It’s silly season in China again; that time (which elsewhere in the world coincides with national legislatures going into recess for the summer) when the National People’s Congress and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) get together for their annual two-week hoedown.
CPCC members, taking up their advisory role on the national stage, seem particularly “full of notions”, as my grandmother was fond of saying.
For example Chen Bingde, chief engineer of Nuclear Power Institute of China (NPIC) and a member of the CPPCC National Committee told China Daily on Saturday that: "In the near future, nuclear plants can be built right next to cities."
People have grown accustomed to believing that the gross domestic product (GDP) is what really matters; that it could be used to demonstrate a society’s well-being. It was, however, never created with this intent.
Simply, GDP measures the amount of money that changes hands, but how much we have in our pockets does not adequately tell us how well we are doing, in all the dimensions of our lives.
On 1 February John Tsang, Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary, announced in his Budget a HKD260 million (USD33.3 million) subsidy in the form of reduced harbor and light fees over three years for ships that switch to 0.5 percent sulfur fuel or cleaner. This proposal will be debated by the Hong Kong Legislative Council in March and is expected to pass.
The cadmium spill in Guangxi province has been the headlines for a few days now and there could be more to come. With two out of the three main tributaries of the Pearl River (西江和北江，the west and the north tributary Xijiang and Beijiang) now contaminated with cadmium, will the Dongjiang (东江，the east tributary) be next?
Many people in the Pearl River basin are very concerned about the current situation in Guangxi but few remember that seven years ago there was an even worse cadmium spill close by, on a section of Beijiang that runs past Shaoguan 韶关市) in Guangdong province.
Asia has led the world since the global financial crisis hit much of the developed world and looks set to see further robust growth in 2012. Standard & Poor's has, however, warned that the region cannot be entirely immune from economic risks elsewhere, particularly in Europe and the USA, and that may have impacts including interest rate cuts and an increase in stimulus spending[1].
The pace of development across the region over recent decades has meant unprecedented advances in technology, prosperity and consumption, with Asian economies now well-placed to consolidate growth in the second half of the year, according to Reuters.
The world’s foremost experts group on birds, the International Ornithologists’ Union, has just confirmed a new species of bird that was discovered on the mountain peaks of Hong Kong. Given the common name Chinese Grassbird, their estimated numbers are few (initial estimates suggests no more than 50-100 pairs in Hong Kong); therefore, the cause for conservation should be great.
It might be fortunate that the hill and mountaintop habitats where these birds make their home are largely found within Hong Kong’s country parks network.
The Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department (EPD) recently presented proposals to reduce emissions from vessels to improve air quality in Hong Kong at an Environmental Affairs Panel meeting in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council in December 2011. This is a positive step towards regulation in Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region more generally.
It was a bad week for those hoping Hong Kong's air quality is going to improve anytime soon. On Tuesday the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, to give its full title, announced that sometime between April this year and March next year, it intends to move forward with legislation to update its air quality objectives (AQOs) by 2014 and put 22 improvement measures in place.
While this is a promise that some reasonable progress will be at last be made, many observers – myself included – are flabbergasted that it has been such a long time coming.
There is an intriguing fight developing between clean and renewable business and non-green industries in Burma. In a very public announcement – to reporters in Rangoon – the minister for electricity Khin Maung Soe halted the construction of a Thai-backed coal-fired power station.
It comes only months after the Chinese-funded Myitsone hydroelectric dam was halted after listening to “the people”. This time he said the coal-fired plant at Dawei had raised pollution and environmental concerns.
I recently attended a meeting in a large, airy building with wooden beamed ceilings and a huge Christmas tree in the corner to talk with committee members of a new environmental initiative charged with promoting green living throughout the organization.
With such campaigns as Meatless Mondays, Lights Out Fridays, and a complete ban on the use of plastic bottles, one would think you were talking to a large corporation making its first moves into the sustainability world.
In all the rush and stupor of the Festive Season there were a couple of intriguing stories that didn't get the notice they deserved. Amidst what US-observers describe as a bleak outlook surrounding federal clean energy policy, it seems there was a victory for those supporting US/China clean energy co-operation and the framework of US/China Clean Energy Research Centers (CERCs) in building energy efficiency (Lawrence Berkeley Lab), electric vehicles (University of Michigan) and clean coal (University of West Virginia).
The election season for 2012 has already started in Hong Kong. The hot issue is a three-way race for chief executive – the top political post – which is selected by an election committee of 1,200 members, whom are “elected” themselves by a relatively small eligible electorate of about 200,000 people.
For anyone to get to the starting line, he or she must get 150 nominations from these 1,200 members. Right now, there are three camps vying to get enough nominations.
The COP17 climate talks in Durban have come to an end with 16,000 delegates from 190 countries having struggled for a fortnight with the sheer procedural difficulties of negotiation on that scale. The drama of shifting alliances, with the less developed nations and island states siding with the EU to fire a warning shot across the bows of the BASIC block (or should that now be the BASICUS block) was diverting, but it is no surprise that the new roadmap for international action on climate change doesn't actually provide much guidance to the future.
The cleantech business must be worrying what the news of Haitong Securities pulling its USD1.7 billion Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) on the grounds of poor market conditions, will do to their prospects.
Guodian Technology and Environment Group, a maker of wind equipment, will price its IPO on Wednesday, expecting to aim to raise about USD643 million. Later this week windfarm developer Beijing Jingneng Clean Energy is expected to price its IPO at around USD300 million.
Malaysia's new renewable energy feed-in-tariff (FiT) regime has had mixed results since applications opened at the beginning of the month. While almost the entire allocation of FiT budget earmarked for solar photovoltaic (PV) projects through to the middle of 2014 was applied for within 24 hours, other types of renewables covered by the scheme have proven to be considerably less popular thus far.
The country is following the familiar FiT model but with a quota system for different types of renewable energy (RE), designed to avoid the bubbles in RE project development as seen in the European solar sector.
A groundbreaking marine emissions inventory of vessel traffic in Hong Kong, commissioned by the Environmental Protection Department, and presented at a recent conference, helps us to understand the extent of air pollution from vessels in this city.This is one of the first inventories of its kind in Asia, with similar work being done by government bodies in Shanghai and Taiwan. The Hong Kong study will likely raise awareness about the impact that these emissions can have in port cities.
It's 10 days out from the start of COP17, the UN Climate Change Conference 2011 being held in Durban, South Africa, and the level of anticipation can best be described as flaccid.Two years ago many people were excited and inspired by the prospects of the Copenhagen conference (remember Hopenhagen?) and a year ago there was at least plenty of media buzz about whether anything could be rescued from the COP15 train wreck at Cancún.This time around the lack of interest pretty much defines the outcome: the Europeans will be earnest, the BASIC block will be intransigent and the Americans will be irrelevant.
The most expensive street in the world can be found in Hong Kong, as can some of the world’s most expensive office space. In a place of high land premiums, it is astounding that Hong Kong can come out favorably in statistics about green space.
Indeed, some 42 percent of the land mass in Hong Kong has been designated as country parks and special protected areas, making it a territory with one of the highest percentage of protected areas on the globe.
With news of another oil spill, this time off the coast of New Zealand, requests have been made for people to send knitted sweaters for the rescued penguins. 100 percent wool only, and yes, this is 100 percent true.
There is a strong link between knitting jumpers for penguins, dealing with the consequences of our consumer society, swap parties and being happier.
The drama of the debates at last month’s “Greener Skies” Aviation and Environment Conference in Hong Kong was heightened earlier this month when a senior European Union legal officer advised the EU Court of Justice that the inclusion of aviation into the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) was lawful. The Court usually accepts the legal officer’s advice.
This report by the World Bank spells out what the world would be like if it warmed by 4 degrees Celsius, which is what scientists are nearly unanimously predicting by the end of the century, without serious policy changes.
Companies in Asia reveal expectations that regulations that could lead to rising costs for reporting and reducing GHG emissions will also be the main sources of climate-related business opportunities.
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