official said, with authorities predicting extra strain on the country's health system even as they downplay the disease's severity and continue to report no new deaths. China reported less than 4,000 new symptomatic local COVID cases nationwide for Dec. 22, and no new COVID deaths for a third consecutive day. Authorities have narrowed the criteria for COVID deaths, prompting criticism from many disease experts. Experts say China could face more than a million COVID deaths next year. NO DATAThe World Health Organization has received no data from China on new COVID hospitalizations since Beijing lifted its zero-COVID policy.

The country spent big on quarantine and testing facilities over the past three years rather than bolstering hospitals and clinics and training medical staff, these people said. "There is no transition time for the medical system to prepare for this," said Zuofeng Zhang, professor of epidemiology at the University of California, Los Angeles. The failure to boost vaccination rates among the vulnerable could imperil China's health system, more than a dozen experts said. The death of a 23-year-old medical student in Chengdu on Dec. 14 fueled public ire at the strain on China's health system. Chen Jiming, a researcher at China's Foshan University, said there was every chance that China's medical system could cope now that the country has ended quarantine for asymptomatic and mild cases.

The methods for counting COVID deaths have varied across countries in the nearly three years since the pandemic began. CAN CHINA'S COVID DATA BE TRUSTED? With one of the lowest COVID death tolls in the world, China has been routinely accused of downplaying infections and deaths for political reasons. Globally, the study estimated 18.2 million excess deaths in 2021-2022, compared with reported COVID deaths of 5.94 million. China actually cut its accumulated death toll by one on Dec. 20, bringing the total to 5,241.

Now, as the virus sweeps through a country of 1.4 billion people who lack natural immunity having been shielded for so long, there is growing concern about possible deaths, virus mutations and the impact, again, on the economy. Beijing reported five COVID-related deaths on Tuesday, following two on Monday which were the first fatalities reported in weeks. Authorities have also been racing to build so-called fever clinics, facilities where medical staff check patients' symptoms and administer medicines. In the past week, major cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, and Wenzhou announced they had added hundreds of fever clinics, according to government WeChat accounts and media reports. A survey by World Economics showed on Monday China's business confidence fell in December to its lowest since January 2013.

☆ 'I don't trust it:' Vaccine hesitancy lingers even as China COVID cases surge
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( David Kirton | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"I don't trust it," she said, speaking on the condition that only her first name be used. It has also yet to introduce its own version of an mRNA vaccine. "At least a half of doctors and educated people wanted to get the mRNA ones and refused to get the Chinese ones," Lei said. "After a while, people see no hope and also they are kind of forced to get the Chinese ones, so they had to accept it. Lei said many of her friends are looking to visit the neighbouring Chinese territory of Macau, where mainlanders can receive mRNA vaccines.

Of seven new dams planned in Laos, at least four are co-financed by Chinese companies, according to Mekong Dam Monitor data. 'WAKE-UP CALL'Farmers in the Vietnamese Mekong River Delta region were not prepared for the speed at which their landscape - and fortunes - have changed. The Mekong River Commission estimated in 2018 that total sediment flow by now would be around 47 million tonnes per year. "Mainstream dams catch everything," said economist Brian Eyler at the Stimson Center, which runs the Mekong Dam Monitor. The Xayaburi and Don Sahong dams in Laos are the most recent to come online, with Xayaburi the largest on the entire Mekong River.

China's health authority did not immediately respond to a request for comment on infections among medical staff. A few nurses at the fever clinic were tested positive, there aren’t any special protective measures for hospital staff and I believe many of us will soon get infected," Li added. A post on the Weibo social media platform recounted a recent experience at the emergency ward at Beijing Hospital. "Those who have not been to the emergency department of Beijing Hospital don't know what a mess it has become," wrote a Weibo user called Moshang. Beijing Hospital did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment.

☆ Inside China's fight over the future of zero-COVID
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( David Stanway | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +10 min

After nearly three years, a significant loosening of zero-COVID measures has been signalled by senior government officials and public health experts. Vice Premier Sun Chunlan said on Thursday that China's health system had "withstood the test" of COVID, allowing further adjustments to state policies. "You can have zero-COVID, but you can't have a healthy economy, and you can have a healthy economy, but you can't have zero-COVID." Laura Yasaitis, a public health expert at the Eurasia Group think-tank who follows China's zero-COVID policies, said fear of the virus likely varied widely across the country, as well as within cities or provinces. Officials have repeatedly said that China's health system would be unable to cope with a surge in cases, with medical resources unevenly distributed across the country.

China's health authority said on Wednesday that it would aim to improve accessibility and launch targeted programmes in nursing homes and leisure facilities as part of a new vaccination drive among the over-60s. Public health experts say studies show that besides vaccination scepticism, the elderly have also been slow to take up the jab due to health, mobility and access. It would also deliver door-to-door vaccination services to those who are disabled or housebound and deploy specialist vaccination vehicles and temporary vaccination stations. Anger over China's zero-COVID policy, which has the world's toughest restrictions, has sparked protests across the country and prompted authorities to start easing some curbs. Especially for the elderly who haven't been vaccinated," said Shanghai resident Ye, who did not get vaccinated due to concerns over her health.

☆ China to ramp up COVID vaccinations for its elderly
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A person walks past a poster encouraging elderly people to get vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), near a residential compound in Beijing, China March 30, 2022. REUTERS/Tingshu WangBEIJING, Nov 29 (Reuters) - China will speed up COVID-19 vaccinations for elderly people, health officials said on Tuesday, aiming to overcome a key stumbling block in efforts to ease unpopular "zero-COVID" curbs. read moreThe National Health Commission (NHC) said it would target more vaccinations at people older than 80 and reduce to three months the gap between basic vaccination and booster shots for the elderly. The elderly will get easy access through special priority services, with mobile vaccination vehicles also pressed into service, the NHC said. Recipients of a booster jab made up 68.2% of the elderly population, up marginally from 67.8% three months earlier.

☆ China calls for ambitious, pragmatic biodiversity deal
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SHANGHAI, Nov 28 (Reuters) - China will lead talks to secure an "ambitious and pragmatic" new global pact to preserve biodiversity at a U.N. meeting that begins next week, but implementing the deal remains the biggest challenge, Chinese officials said on Monday. Zhou Guomei, head of the international department of the environment ministry, told reporters that negotiations so far had not been "plain sailing" but focused on an ambitious deal that was "also pragmatic, balanced, feasible and achievable". A previous biodiversity pact signed in Aichi, Japan, in 2010, set 20 targets to try to slow biodiversity loss by 2020. Countries need to "fully consider" the attainability of any new targets, said Cui Shuhong, head of the ministry's natural ecology department. "We should learn fully from the experience and lessons during the implementation of the Aichi targets, not only to boost the ambition and confidence in global biodiversity conservation, but also to be down-to-earth and realistic," he added.

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