Italy has announced its formal withdrawal from the Belt and Road Initiative after joining the China-centered infrastructure and investment project in 2019.
The timing of the announcement that Rome won’t renew its BRI commitment is notable. It came only a day before the EU-China summit, which kicks off on Thursday. The summit will likely be more contentious than usual, with European leaders expected to push China on the treatment of EU firms amid discussions ...
Category: Climate
China’s Contradictory Position At COP28
Keeping track of China’s role at the COP28 climate gathering has been an exercise in sitting with contradiction. On the one hand, China’s the worst! A study released this week showed that Chinese and Indian emissions pushed dangerous heat-trapping emissions 1.1% higher ...
China, India Push Emissions Higher as COP28 Struggles with Fossil Fuels
Planet-heating carbon dioxide emissions grew by 1.1% this year, largely driven by an economic resurgence in China, India, and the aviation industry, according to projections by the Global Carbon Budget. The news comes as disputes around how to deal with carbon emissions ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
Awkward Timing as Italy Withdraws from BRI
Bahrain’s Top Climate Negotiator Jokes With Chinese Counterpart That He’s Been “Busy Finding Oil”
China's Special Envoy for Climate Change Xie Zhenhua was caught in an uncomfortable situation at the COP28 conference in Dubai when a reporter from Sky News recorded him in what appears to be an awkward conversation with his counterpart from Bahrain, Mohamed bin Mubarak bin Daina.
Agreements At COP28 But Key Problems Remain Untouched
China supported some key agreements unveiled at the COP28 climate gathering in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, over the weekend. However, it refused to join a popular decarbonization pledge, showing that key disputes remain unresolved. The early agreements include the Oil & Gas ...
China Under Pressure at Historic Climate Conference
China and the United States have pledged to work together to advance global climate goals in the runup to the UN’s COP28 climate summit starting on Thursday in the United Arab Emirates. The stakes can hardly be higher: 2023 is the ...
How Does China Rank in Climate Finance?
One of the most fractious fights at the COP28 summit is likely to be the developed world’s failure to meet its commitment of $100 billion in climate finance per year. China’s rapid growth is increasing pressure on it to contribute more to this ...
China Unveils World’s Largest Solar Plant in UAE Ahead of Climate Summit
The United Arab Emirates inaugurated a massive Chinese-built solar power facility just ahead of the COP28 climate summit kicking off in Dubai this week. The two-gigawatt Al Dhafra Solar Photovoltaic Project is the world’s largest single-site solar plant. It contains 4 million solar panels, ...
Most of Africa’s Energy Financing Comes from China: Report
Despite Africa’s massive energy potential, its population’s electricity demand is not being met. However, the continent’s energy landscape is changing rapidly, thanks in large part to China. A new report by the prominent Africa-China researcher Oyintarelado Moses for the Carnegie Endowment ...
China’s Promises of a Green Future Raises More Questions Than Answers
For the climate-minded, this week’s report from the Boston Global Development Policy Center about trends in Chinese energy finance made for sobering reading. Of the $251 billion China Development Bank and China Exim Bank provided for energy projects between 2000 and 2022, ...
Where’s the Green? New Research Raises Doubts About China Investments in Sustainable Energy
At the Belt and Road Forum in October, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s keynote speech was peppered with the word “green.” He committed China to numerous green initiatives, including “green infrastructure, green energy and green transportation.” The problem is that China’s global energy ...
Africa at the Intersection of Three Megatrends: China, Climate and Debt
Dramatic scenes this week in Italy where 7,000 people, mostly from Africa, came ashore after making the dangerous trek across the Mediterranean. It was a similar situation along the U.S.-Mexico border where 9,000 people crossed in a single day.
Climate Graph of the Day: After a Rapid Increase, China’s Oil Demand May Have Peaked
After decades of ever-growing oil use, China's oil demand may have peaked this year, according to Chinese oil executives cited by FT. This has significant implications for countries from Angola to Russia to Brazil, which depend on selling oil to China.