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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 submits WTO complaint against US over EV tax credit
US-CHINA SUBSIDY CONFLICT: On 26 March, China filed a complaint with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against the US’s “discriminatory” requirements for electric vehicles (EV) subsidies, which, it argues, makes EV containing components made in China, Russia, North Korea and Iran ineligible for tax credits worth $3,750 to $7,500, said the Associated Press. A day later, the US treasury secretary Janet Yellen raised the issue of “overcapacity” of “green technologies” from China, including solar, EV and lithium-ion batteries, during her visit to a solar cell factory in the US, reported the New York Times. The outlet quoted Yellen saying “China’s overcapacity distorts global prices and production patterns and hurts American firms and workers, as well as firms and workers around the world”.
PRESIDENTIAL CONVERSATION: Earlier this week, Chinese president Xi Jinping and US president Joe Biden held a phone conversation. The read-out of the conversation released by the US embassy in China said: “President Biden also raised continued concerns about the PRC’s unfair trade policies and non-market economic practices, which harm American workers and families.” But it said the two leaders “reviewed and encouraged progress on key issues discussed at the Woodside summit…and continuing efforts on climate change.” The briefing from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: “The two sides agreed to stay in communication…carrying out dialogue and cooperation in such areas as counternarcotics, artificial intelligence and climate response.”
CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: Meanwhile, Rick Duke, the deputy US special envoy on climate change, told Reuters that the cooperation between the US and China on methane emissions is “advancing”. He added: “We are, indeed, in the process of propelling that work together.” According to Politico, EU climate envoy Tony Agotha and top climate diplomats from Germany, France, Denmark and the Netherlands will join a trip to Beijing on 8 April to build a “multinational diplomatic track to engage China on climate change”. Separately, the US embassy and Chinese foreign ministry confirmed upcoming visits to China by Yellen on 4-9 April and US secretary of state Antony Blinken “in the coming weeks”.
EV EXPANSION: According to a report in the Hong-Kong based South China Morning Post, anti-subsidy probe and trade restrictions “reduced” the export volume of Chinese EVs to the EU and US by 20% and 42%, respectively, in the first two months of this year, prompting Beijing to look towards other markets. Chinese EV sales in Central Asia have increased 2.3 times during the same period. Meanwhile, an analysis by Transport & Environment showed Chinese EV sales are “on track” to reach 25% of electric car sales in the EU by the end of 2024. The outlet added that the bloc should not aim to shield its carmakers from “meaningful competition”, which would limit affordability of EVs for Europeans.
EU probes Chinese solar firms
SOLAR INVESTIGATION: The Financial Times reported that the EU has opened investigations into the subsidiaries of two Chinese solar manufacturers which may have “been granted foreign subsidies that distort the [EU’s] internal market”. The outlet adds that “the probes reflect a hardening stance in Europe towards cheap Chinese imports, which the EU’s solar industry has blamed for the heavy losses and plant closures of several European solar panel manufacturers”.
SECOND INQUIRY: The South China Morning Post said that this marks the second use of the EU’s foreign subsidies regulation to investigate Chinese firms, which “demonstrates Brussels’ willingness to use the commercial weaponry at its disposal to counter what it sees as unfair competition from Beijing”. In February, the EU investigated a Chinese rail firm, which later withdrew its bid to enter the Bulgarian market, it added.
Renewable installations push coal capacity share down
COAL SHRINKING?: The China Electricity Council, a government-affiliated research thinktank, announced that coal’s share of installed capacity has fallen to 39% of the total mix, as of February 2024, according to industry news outlet BJX News. This was driven by the rapid installation of renewables, the outlet added. China Energy Net reported that, in January and February this year, China installed 36.7 gigawatts (GW) of solar, which is 80% more than last year. Total installed solar capacity stood at 650GW at the end of February, a 56.9% increase, while wind capacity grew 21.3% to 450GW. However, it added, utilisation of both solar and wind shrank slightly in the first two months of the year compared to a year ago.
GRID OVERLOAD: According to Bloomberg, following “record” solar and wind power installations last year, “several regions in China have shown strains handling the new surges of electricity”. Meanwhile, London Stock Exchange Group analyst Chen Xuewan shared on Twitter that the southern provinces of Guangdong, Yunnan and Guizhou may face “power gaps” this year unless power system flexibility is improved.
2024 TARGETS: The National Energy Administration (NEA) released its guidelines for the department’s energy work in 2024, which pledges both to “focus on improving energy security capacity” and to “focus on promoting green and low-carbon energy transformation”. It aims to have non-fossil energy comprise 55% of the energy mix and 18.9% of power consumption. More specifically, wind and solar power will account for more than 17% of power generation by the end of the year. Meanwhile, coal production will be “stabilised and increased”, while oil production will be “stabilised at more than 200m tonnes” and natural gas will “maintain its rapid pace of production”.
China’s climate envoy reinforces role of fossil fuels at Boao
‘CLEAN’ FOSSIL FUELS : At this year’s “Boao forum for Asia” in Hainan – Asia’s version of Davos – China’s climate envoy Liu Zhenmin said that “[China] will still keep our fair share of fossil fuels, but they must be used purely”, adding that this was a “critical” point, Bloomberg reported. Liu also said that the world needs to “massively scale up deployments of solar, wind and hydropower”, but that US trade restrictions increase the cost of clean energy overseas and slow the energy transition, added the outlet. State news agency Xinhua quoted Liu saying at the same event that “humanity’s response to climate change depends on the development of technology” and that developed nations must help meet the financing needs of developing nations.
‘GREEN’ ECONOMY: Zhao Leji, chairman of the standing committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s legislative body, also spoke at Boao. He stated that “[China is] speeding up efforts to promote green and low-carbon economic and social development” and will “strive” to meet its dual carbon goals, according to the Associated Press. CGTN published the full text of Zhao’s speech, in which he also said the country will “cultivate large-scale new growth drivers in green infrastructure, green energy, green transportation and green lifestyle, which is expected to generate investment and consumption markets with a size of 10tn yuan ($1.4tn) every year”. Other notable speakers, the South China Morning Post said, included former central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan and former deputy trade minister Long Yongtu, who both argued that overcapacity in the “clean-energy sector” will be temporary, as long as global demand for energy transition technologies remains robust.
Spotlight
How climate change could reduce China’s GDP growth
A new study by a group of Chinese scientists, published in Nature, finds that China could significantly constrain future economic growth, due to the impact of climate change on global supply chains.
Carbon Brief invites the paper’s lead authors Prof Guan Dabo and doctoral candidate Sun Yida from Tsinghua University to outline their main findings of the potential impacts of global warming on China’s manufacturing capabilities and economic growth.
In recent years, global supply chains have faced a global pandemic, commercial ships under attack in the Red Sea and a container ship getting wedged in the Suez Canal for six days. The impact of each of these events has rippled across the global economy.
In our new research, published in Nature, we show that climate change poses a similar threat to supply chains around the world, bringing economic losses that will increase exponentially relative to the rise in global temperatures.
Focusing on heat extremes, our research team constructed a “disaster footprint” model to assess the health risks and economic losses associated with heatwaves.
To estimate the impact of extreme heat on global GDP, our model combines projections of future climate, simulations of future population dynamics in response to warming and estimates of heat-induced labour loss on the global economy and supply chains.
Our study is the first to chart “indirect economic losses” from climate change on global supply chains, underscoring the risk to regions that will likely be less affected by warming directly.
The results suggest that, by 2060, China could suffer soaring economic losses amounting to 1.5-4.8% of GDP growth by 2060. Some of its industries, including construction and manufacturing, could lose around 4.6-6.4% of their value.
How could indirect disruptions affect economic growth?
While the direct mortality and productivity loss resulting from heat stress have been extensively studied, previous analysis has yet to account for indirect economic loss.
Indirect economic loss is the reduction in economic output or welfare due to disruptions caused by feedback loops after a shock to the economic system, rather than by a direct impact from a shock. These losses could be due to changes in production, consumption or employment.
For example, crop failures, labour slowdowns and other economic disruptions in one part of the world can affect the supply of raw materials flowing elsewhere. This can cause production stagnation where trading partners cannot access the supplies they need.
These indirect disruptions could cause a projected net economic loss of $3.75-$24.7tn globally by 2060, depending on how quickly climate change is tackled.
We estimate expected economic losses across three scenarios, called “shared socioeconomic pathways” (SSPs), broadly covering futures under very low, intermediate and very high emissions.
The charts below illustrate the potential economic losses as a percentage of GDP China may face under the SSP1-1.9, SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5 scenarios, which project an average global temperature rise of around 1.5C, 2C and 2.5C by mid-century, respectively. Economic losses are split into indirect losses (dark blue), labour losses (blue) and health losses (light blue).
What is the impact on China?
As the global economy has grown more interconnected, disruptions in one part of the world have knock-on effects elsewhere in the world.
For example, as a manufacturing-heavy country, China faces indirect economic losses of up to 2.7% of total GDP in 2060.
Overall, indirect losses were the most significant component of China’s economic losses, accounting for just over half of total losses.
By 2060 China’s heat-induced economic losses could total about 1.5% of total GDP under 1.5C of global warming, 3% under 2C of warming and 4.9% under 2.5C of warming.
Sectors such as the extractive industries, construction and non-metallic manufacturing – which are some of China’s “key industrial sectors” – could see the highest losses.
These industries are not only located in regions with significant warming, but also import large quantities of upstream primary products from south-east Asia, Africa and South America – regions which are expected to face heightened exposure to production volatility caused by high temperatures.
They are projected to lose about 4.6-6.4% of their “value-added” under the compounded impacts of direct production reductions and indirect spillover shocks.
In addition, under the lowest emissions scenario, 2060 could see an additional 590,000 heatwave deaths annually across the globe, rising to 1.12m additional annual heatwave deaths under the highest scenario. This human toll entails economic costs as well, such as increased healthcare costs and production losses stemming from lost labour.
What next?
This research is an important reminder that preventing every additional degree of climate change is critical.
It should be noted that China’s recent investments in south-east Asia, the Middle East and Africa have shifted towards renewable energy and low-emission mining technology, rather than coal projects and large-scale infrastructure. This will contribute to building climate resilience and creating more stable global supply chains.
In addition, understanding which nations and industries are most vulnerable is crucial for devising effective and targeted adaptation strategies, including establishment and targeted use of the “loss-and-damage funds” agreed at COP27 in 2022.
Watch, read, listen
HUMAN COST: Environmental activist Wang Xiaojun gave a TED talk on his experience growing up in China’s top coal-producing province and the impact that environmental degradation had on his village and family.
SECURITY DILEMMA: The state broadcaster CCTV “exposed” a case of the illegal use of reserved farmland being converted into a solar power plant in Hubei.
FEATURE OR BUG?: An article in World Politics Review argues that excess capacity is a “tolerated feature” of China’s industrial system because it allows China to meet high-level targets, while “local governments clean up the mess [of] bankrupt firms or laid-off workers”.
LITHIUM’S FUTURE: A podcast by the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies discussed the possible path of the lithium market as it matures and grapples with China’s dominance of lithium processing.
575
In gigawatts, the estimated heat pump capacity for buildings (residential and commercial) in China by 2030 under the stated policies scenario (STEPS), according to a report by the International Energy Agency on the future of heat pumps in China.
New science
End-year China wind power installation rush reduces electric system reliability
Energy Economics
Research identified “significant adverse effects” of the rapid installation of wind power on electricity reliability. It found that a faster rate of installation led to lower reliability rates and more power outages. The authors raised the importance of “improvements in grid infrastructure and management in the transition to a low-carbon world”.
Managing fragmented croplands for environmental and economic benefits in China
Nature Food
A new study found that improving the management of croplands could “achieve synergies between food security, economic benefits and environmental protection” without needing to use more land. It revealed that “10% of Chinese croplands have no potential to be consolidated for large-scale farming” and, if the land was instead used to grow animal feed, nitrogen and greenhouse gas emissions could drop by 10% and 101%, respectively.
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 4 April: Heat-driven impact on economy; Coal capacity ‘pushed down’; China’s WTO complaint appeared first on Carbon Brief.
Climate Change
Millions of kilograms of marine life taken from Australia’s marine protected areas every year, FOI finds
SYDNEY, Tuesday 11 August 2026 — New data obtained by Greenpeace Australia Pacific has found millions of kilograms of marine life are being taken from Australian marine parks by commercial fishers annually, as the government begins its review of the country’s Marine Parks Network.
The data, released to Greenpeace in response to a Freedom of Information request, relates to 18 of Australia’s 60 Commonwealth marine parks, and shows almost 2.2 million kg of marine life is being fished each year, raising concerns about the true catch numbers across all marine protected areas.
Greenpeace is calling for the Labor government to use the once-in-a-decade Marine Parks Network review, announced last fortnight, to ban industrial activities, including bottom trawling, longlining and oil and gas mining, from Australia’s Marine Parks Network, and increase fully-protected ocean sanctuaries within the network.
Elle Lawless, Senior Campaigner at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said:
“It’s chilling to think of the true scale of destruction happening inside all of Australia’s marine parks, and how much of our precious ocean wildlife, like dolphins, turtles or seabirds, could be pulled out of protected areas as bycatch.
“We’re talking about 6,600 kilograms of wildlife in one day, and that does not include what’s caught in the other 42 marine parks, many of which allow destructive fishing like longlining.
“Australia has made significant progress in securing 52% of its oceans in marine parks; however, this intent is undermined by zones that allow damaging industrial fishing activities, such as bottom trawling and longlining. The review of Australia’s Marine Parks Network is a critical opportunity to fix what isn’t working and finally give our oceans the real protection they deserve.
You wouldn’t expect someone to bulldoze a national park on land, so why should they be allowed to trawl in a marine park?”
“Greenpeace Australia Pacific welcomes the Albanese Government’s review of the Commonwealth Marine Parks Network as a rare opportunity to strengthen our marine parks and ban industrial fishing in Australia’s marine protected areas.”
The documents reveal that the south-west network has the largest catch volume, at 887,160kg per year, followed by the Coral Sea network, which extends out from the Great Barrier Reef, losing significant wildlife at 808,840kg annually.
—ENDS—
Notes:
- More than half of Australia’s Marine Parks Network allow extractive industries, including industrial fishing and oil and gas mining.
- The data, supplied by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, does not specify how much of the catch is fish or bycatch, like non-target fish, turtles or seabirds, and is available on request.
- Read Greenpeace’s new report: Trawling the Bottom Line
Australia’s network of marine parks is the largest in the world, covering more than half (52%) of Australia’s Commonwealth waters. You could be forgiven for assuming that a marine park is much like a national park on land: a highly protected place where people can enjoy nature while conservation efforts help habitats recover and wildlife thrive. You wouldn’t expect someone to bulldoze a national park, so why should they be allowed to bottom trawl in a marine park?
The reality is that not all marine parks are equally protected. Australia’s Marine Parks Network is divided into different zoning categories, with each zone determining which activities are permitted and the level of protection provided.
More than half of the Commonwealth Marine Parks Network allows industrial activities like oil and gas mining, and industrial fishing.
Our survival, and the survival of our planet, depends on the ocean. The ocean produces more oxygen than all of our forests combined, sustains communities and regulates the earth’s temperature. It’s home to wondrous wildlife and important ecosystems like coral reefs and kelp forests.
We love our big blue backyard
Australia’s ocean is teeming with life that is found nowhere else on earth. Schools of colourful fish, vibrant coral reefs, endemic shark nurseries, pods of dolphins, families of whales, playful seal pups and threatened Jurassic-era turtles call Australian waters home.
Since time began, from the turquoise waves to the deep blue, the ocean has connected our shorelines and communities, fed us, guided us and grounded us. We are intrinsically connected to our big blue backyard – more than 85% of us live within 50km of the shoreline. For tens of thousands of years, people have lived in harmony with the ocean and the wildlife within it, caring for and being sustained by its rich waters. Australia’s waters are some of the most unique and abundant places on Earth but our Marine Parks Network is falling short to properly protect them.
Australia’s marine parks aren’t living up to their name
The Australian Commonwealth Marine Parks Network covers commonwealth waters 5.5km from the coast. The network is divided into 7 regional management areas, overall the network contains 60 marine parks. Zoning types determine what activities are allowed in each area. Over half of the network allows industrial activities, risking our most precious and threatened ocean wildlife.
Within many of our marine parks, destructive industries are allowed to fish, trawl, dig and mine using barbaric and cruel methods. Here are some of the zones explained:
- Bottom Trawling: Special Purpose (trawl) zones allow bottom trawling. This covers 10 marine parks totalling almost 13 million hectares. Bottom trawlers bulldoze the seafloor with weighted nets, deforesting our underwater forests; a cruel, indiscriminate and inefficient way to fish.
- Other Industrial Fishing: Includes “Habitat Protection Zones, ““Multi Use Zones” and “Special Purpose Zones.” Fishing methods vary from park to park but many marine parks in these zones allow industrial fishing like longlining. Longlining involves setting lines that can be 100km long, bristling with deadly hooks designed to catch a specific fish species. But longlining is not a selective method of fishing – significant numbers of sharks, rays, turtles, dolphins and seabirds can be harmed or killed as bycatch in the process.
- Oil and Gas Mining: Many “Special Purpose” and “Multi Use” zones allow seismic blasting and oil and gas mining. 30 marine parks or 65 million hectares of Australia’s highest conservation value areas for ocean wildlife are open for mining and exploration of oil and gas.
- Ocean Sanctuaries: National Park and Sanctuary zones are fully and highly protected marine parks designed to conserve wildlife and their habitat, where fishing, mining, and other industrial activities are not allowed.
Industrial fishing is one of the biggest threats to the ocean
In May, Greenpeace Australia Pacific sailed our campaigning vessel Oceania through some of Australia’s most beautiful and threatened marine parks. Our crew visited Jervis and Hunter marine parks to document their beauty, showcase what’s at risk and aim to expose the industrial fishing activities in these protected waters. Both of these marine parks allow bottom trawling and longlining methods of industrial fishing.
Industrial fishing is ripping the ocean apart across the planet. Longlining, also known as longline fishing, is an industrial fishing method that involves the use of a fishing line with thousands of baited hooks. These fishing lines can stretch over 100 kilometers in length and are set to capture a fish species, often tuna or billfish species. But it is not a selective method of fishing and often results in significant bycatch. This includes a range of non-target species like sharks, rays, sea turtles, marine mammals, and seabirds which are often injured or killed as bycatch.
Bottom trawling involves dragging heavy weighted nets along the ocean floor. This fishing method is popular with commercial fishing companies, because it makes it easy to catch large quantities of fish in one go. But it also damages the seafloor, releasing carbon and can kill or injure non-target ocean life like coral, fur seals, dolphins and seabirds. You may have watched the reality of bottom trawling (and the benefits of ocean sanctuaries) in Ocean with David Attenborough, if not, add it to your watch list!
Fully protected ocean sanctuaries that ban industrial fishing and mining can protect ocean wildlife and underwater wonderlands for generations to come. Vast, robust sanctuaries create blue havens where ocean wildlife are safe from nets and hooks, and can truly rest, recover, thrive and replenish out into the surrounding waters. Ocean sanctuaries ensure a healthy ocean full of life.
A once-in-a-decade chance to fix what’s falling short
We have a unique opportunity to turn the tide.
The Australian Government is asking for your feedback on how our Commonwealth Marine Parks Network is managed. This is our once-in-a-decade chance to protect ocean wildlife, ban industrial fishing and create more ocean sanctuaries.
As part of the review the Government is asking for submissions from the public to hear from you on what improvements are needed to better protect our vast network of marine parks. Writing a submission is a powerful way to influence government decisions and create real change.
This is the moment to ban industrial activities like bottom trawling and oil and gas mining. But only if they hear from YOU. Add your name!
Greenpeace is calling on the Australian government to:
1. Ban industrial activities from Australia’s Marine Parks Network: Ban industrial activities, such as industrial fishing, seismic blasting and oil and gas mining, from Australia’s marine parks.
2. Create more ocean sanctuaries: Increase fully protected sanctuaries in Australia’s marine parks based on science principles.
3. Connect Australia’s Marine Parks Network to the High Seas: mCreate seascape connectivity by linking Australian marine parks to new high seas ocean sanctuaries.
References
Substantiation that more than half of the Marine Parks Network permits industrial activity comes from a peer-reviewed systematic literature review (Phillips et al. 2025, PLOS One, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0307324). The study found that within the Commonwealth Marine Parks Network specifically, “all zones are considered partially protected areas, meaning areas where extractive activities are permitted, except ‘Pink zones’ (Preservation Zones; IUCN Ia) and ‘Green Zones’ (IUCN II).” In other words, every Commonwealth marine park zone type other than the network’s strict no-take sanctuary and national park zones (IUCN Ia and II) permits some form of extractive industrial activity. Since no-take zones are the minority zone type across the network by area, this supports the conclusion that the majority of the network’s area is zoned to permit industrial activity.
DCCEEW Australian Marine Parks spatial dataset (https://fed.dcceew.gov.au/datasets/erin::australian-marine-parks/explore), filtered by zone type. This confirms that 38.43% of the network’s area is zoned as Sanctuary or National Park zones (IUCN Ia and II). These are the no-take categories excluded from the peer-reviewed study’s definition of partially protected/industrial-permitting zones. The remaining 61.57% of the network falls within the zone categories the study classifies as permitting industrial activity (per The MPA Guide definition of “industrial” applied in Phillips et al. 2025), directly corroborating the peer-reviewed finding with current Commonwealth-specific spatial data.
For further information on activities permitted within the Marine Parks Network Zoning, you can refer to the Management Plans zoning and rules for each Marine Parks Network area, for example: Temperate East, Coral Sea, North.
A new report from Greenpeace Australia Pacific advocates for the closure of bottom trawling in Australia’s Commonwealth Marine Parks Network. Bottom trawling continues to be a pervasive threat to ocean life in Australia, with 10 marine parks totalling almost 13 million hectares, allowing bottom trawling.
Australia’s network of marine parks, which is the biggest in the world, covers more than half (52%) of Australia’s Commonwealth domestic waters, but not all parks are created equal. Australia’s Marine Parks Network is divided into different zoning categories, with each zone determining which activities are permitted and the level of protection provided. More than half of the Marine Parks Network allow industrial activities like industrial fishing and oil and gas mining. This includes zoning types that allow destructive fishing by longliners and bottom trawlers, who pillage underwater wonderlands, rip up coral and indiscriminately and violently catch any animal in their path, including turtles, seals and dolphins, all within areas labelled a marine park.
The Federal government has commenced a review into the majority of Australia’s Commonwealth Marine Parks Network management plans. This presents an opportunity to ban industrial activities from our marine parks and create more ocean sanctuaries.
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