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Welcome to Carbon Brief’s China Briefing.

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

Key developments

China to achieve emission peak, carbon neutrality ‘ahead of its deadline’

ENERGY OPTIMISM: China’s post-Covid economic “situation” has led to “growing optimism” among energy experts that the country could peak carbon emissions earlier than its deadline of 2030, said the South China Morning Post, citing the second China Climate Transition Outlook survey by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) and the International Society for Energy Transition Studies. More than 70% of experts in the survey believe that China can achieve its goal of peak carbon emissions before 2030, while just over a fifth believe China could peak emissions before 2025, compared with 15% in the 2022 survey, reported the state-run newspaper China Daily. It also mentioned that experts had “mixed views” on when the country would witness a peak in coal consumption. Economic news outlet Jiemian quoted Shen Xinyi, a policy analyst with CREA, saying that coal power plants in China were seeing a “boom” because of power shortages in the past two years and the government needs to guide existing coal power plants to improve their operational flexibility. (See Carbon Brief’s newly published in-depth profile of China, which covers a wide range of topics including: climate laws; policies for fossil fuels, renewables, hydro and nuclear; transport; agriculture and forests; plus climate impacts and adaptation.)

EARLY NEUTRALITY: China’s target of net-zero by 2060 is “likely to be achieved” a decade earlier than previously assumed, wrote Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, world economy editor of the UK’s Daily Telegraph. He quoted Lauri Myllyvirta, co-founder, CREA, saying that the roll-out of renewables is outpacing the rise in electricity demand in China and there will be a fall in total carbon dioxide emitted in the first half of next year. (The piece draws heavily on Myllyvirta’s recent analysis for Carbon Brief.) Evans-Pritchard said that China approving two new coal plants a week does not mean what many in the West think it means. China is adding one gigawatt (GW) of coal power, on average, as back-up for every six GW of new renewable power, he said: “The two go hand in hand.” Although president Xi Jinping “was never going to let climate worries alone hold back China’s rise”, he concluded, the alignment of Xi’s personal interest in environmental policy with China’s strength in “clean-tech” industries drove China’s commitment to peaking carbon emissions, which will be “a watershed moment for global geopolitics, and for humanity”. 

More signals emerge around CCER restart

CCER RESTART: Energy news outlet IN-EN.com reported that Lai Xiaoming, chairman of the Shanghai Environmental Energy Exchange, remarked in a speech that the China Certified Emissions Reduction (CCER) voluntary carbon market scheme will restart “soon”. According to the outlet, he added that the new CCERs will “follow the three principles of authenticity, uniqueness and additionality”. Earlier this month, the central government released the trial registration rules and the project design and implementation guidelines for CCERs, two key documents that could signal the imminent resumption of trading, energy news outlet BJX News said. The central government continues to back the Beijing Green Exchange as a key administrative body in the carbon market, calling for the ministry of commerce and Beijing municipal government to support it in “build[ing] a national unified greenhouse gas voluntary emission reduction trading centre”, another BJX News piece reported. 

CBAM PREPARATION: As China continues to eye the impact of the EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), it has pledged to establish carbon-footprint accounting rules and standards for 50 key products by 2025, finance newswire Wall Street CN reported. This will be expanded to 200 products by 2030, it added. Regulators will “initially focus on developing standards for cement, iron and steel, aluminium and fertilisers” in order to meet CBAM requirements, analysis by consulting firm Trivium China explained. “China-EU trade will be substantially affected” by CBAM, a representative of the National Energy Group wrote for BJX News. As far as China is concerned, he argued, “the introduction of the EU carbon tariff system will directly affect the ability of Chinese companies to make profits, survive and develop, and also have a substantial impact on China’s import and export trade and production structures”. Days before the opening of the COP28 climate talks in Dubai, UAE, the BASIC group of countries, including China, tabled a request to put “unilateral trade measures” – such as the CBAM – on the official agenda. Carbon Brief understands this and other additions to the agenda will not be officially adopted, but will be taken up elsewhere.

OFFSET CONTROVERSY: A new report by Greenpeace revealed that 85% of all “carbon-neutral LNG [liquified natural gas]” cargoes have been sold to buyers in Asia. There are concerns around the transparency of the forestry offsets used to certify “carbon neutral” LNG, Greenpeace added, especially in terms of “impermanence, baseline, additionality and double-counting”. In a statement, Greenpeace East Asia project leader Li Jiatong said “carbon offsets are a smoke screen to obscure their continued, redoubled carbon emissions. And China is emerging as a major marketplace for such credits.”

Xi: Sustainable development is ‘golden key’ to tackle climate change

‘GOLDEN KEY’: Chinese president Xi Jinping said “sustainable development” is the “golden key” to fixing current global problems on 16 November, during the APEC meeting in San Francisco, the state news agency Xinhua reported. Xi proposed accelerated implementation of the UN 2030 agenda for sustainable development, joint multilateral action to “promote carbon reduction, pollution reduction, green expansion and growth in a coordinated manner” and building global synergy to address climate change, the news agency added. A separate Xinhua article published a speech delivered by Xi shortly before the summit, in which he said “construction of an ecological civilisation requires skilful navigation of various key relationships”, including the balance between “development and protection”. His speech also stressed China’s commitment to its “dual carbon” goals are “unwavering”, but the path and pace of achieving them must be determined by China alone. 

CORRECT UNDERSTANDING: Elsewhere, the Communist party-affiliated newspaper People’s Daily published a commentary by “Zhongsheng” – a collective pseudonym that signals the approval of top party leadership – saying that, during the Xi-Biden meeting, Xi highlighted that “it is in the interests of both countries and the expectation of the international community that China-US relations should stabilise and improve”, but that “suppressing China’s science and technology means curbing China’s high-quality development and depriving the Chinese people of their right to development, which China will never agree to and will never succeed”.

Spotlight 

What China climate experts expect at COP28

At the opening of the China pavilion at COP28, ministry of ecology and environment head Huang Runqiu said he hopes that COP28 will “fully respond to the demands of developing countries”, while climate envoy Xie Zhenhua said that China is “ready to continue to work with all parties to…send a positive signal…in this crucial decade”.

With a “vanishingly small” remaining carbon budget meaning there is only a “14% chance” of keeping global warming below 1.5C under current pledges, there are high expectations and many unanswered questions as COP28 opens. Chief among these are what the outcomes of the global stocktake will be, who will contribute to the loss and damage fund and what language around fossil fuels will look like. 

At COP27, China was seen as engaged and “genial” in public forums, but “stuck to its familiar positions” in formal negotiations. This year, the recent US-China climate agreement may create greater space for a global consensus at COP, but, in many cases, the two superpowers may be on “opposite sides of the negotiating table”.

As delegates flood into Dubai for the conference, Carbon Brief asks leading experts what they expect from COP – and what China’s role will be. Their responses have been edited for clarity and length.

Li Shuo, director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute:

China will be under the spotlight at COP28, as in previous COPs. The meeting’s main tasks – the first global stocktake, a robust energy transition package including the need to move away from fossil fuel and support to vulnerable countries for their losses and damages – all require active Chinese contribution.

The recent stabilisation of the US-China relationship provides necessary, but insufficient, conditions for success at COP28. Dubai remains a test on China’s climate appetite in light of its domestic and international challenges. Political signals from COP28 will also play a critical role for China’s domestic climate agenda and will shape Beijing’s decisions in 2024 on a number of key issues including its 2035 NDC (nationally determined contribution, or climate pledge), its role in providing financial support to the global south and its direction on coal consumption.

Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air:

The potentially most impactful agreement that could come from COP28 is a target to triple renewable energy capacity globally from 2022 to 2030, which would put the power sector on track to the emission reductions required to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. This is a target that China should be able to support and even agree to contribute to financing…China has supported the creation of the loss and damage fund and even said it would be willing to contribute on a voluntary basis.

It’s unlikely that China would commit to any specific targets for 2035 right now, but at least an indication that there will be an absolute emission reduction target for 2035 would be a step forward. So far, China has refused to set absolute emission targets, sticking with CO2 intensity targets that are designed to allow emissions to rise.

Symbolically, agreeing to “phase down” or “phase out” unabated fossil fuels could be an important outcome. China already accepted the language to “phase down” coal at Glasgow in 2021 and, given that oil and gas are less important for China than coal, agreeing on the same language on all fossil fuels should not be too hard. However, a phase-out, especially with a deadline such as 2050, might be more than China’s leaders are willing to agree on.

Bernice Lee, Hoffmann distinguished fellow for sustainability at Chatham House:

First of all, China does not want to be blamed as a blocker of multilateral progress, a lesson it has learned from Copenhagen [in 2009]. Second, it will likely emphasise its achievements in renewable energy and electric vehicle production, investments and deployment, as well as its role in cost reduction of these much-needed products in a low-carbon economy. In general, [China will place] an emphasis on implementation of current goals rather than [further] target-setting. It will also likely join forces with poor countries in asking developed economies to deliver the billions needed for climate finance.

Dr Fang Li, China country director at the World Resources Institute:

Alarm bells are ringing, as the window to secure a livable future is rapidly closing. Countries, cities, businesses and financial institutions must urgently get on a new path, transitioning away from systems that exploit people and nature toward those where people’s essential needs are met, land is managed sustainably and emissions are sharply reduced.

COP28 is not just about carbon, it is also about nature, about livelihood, etc. Solutions are not solely based in specific countries or regions. We hope COP28 can be a place that motivates and accelerates more inspiring, ambitious and practical collaborations. As one of the biggest emitters, China is also trying to be one of the biggest contributors to the sustainable future. We’ve observed many positive actions and signals, including on reducing non-CO2 emissions, accelerating food sustainable transition, engaging more resources from private sectors, greening global value chain, strengthening climate actions at subnational levels, etc. We hope to see further discussions and actions from China and other parties during and after the conference.

Watch, read, listen

CLIMATE POLITICS: Prof Brian Wong and Kevin Zongzhe Li argued in China-US Focus that the US and China must consider ASEAN as a partner in developing climate policy and not as “just another battleground”.

FROM THE ROOFTOPS: An article in Nature explored the development of distributed solar in China, which is allowing the government to “vigorously develop renewable energy”.

COP28 CHATTER: The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies discussed the key themes that will dominate conversations at COP28 and China’s position on many of these issues.

REUSING WASTE: The South China Morning Post reported how one company is turning leftover hotpot oil in the city of Chengdu – which can total 150,000 tonnes annually – into jet fuel. 

New science 

Public discourses and government interventions behind China’s ambitious carbon neutrality goal

Nature Communications Earth & Environment

A new study examines the public discourses around China’s climate goals of peaking carbon emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, and how they might have been influenced by the Chinese government. Through analysis of approximately one million microblogs from China, the researchers find seven types of climate discourses emerging, including scientific, moral, economic, co-benefit, energy security, political and global frames. They also reveal that there is generally a high level of support towards China’s carbon neutrality goal.

Assessing the effectiveness of emissions trading schemes: evidence from China

Climate Policy

New analysis explored the effect of low carbon prices in China’s emissions trading system (ETS) on the country’s ability to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, while maintaining economic growth. The results indicate that an increase of $1 in the carbon price would reduce CO2 emissions by 1.69% and increase per-capita GDP by $286. The study found that these benefits were brought about by technological innovation, foreign direct investment and improvements to the energy mix and industrial structure. Carbon leakage to neighbouring regions was not evident, it added.

Storyline attribution of human influence on a record-breaking spatially compounding flood-heat event

Science Advances

New research conducted a storyline attribution analysis to discover possible causes of the 2020 record-breaking spatially compounding flood-heat event in China. The researchers found that there could be a further intensification of compound events by the end of this century, with moderate emissions making the rainfall totals approximately 14% larger and the season approximately 2.1C warmer in south China compared to 2020.

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

The post China Briefing 30 November: China at COP28; Xi’s ‘unwavering’ climate commitment; Voluntary carbon market restart appeared first on Carbon Brief.

China Briefing 30 November: China at COP28; Xi’s ‘unwavering’ climate commitment; Voluntary carbon market restart

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Greenpeace launches legal challenge against Australia’s biggest meat company

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July 22, 2026

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AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, 22 July 2026 – Greenpeace Netherlands has launched legal proceedings against a multi-billion-dollar global expansion plan by the biggest meat producer in Australia, JBS, in an escalation of climate litigation against the livestock industry.

Greenpeace petitioned a Dutch court to compel the meat giant to disclose information in order to challenge its business policies in court, including a US$6 billion global expansion, for which almost half is earmarked for Nigeria.

Elizabeth Atieno, Food Campaigner at Greenpeace Africa, said: “JBS’ meat empire expanded hand-in-glove with Amazon destruction, colossal emissions, human rights and corruption scandals, all with barely a semblance of transparency. This is the business model it wants to export to sub-Saharan Africa. JBS promises food security, but its expansion in Nigeria risks causing irreversible environmental damage and the displacement of smallholder farmers to line the pockets of wealthy global elites.

“Nigerians know well from the legacy of companies like Shell the destructive impact wrought by unchecked corporate power. As Greenpeace Africa has argued before the African Court of Human Rights, states with jurisdiction over multinationals must hold those corporate actors accountable – wherever they operate in the world. We welcome this bold legal action: the Netherlands and other European states must not be safe havens for corporations like JBS seeking to evade their responsibilities.”

In light of JBS’ longstanding failure to publish accurate and reliable information on its climate, nature and human rights impacts or its expansion plans, Greenpeace Netherlands views accessing this data as a necessary precursor to formal litigation in order to support its case. The case has the potential to be the first climate litigation of this scale against the livestock industry. This could set a major precedent for future legal challenges against the industrial agriculture sector, a major source of global emissions, particularly of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, responsible for 0.5°C of warming since the Industrial Revolution.[1]

JBS, via its subsidiary JBS Foods Australia, is the largest meat and food processing company in Australia. With a weekly processing capacity of over 50,000 cattle, it accounts for almost a quarter of all beef processing in the country, as well as a significant presence in the lamb, pork and farmed fish markets. [2] In 2022, ABC’s Four Corners accused the company of ‘repeatedly failing to protect its workers from horrific injuries.’ [3]

Marieke Vellekoop, Executive Director at Greenpeace Netherlands, said “In a month where JBS has thrown its flagship environmental commitments onto the scrap heap, JBS’ disdain for basic transparency only adds to the impression that this meat giant has something to hide and is desperate to prevent its expansion plans from going public. We were hoping we wouldn’t have to trouble a judge with this matter, but JBS has left us no choice but to seek our right to information through the Dutch courts.

“JBS appears to believe that despite moving to the Netherlands, our rules do not apply to it. This legal action aims to prove it wrong – and lay the ground for a first major climate and nature lawsuit against the dangerous expansion of the global meat industry.“

At the centre of the dispute is JBS’ planned US$ 2.5 billion investment in industrial livestock production in Nigeria.[2] Civil society groups in Nigeria have raised urgent warnings that the aggressive expansion will threaten local food security, drive regional instability, and accelerate ecological degradation. There is no available evidence that JBS has conducted any impact assessments or community consultations in Nigeria, and local efforts to gather more information via Freedom of Information requests have reportedly been ignored.[3]

The escalation to the courts follows the refusal of JBS, the world’s largest meat company, to comply with a formal disclosure demand delivered by Greenpeace Netherlands in April. The environmental group is utilising new Dutch legislation, which grants parties with a legitimate interest the right to demand access to specific corporate data necessary to build litigation against Dutch companies.[4]

Greenpeace Netherlands’ lawyers allege that JBS’ historic business practices and future expansion plans are inconsistent with the company’s climate and biodiversity obligations and represent a breach of its Dutch duty of care, which requires companies to act in line with international human rights law.[5]

If the court rules in favor of Greenpeace Netherlands, it is entitled to seek the required information in the form of documents and from senior JBS figures under oath, raising the prospect of the Batista brothers being forced to testify in Dutch court. JBS reincorporated as a Dutch entity (JBS N.V.) last year to facilitate a dual listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

In April, JBS was forced to temporarily suspend its first annual general meeting since moving its headquarters to Amsterdam after it was disrupted by dozens of Greenpeace Netherlands activists.

Last week, JBS scrapped two flagship commitments to reach Net Zero emissions by 2040 and eradicate deforestation from its supply chain. It also removed any explicit reference to Indigenous lands from all of its current policies. Greenpeace Netherlands is concerned this indicates JBS is seeking to expand unconstrained by the climate, nature and human rights impacts of its business.

–ENDS–

Notes:

[1] The livestock sector is estimated to be responsible for 31% of global methane emissions (more than oil and gas operations). In comparison to CO2, methane is shorter lived (around 12 years) but has a much stronger ability to trap heat in the atmosphere over its lifetime: it has approximately 80 times more climate impact than CO2 when measured over 20 years. This means that changes in methane emissions have a more rapid effect on the climate than changes in CO2. See Greenpeace Netherlands letter to JBS dated 30 April 2026.

[2] JBS Foods Australia, Our Business

[3] ABC, Australia’s biggest meat company JBS is repeatedly failing to protect its workers from horrific injuries, 25 April 2022

[4] JBS announcement

[5] Experts raise concerns over the risks of industrial animal farming (The Sun Nigeria)

[6] Simplification and modernisation of Dutch evidence law (Fieldfisher)

[7] Greenpeace Netherlands petition to Dutch court available here. Media briefing with further details on JBS expansion plans, including in Nigeria, available here.

Greenpeace launches legal challenge against Australia’s biggest meat company

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“Next year is too late for regulations”: Beetaloo Energy’s 2GW gas-powered AI data centre a “disaster proposal” destined to cause climate chaos

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July 21, 2026

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SYDNEY, Wednesday 22 July 2026 — Beetaloo Energy has secured land from the NT Government for a massive $40 billion “hyperscale” AI data centre near Darwin, which would be powered by 2 gigawatts (GW) of gas power fracked directly from the Beetaloo basin, prompting calls from Greenpeace for urgent federal legislation.

The proposal marks a dangerous escalation in the AI data centre industry’s expansion, which threatens to entrench fossil fuel infrastructure for decades and put immense pressure on the region’s fragile water resources — while continuing to be unregulated.

Joe Rafalowicz, Head of Climate and Energy at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said: “This disaster proposal for a 2GW gas-powered AI data centre in the NT is a shocking example of the unchecked expansion of hyperscale data centres in Australia. It is also, critically, more evidence for the urgent need for a moratorium on all new data centres until strong, binding regulations are put in place to protect our communities and climate.

“This proposal mirrors the frenzied, unchecked expansion currently wreaking havoc on communities in the US. We are seeing cowboy data centre operators treat Australia like a playground, steam-rolling ahead with projects that would lock down precious water resources and spike emissions, despite the overwhelming community opposition.

“Every day, more councils, communities and environmental groups are joining Greenpeace’s call for a moratorium on data centres, yet as of today there is still no system of safeguards or rules in place to regulate these companies.  

“While Beetaloo Energy and the NT Government prepare to bulldoze ahead with this climate and water disaster, the Prime Minister is asleep at the wheel, promising to legislate a vague set of standards next year.

“Next year is too late, and anything less than mandating data centres cover their own energy demand, and then some, with new renewable energy is not enough.” 

-ENDS-

Media contact

Lucy Keller on 0491 135 308 or lucy.keller@greenpeace.org

“Next year is too late for regulations”: Beetaloo Energy’s 2GW gas-powered AI data centre a “disaster proposal” destined to cause climate chaos

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Allegations of harms at China-backed transition minerals projects rise

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July 21, 2026

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Reports of human rights and environmental abuses linked to Chinese companies’ overseas investments in the mining and refining of minerals needed for the clean energy transition are on the rise, research by a monitoring group has found.

The number of recorded allegations of harm at projects tied to Chinese firms have increased every year since 2021, rising to 148 in 2025, according to the Business and Human Rights Centre (BHRC). On Wednesday it released new data showing that a total of 434 allegations of abuse were made against Chinese-backed projects over the five-year period in projects across the world.

The world’s top cleantech manufacturer, China is also the leading financier of critical minerals projects worldwide. The country has committed more than $120 billion in foreign direct investment into mineral mining and processing since 2023, Australian think-tank Climate Energy Finance recently found.

“China plays a central role in global transition mineral supply chains, and as such has a unique opportunity to raise the bar on human rights and community engagement at every stage of mining,” said Michael Clements, BHRC’s executive director.

“While there have been encouraging developments, from stronger regulations to more company engagement, there remains a gap between human rights commitment and action,” he said.

The report comes as communities affected by Chinese-backed mineral projects have filed the first two cases to a Beijing-based mediation mechanism intended to bring willing Chinese companies to the discussion table with affected communities.

Allegations of harms on the rise

BHRC’s latest analysis – including data for the period 2023-2025 – covered mining, smelting and refining projects for 11 minerals considered key to manufacturing clean energy technologies such as batteries, EVs and solar panels needed to move away from climate-heating fossil fuels.

The highest number of abuses was recorded in Indonesia, the world’s largest producer of nickel, which is used to make EV batteries. After the Indonesian government banned exports of raw nickel, Chinese firms invested billions of dollars to develop a large-scale nickel smelting and processing industry in the Southeast Asian country, largely powered by coal.

Other countries with a high number of recorded harms include the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Chinese firms dominate cobalt and copper production; Myanmar, where unregulated rare earths mining has caused widespread environmental destruction; Serbia, where Chinese-backed mining of some of Europe’s most significant copper and gold deposits is swallowing land and homes, and Zimbabwe, where Chinese investments have turned the nation into Africa’s top lithium producer.

Growing risks for people and nature

Allegations tracked by BHRC included negative impacts on local livelihoods, health and land rights, workers’ health and safety and work-related deaths, as well as water pollution and environmental contamination. In addition, 18 people were attacked for raising concerns about Chinese transition mineral projects between 2023 and 2025.

The report shows that 10 Chinese companies, including Zijin Mining, Tsingshan Group and Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, accounted for nearly two-thirds of all allegations recorded in the last five years. It found that some Chinese companies “still appear to turn a blind eye to these issues” but noted that several others have been more responsive to allegations of abuse. However, even among companies with human rights policies, implementation remains a challenge, BHRC warned.

    Zijin Mining and Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt repeatedly responded to the allegations of harm by saying they take environmental and social risks seriously and adhere to international standards. Tsingshan Group never responded to BHRC’s requests for comment.

    Platform for dialogue between communities and Chinese firms

    At the same time, Chinese authorities have made “significant progress” on introducing a more specific framework for managing environmental and social risks in overseas investment, BHRC said.

    This includes global consultation on a draft Sustainable Mining Code, adherence to UN guiding principles on business and human rights, and greater emphasis on oversight of companies operating overseas.

    The China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals & Chemicals Importers & Exporters (CCCMC) set up a mediation and consultation mechanism intended to provide a platform for dialogue between affected communities or civil society groups that have raised concerns and Chinese companies.

    More than three years since its launch, the mechanism has now received its first two complaints from local communities and many more are considering filing a case, Margaux Day, executive director at the nonprofit Accountability Counsel, told an event hosted by Climate Home News last month.

    “This is incredibly exciting in that it fills a governance and accountability gap where often communities who are seeking to protect their rights and the environment can’t reach someone who will respond to them,” she told the panel discussion at London Climate Action Week.

    Climate Home News understands that the complaints were filed by communities in Latin America and Southeast Asia over labour rights and resettlement issues. No information about the cases has yet been made public. The mechanism’s secretariat did not respond to Climate Home News’ questions.

    The mechanism was set up after the Chinese regulator for banks and insurers called on investor-level institutions to establish complaints bodies to hear from communities outside of China. But whether the new initiative will prove effective in tackling grievances remains an open question.

    “Real potential” for better mining practices

    Participation in the mechanism is voluntary for Chinese firms and it doesn’t have a fact-finding function, nor can it impose provisions for compensation or compliance with human rights standards.

    But Day told Climate Home News that, if successful, it could bring companies to negotiate an outcome that is better for people and the planet and leads to more sustainable mining practice.

    Chen Yu, an independent China advisor for campaign group Global Witness, agreed that the mechanism holds “real potential”.

    “There exists nothing else at a similar level to promote dialogue between communities and Chinese mining companies in particular,” she said.

    For companies, the mechanism opens “a channel for problem-solving and dialogue with communities”, she added, as “Chinese companies often remain cautious of approaching affected communities directly, afraid of making the problem bigger”.

    However, Chen said the mechanism remains at an early stage of development, faces resourcing challenges and is not yet sufficiently understood by communities in mining areas or Chinese firms.

    To help it address some of these challenges, the secretariat is currently seeking technical support from a range of organisations, including civil society groups. But, Chen said, “it will take time for the mechanism to show its value”.

    The post Allegations of harms at China-backed transition minerals projects rise appeared first on Climate Home News.

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