Published

2 years ago

May 2, 2024

Alice Rush

Welcome to Carbon Brief’s China Briefing.

China Briefing handpicks and explains the most important climate and energy stories from China over the past fortnight. Subscribe for free here.

Key developments

China released draft of long-awaited Energy Law

FULL TEXT: The latest draft of China’s long-awaited Energy Law has been issued for public comment following approval by China’s top legislative body, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC), economic newswire Jiemian reported, in an analysis of the text. The law, which was initially drafted in 2005, will likely be “considered at three [NPCSC] meetings before being put to a [final] vote”, the outlet said, which means it could be formally enacted “within the year”.

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PRIORITISING RENEWABLES: Jiemian added that the law “clearly supports prioritising the development of renewable energy; rational development of clean and efficient use of fossil energy; and orderly promotion of non-fossil fuel energy instead of fossil fuel energy and low-carbon energy instead of high-carbon energy”. Chinese energy news site International Energy Net noted that the draft law calls on the state to “establish a mechanism to promote green energy consumption and encourage energy users to prioritise using renewable energy and other clean and low-carbon energy sources”. Elsewhere, Chen Xinghua, associate professor at North China University of Technology and deputy secretary-general of the China Law Society’s energy law research group, told China Environment News that, until now, the “development of the energy industry…has relied more on dividends from reform of the energy system”. He added that a unified Energy Law is “urgently needed” to resolve the “intricate and complex” interests of various stakeholders, as well as the challenges of a modern energy system and meeting China’s carbon neutrality goals.

LONG ROAD: The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post said that the law “has been [on] one of the longest [journeys] for any piece of Chinese legislation”. It quoted an unnamed Tsinghua University law professor attributing the delays to staunch resistance from energy sector stakeholders, who “lobbied extensively” to “[try] to hold onto their territory”. The professor speculated that this resistance may have been broken by president Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign.

Leaders and targets plot ‘realistic’ path

2024 TARGET: The Ministry of Environment and Ecology (MEE) is aiming for carbon emissions per unit of GDP – also known as carbon intensity – to fall by 3.9% in 2024, according to state broadcaster CCTV. Previous Carbon Brief analysis found that carbon intensity would need to fall by 7% per year to meet China’s 2025 climate commitments. This was echoed by consultancy Trivium China, which said in a recent newsletter that the target for 2024 “isn’t enough to get China emissions intensity reductions back on track”.

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‘BE REALISTIC’: Meanwhile, Chinese president Xi Jinping called on policymakers to both “be realistic, by not slowing the pace of green and low-carbon development, and not be too idealistic, above all guaranteeing energy supply”, International Energy Net reported. At a technology-focused forum in Beijing, National Energy Administration director Zhang Jianhua said China would “lead the innovation of the clean energy industry…further strengthen the foundation of energy security [and] continue to improve the scale and quality of non-fossil energy supply”, according to state news agency Xinhua.

COAL CAPACITY: Following an announcement that China will establish a coal production capacity reserve system by 2027, Xinhua published an analysis stating that the move will allow China to “quickly release reserve capacity in extreme situations, such as fluctuations in the international energy market, instances of severe weather and [other] drastic changes to supply and demand”. It added that this measure was not intended “to significantly increase coal production capacity”. (Read more in Carbon Brief’s China Briefing from 18 April).

US-China methane cooperation continued

BLINKEN TRIP: With US secretary of state Anthony Blinken visiting Beijing last week, the “two superpowers continued dialogue to manage a growing list of differences”, reported Bloomberg. Citing a Chinese foreign ministry statement, the outlet said Xi told Blinken that “China and the US should be partners rather than rivals”. The Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi also told Blinken that China “urged” the US “not to interfere in China’s internal affairs, not to hold China’s development back, and not to step on China’s red lines on China’s sovereignty, security, and development interests”, according to a report from the Associated Press. Blinken responded by saying that “the Biden administration places a premium on” the bilateral dialogue even “on issues of dispute”, according to the newswire.

EASIER FUTURE?: Despite several areas of disagreement, the Communist party-affiliated newspaper People’s Daily mentioned the two sides reached an agreement on further “cooperation” on climate change. China Environment published an announcement by the MEE that a US-China climate action working group held a virtual meeting, at which they pledged to “strengthen communication” and cooperation on controlling methane emissions. Meanwhile, China enacted a tariff law during Blinken’s visit to strengthen China’s “trade defence capabilities”, Reuters reported. The outlet said the law was passed amid US and EU industrial “overcapacity” concerns and outlines “a range of legal provisions related to tariffs on Chinese imports and exports”. It quoted Henry Gao, a professor at Singapore Management University, who described the law as “a nuclear weapon” to show the US and EU “that this is our prerogative: If you’re going to hit us with tariffs, we can do the same”.

Chinese climate envoy announced US visit

MAY VISIT: In an interview with Bloomberg, China’s climate envoy Liu Zhenmin announced that he plans to visit the US in May for his first formal face-to-face meeting with US counterpart John Podesta. Liu stated that China aims to “extend cooperation on issues including energy, the circular economy and efforts to curb greenhouse gases beyond carbon dioxide”. He added that the US and China “have to cooperate as far as possible” on climate, and that the two nations “also need to respect each other on all issues”. Another Bloomberg article on the Liu interview said: “Efforts by the US and Europe to stem China’s dominance in green technologies risk stalling the fight against global warming, according to [Liu].”

‘DIFFERENT LENS’: Elsewhere, Liu raised four challenges to global resilience at a forum hosted by the thinktank Center for China and Globalisation. Notably, he listed these challenges in the following order: geopolitical conflicts; setbacks to economic globalisation; climate change; and unease around artificial intelligence. In an earlier article, the Diplomat had suggested that Liu – given his Ministry of Foreign Affairs background – may see climate “more as a lever in China’s overall diplomatic strategy, rather than a critical, standalone issue to address”.

Spotlight

Media reaction: Guangdong flooding and the role of climate change

Guangdong province in southern China has been pounded by heavy rains since 19 April, causing flooding that has left at least four dead and seen more than 110,000 people evacuated.

Guangdong is China’s most populous province and an economic powerhouse driving China’s manufacturing industry and exports.

In this issue, Carbon Brief examines the impact of climate change on the flooding and the response from Chinese and international media.

How has flooding affected Guangdong?

“Intense” rainstorms began in the northern and western regions of Guangdong province on 19 April, with the ensuing rainfall breaking records for the month, according to the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP).

Originally, floodwaters from the Bei River, a major tributary of the Pearl River, were expected to peak on 22 April, the newspaper added.

The heavy rainstorms continued, however, and by 28 April three separate floods had been recorded, according to the Communist party-affiliated People’s Daily and regional newspaper Southern Daily.

On 30 April, state broadcaster CGTN announced that China issued a severe weather warning for further torrential rain, thunderstorms, gales and hail for parts of Guangdong, as well as five other provinces.

Four people were reported dead and 10 missing during the initial flood, BBC News said, adding that at least 110,000 people were evacuated.

The worst-hit areas included the provincial capital Guangzhou – home to almost 19 million people – as well as the cities of Zhaoqing, Shaoguan, Qingyuan, Jiangmen, Huizhou and Heyuan, according to various media outlets.

Guangzhou Daily reported that the provincial government announced a relief fund of 90m yuan ($12.4m) to be used to recover from the damage caused by the flood.

Meanwhile, Chinese vice-premier Zhang Guoqing and Guangdong governor Wang Weizhong both called on local governments to improve monitoring of extreme weather, the China Daily and Southern Daily reported.

In addition to the floods, CNN reported that a tornado, which appeared after “multiple days of heavy rains”, killed “at least five people” in Guangzhou on 27 April.

On 1 May, the collapse of a highway near Meizhou city in Guangdong killed at least 48 people, the Associated Press reported, adding that ongoing torrential rainfall was hampering rescue efforts.

Separate Associated Press coverage noted that heavy rains “pose a special risk to mountain roadways and highway bridges”, although an official cause of the accident had not yet been established.

Is climate change a contributor to the flooding?

While the Pearl River delta is prone to summer flooding, the rains this year were unusually early, according to Reuters.

Agence France-Presse reported that Yin Zhijie, chief hydrology forecaster at the Chinese Ministry of Water Resources, told state-run China National Radio that “intensifying climate change” raised the likelihood of early heavy rains.

Xu Xiaofeng, executive vice-chairman of the Chinese government’s China Meteorological Work Development Advisory Committee and president of the China Meteorological Services Association, told economic newswire Jiemian that recent warm and humid currents in the north-west Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean have created significant water vapour in southern China, contributing to the rainfall.

According to the outlet, Xu said: “Recent record-breaking precipitation…occurred precisely against the backdrop of global warming.”

The outlet also quoted another expert, Zhang Qiang from the Gansu Meteorological Administration, saying heavy and abnormal rainfall in the region is becoming “a normal phenomenon” due to the influence of global warming.

While there is, as yet, no formal “attribution” study of whether the flooding was made worse by human-caused global warming, one rapid analysis found that the “somewhat uncommon event” was “exacerbated” by both human-caused climate change and natural variability.

It concluded that weather systems similar to those that caused the floods are 8-12% wetter over Guangdong province in the present climate than they were in the past.

Previous Carbon Brief analysis has also identified a number of attribution studies that have quantified the influence of climate change on flooding in southern China.

For example, record-breaking rainfall in the June-July period of 2020 was found by one study to be more than five times more likely in the present-day climate – “80% of which can be attributed to climate change”.

How has the Chinese media responded?

While most local media coverage focused on individual stories and local responses, several Chinese media outlets have pointed to links between the floods and climate change.

In its reporting, China Daily cited a China Meteorological Administration (CMA) interview with Chinese Academy of Engineering member Ding Yihui, who said: “The world has entered a new phase of climate change, which is characterised by an increased frequency of extreme weather events, resulting in the occurrences of sudden climate and weather-related disasters.”

The municipal newspaper Guangzhou Daily made a connection with extreme rainfall in Dubai and quoted Zhang Xingying, deputy director of the CMA’s science, technology and climate change department, saying that, due to “global warming and El Niño”, China will see more extreme weather, including floods, in 2024.

“Chinese and foreign scientists”, the Guangzhou Daily article said, “remind us that new features of extreme weather and climate events are emerging globally.”

It added that “our generation will witness more and more extreme weather…All we can do now is leave a better future for future generations.”

On 28 April, the Guangzhou Daily also reposted an article by Shanghai-based newspaper the Paper, in which China Academy of Meteorological Sciences scholar Sun Shao argued that “recent extreme weather events are closely linked to climate change”.

Sun said that, in the face of this challenge, the international community must strengthen global cooperation to combat climate change.

Meanwhile, an SCMP editorial said that both the flooding and an emerging drought in nearby hydropower-producing Yunnan province, “illustrate just how critical the climate-change issue is – not just for China but globally”.

It added: “While the flooding is a reminder to be prepared for sudden climate-linked extreme events, including fires and violent storms, the drought is a wake-up call about longer term consequences for the climate of failure to rein in carbon emissions.”

Watch, read, listen

2035 NDC: Project Syndicate published an article by the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Li Shuo and Lauri Myllyvirta about how setting ambitious commitments in its “nationally determined contribution” (NDC) for 2035 could both spur China’s energy transition and boost its profile as a climate leader.

GLOBAL COMPETITION: The substack High Capacity explored the “paradox” of how several Chinese clean-energy technology industries were able to overtake competitors in Germany, despite Germany’s significant industrial advantages.

JUST TRANSITION: Dialogue Earth reported on the need for China to give “higher priority to a just transition” in coal-producing provinces such as Inner Mongolia and Shanxi.

NAVIGATING OVERCAPACITY: Bloomberg: The China Show interviewed a representative of polysilicon producer GCL Technology on how the industry survives cycles of overcapacity.

23

The amount of battery storage capacity added in China in 2023, in gigawatts, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency. This was triple the amount added in 2022, according to the report, and accounted for 55% of global growth.

New science

Co-production of steel and chemicals to mitigate hard-to-abate carbon emissions
Nature Chemical Engineering

New research examined how co-producing steel and chemicals in China could mitigate greenhouse gases and lower costs. The study found that co-production, by itself, would cut greenhouse gas emissions for the steel and chemical sectors by 36m tonnes of CO2 equivalent (MtCO2e, 7%) and reduce costs by 1.5bn yuan ($21m, 1%), compared to independent production. However, it found that if a carbon price of 350 yuan ($48) per tonne of CO2 were enacted in addition to co-production, emissions would drop by 113 MtCO2e (22%) and costs by 25.5bn yuan ($3.5bn, 10%).

Increased harvested carbon of cropland in China
Environmental Research Letters

A new study collected statistical data on crop production for ten crop types in China from 1981 to 2020 to assess trends in carbon stored in harvested crops, which “significantly [influence] the carbon budget of the cropland ecosystem”. It revealed that harvested crop carbon increased from 0.185 gigatonnes (Gt) of carbon in 1981 to 0.423Gt in 2020. It also found that the average annual removal of carbon sink capacity through harvesting crops totalled 0.32Gt of carbon, which it said was greater than the net carbon sink of China’s entire terrestrial ecosystem – “substantially impact[ing]” calculations of China’s carbon budget.

Large methane mitigation potential through prioritised closure of gas-rich coal mines
Nature Climate Change

Methane emissions from China’s abandoned coal mines have been underestimated, according to a new study. The authors constructed a “coal mine database” to estimate China’s coal methane emissions between 2011 and 2019, and calculated future emissions based on different mine closure policies. They estimated that by 2035, abandoned mines will be China’s largest sources of coal methane emissions – larger than emissions from active coal mines. The authors also developed a “coal mine closure strategy”, which they say could “reduce cumulative methane emissions by 67m tonnes (26%) to 2050, potentially reaching 100m tonnes (39%) with improved methane recovery and utilisation practices”.

China Briefing is compiled by Wanyuan Song and Anika Patel. It is edited by Wanyuan Song and Dr Simon Evans. Please send tips and feedback to china@carbonbrief.org

The post China Briefing 2 May: Energy Law draft; 3.9% carbon intensity target; Guangdong floods appeared first on Carbon Brief.

China Briefing 2 May: Energy Law draft; 3.9% carbon intensity target; Guangdong floods

Climate Change

Whale Entanglements in Fishing Gear Surge Off U.S. West Coast During Marine Heatwaves

Published

7 hours ago

February 25, 2026

Alice Rush

New research finds that rising ocean temperatures are shrinking cool-water feeding grounds, pushing humpbacks into gear-heavy waters near shore. Scientists say ocean forecasting tool could help fisheries reduce the risk.

By Teresa Tomassoni

Each spring, humpback whales start to feed off the coast of California and Oregon on dense schools of anchovies, sardines and krill—prey sustained by cool, nutrient-rich water that seasonal winds draw up from the deep ocean.

Whale Entanglements in Fishing Gear Surge Off U.S. West Coast During Marine Heatwaves

Climate Change

Grasslands and Wetlands Are Being Gobbled Up By Agriculture, Mostly Livestock

Published

7 hours ago

February 25, 2026

Alice Rush

A new study takes a first-of-its kind look at how farming converts non-forested areas and major carbon sinks into cropland and pasture.

By Georgina Gustin

Agriculture is widely known to be the biggest driver of forest destruction globally, especially in sprawling, high-profile ecosystems like the Amazon rainforest.

Grasslands and Wetlands Are Being Gobbled Up By Agriculture, Mostly Livestock

Climate Change

Cropped 25 February 2026: Food inflation strikes | El Niño looms | Biodiversity talks stagnate

Published

18 hours ago

February 25, 2026

Alice Rush

We handpick and explain the most important stories at the intersection of climate, land, food and nature over the past fortnight.

This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s fortnightly Cropped email newsletter.
Subscribe for free here.

Key developments

Food inflation on the rise

DELUGE STRIKES FOOD: Extreme rainfall and flooding across the Mediterranean and north Africa has “battered the winter growing regions that feed Europe…threatening food price rises”, reported the Financial Times. Western France has “endured more than 36 days of continuous rain”, while farmers’ associations in Spain’s Andalusia estimate that “20% of all production has been lost”, it added. Policy expert David Barmes told the paper that the “latest storms were part of a wider pattern of climate shocks feeding into food price inflation”.

Sign up to Carbon Brief’s free “Cropped” email newsletter. A fortnightly digest of food, land and nature news and views. Sent to your inbox every other Wednesday.

NO BEEF: The UK’s beef farmers, meanwhile, “face a double blow” from climate change as “relentless rain forces them to keep cows indoors”, while last summer’s drought hit hay supplies, said another Financial Times article. At the same time, indoor growers in south England described a 60% increase in electricity standing charges as a “ticking timebomb” that could “force them to raise their prices or stop production, which will further fuel food price inflation”, wrote the Guardian.

‘TINDERBOX’ AND TARIFFS: A study, covered by the Guardian, warned that major extreme weather and other “shocks” could “spark social unrest and even food riots in the UK”. Experts cited “chronic” vulnerabilities, including climate change, low incomes, poor farming policy and “fragile” supply chains that have made the UK’s food system a “tinderbox”. A New York Times explainer noted that while trade could once guard against food supply shocks, barriers such as tariffs and export controls – which are being “increasingly” used by politicians – “can shut off that safety valve”.

El Niño looms

NEW ENSO INDEX: Researchers have developed a new index for calculating El Niño, the large-scale climate pattern that influences global weather and causes “billions in damages by bringing floods to some regions and drought to others”, reported CNN. It added that climate change is making it more difficult for scientists to observe El Niño patterns by warming up the entire ocean. The outlet said that with the new metric, “scientists can now see it earlier and our long-range weather forecasts will be improved for it.”

WARMING WARNING: Meanwhile, the US Climate Prediction Center announced that there is a 60% chance of the current La Niña conditions shifting towards a neutral state over the next few months, with an El Niño likely to follow in late spring, according to Reuters. The Vibes, a Malaysian news outlet, quoted a climate scientist saying: “If the El Niño does materialise, it could possibly push 2026 or 2027 as the warmest year on record, replacing 2024.”

CROP IMPACTS: Reuters noted that neutral conditions lead to “more stable weather and potentially better crop yields”. However, the newswire added, an El Niño state would mean “worsening drought conditions and issues for the next growing season” to Australia. El Niño also “typically brings a poor south-west monsoon to India, including droughts”, reported the Hindu’s Business Line. A 2024 guest post for Carbon Brief explained that El Niño is linked to crop failure in south-eastern Africa and south-east Asia.

News and views

DAM-AG-ES: Several South Korean farmers filed a lawsuit against the country’s state-owned utility company, “seek[ing] financial compensation for climate-related agricultural damages”, reported United Press International. Meanwhile, a national climate change assessment for the Philippines found that the country “lost up to $219bn in agricultural damages from typhoons, floods and droughts” over 2000-10, according to Eco-Business.
SCORCHED GRASS: South Africa’s Western Cape province is experiencing “one of the worst droughts in living memory”, which is “scorching grass and killing livestock”, said Reuters. The newswire wrote: “In 2015, a drought almost dried up the taps in the city; farmers say this one has been even more brutal than a decade ago.”
NOUVELLE VEG: New guidelines published under France’s national food, nutrition and climate strategy “urged” citizens to “limit” their meat consumption, reported Euronews. The delayed strategy comes a month after the US government “upended decades of recommendations by touting consumption of red meat and full-fat dairy”, it noted.
COURTING DISASTER: India’s top green court accepted the findings of a committee that “found no flaws” in greenlighting the Great Nicobar project that “will lead to the felling of a million trees” and translocating corals, reported Mongabay. The court found “no good ground to interfere”, despite “threats to a globally unique biodiversity hotspot” and Indigenous tribes at risk of displacement by the project, wrote Frontline.
FISH FALLING: A new study found that fish biomass is “falling by 7.2% from as little as 0.1C of warming per decade”, noted the Guardian. While experts also pointed to the role of overfishing in marine life loss, marine ecologist and study lead author Dr Shahar Chaikin told the outlet: “Our research proves exactly what that biological cost [of warming] looks like underwater.”
TOO HOT FOR COFFEE: According to new analysis by Climate Central, countries where coffee beans are grown “are becoming too hot to cultivate them”, reported the Guardian. The world’s top five coffee-growing countries faced “57 additional days of coffee-harming heat” annually because of climate change, it added.

Spotlight

Nature talks inch forward

This week, Carbon Brief covers the latest round of negotiations under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which occurred in Rome over 16-19 February.

The penultimate set of biodiversity negotiations before October’s Conference of the Parties ended in Rome last week, leaving plenty of unfinished business.

The CBD’s subsidiary body on implementation (SBI) met in the Italian capital for four days to discuss a range of issues, including biodiversity finance and reviewing progress towards the nature targets agreed under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).

However, many of the major sticking points – particularly around finance – will have to wait until later this summer, leaving some observers worried about the capacity for delegates to get through a packed agenda at COP17.

The SBI, along with the subsidiary body on scientific, technical and technological advice (SBSTTA) will both meet in Nairobi, Kenya, later this summer for a final round of talks before COP17 kicks off in Yerevan, Armenia, on 19 October.

Money talks

Finance for nature has long been a sticking point at negotiations under the CBD.

Discussions on a new fund for biodiversity derailed biodiversity talks in Cali, Colombia, in autumn 2024, requiring resumed talks a few months later.

Despite this, finance was barely on the agenda at the SBI meetings in Rome. Delegates discussed three studies on the relationship between debt sustainability and implementation of nature plans, but the more substantive talks are set to take place at the next SBI meeting in Nairobi.

Several parties “highlighted concerns with the imbalance of work” on finance between these SBI talks and the next ones, reported Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB).

Lim Li Ching, senior researcher at Third World Network, noted that tensions around finance permeated every aspect of the talks. She told Carbon Brief:

“If you’re talking about the gender plan of action – if there’s little or no financial resources provided to actually put it into practice and implement it, then it’s [just] paper, right? Same with the reporting requirements and obligations.”

Monitoring and reporting

Closely linked to the issue of finance is the obligations of parties to report on their progress towards the goals and targets of the GBF.

Parties do so through the submission of national reports.

Several parties at the talks pointed to a lack of timely funding for driving delays in their reporting, according to ENB.

A note released by the CBD Secretariat in December said that no parties had submitted their national reports yet; by the time of the SBI meetings, only the EU had. It further noted that just 58 parties had submitted their national biodiversity plans, which were initially meant to be published by COP16, in October 2024.

Linda Krueger, director of biodiversity and infrastructure policy at the environmental not-for-profit Nature Conservancy, told Carbon Brief that despite the sparse submissions, parties are “very focused on the national report preparation”. She added:

“Everybody wants to be able to show that we’re on the path and that there still is a pathway to getting to 2030 that’s positive and largely in the right direction.”

Watch, read, listen

NET LOSS: Nigeria’s marine life is being “threatened” by “ghost gear” – nets and other fishing equipment discarded in the ocean – said Dialogue Earth.

COMEBACK CAUSALITY: A Vox long-read looked at whether Costa Rica’s “payments for ecosystem services” programme helped the country turn a corner on deforestation.

HOMEGROWN GOALS: A Straits Times podcast discussed whether import-dependent Singapore can afford to shelve its goal to produce 30% of its food locally by 2030.

‘RUSTING’ RIVERS: The Financial Times took a closer look at a “strange new force blighting the [Arctic] landscape”: rivers turning rust-orange due to global warming.

New science

Lakes in the Congo Basin’s peatlands are releasing carbon that is thousands of years old | Nature Geoscience
Natural non-forest ecosystems – such as grasslands and marshlands – were converted for agriculture at four times the rate of land with tree cover between 2005 and 2020 | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Around one-quarter of global tree-cover loss over 2001-22 was driven by cropland expansion, pastures and forest plantations for commodity production | Nature Food