Category: Environment

The Emerging China-Global South Energy Nexus

This month brought quietly momentous news: for the first time ever, the world’s share of renewable energy surpassed that generated by burning coal.  China is one of the world’s biggest consumers of coal and is therefore partly responsible for bringing ...

Why the Global South Will Become New Champions of Climate Action

To international visitors, Bonn—tucked along the Rhine River valley in western Germany—can feel like a time capsule. “Many things never change,” my local hosts told me, gesturing proudly toward the Bonn Minster, the Romanesque church that has anchored the city center since the Middle Ages. After more ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

The Emerging China-Global South Energy Nexus

This month brought quietly momentous news: for the first time ever, the world’s share of renewable energy surpassed that generated by burning coal. 
China is one of the world’s biggest consumers of coal and is therefore partly responsible for bringing us to our current carbon crisis. 

Get a daily email packed with the latest news and analysis from Africa, Asia, and across the Global South.
Read exclusive ...

Iran War Promises Green Edge for Asia as Plastic Packaging Runs Short

By Minwoo Park, Kaori Kaneko and John Geddie An 'eco-friendly' range of paper tubes and pouches touted by Yonwoo, a South Korean maker of packaging for cosmetics, has reaped unexpected benefits from the Iran war, which has disrupted supplies of the ...

A China-Backed Dam in Indonesia Tests the Limits of Compliance

A Chinese-backed hydropower project in Indonesia is emerging as an example of a growing challenge in Beijing’s overseas investments. Compliance with host-country regulations may no longer be enough to shield projects from disruption, scrutiny, or reputational risk. The Batang Toru hydropower ...

China’s Push for Low-Carbon Metals Is Forcing a Reckoning in Indonesia’s Nickel Boom

By Muyi Yang and Dody Setiawan At the G20 Summit in late 2025, China unveiled the International Economic and Trade Cooperation Initiative on Green Mining and Minerals. While broader geopolitical headlines overshadowed this news, it carries crucial implications.

Sri Lanka Seeks Chinese Aid to Rebuild After Deadly Cyclone

Sri Lanka asked China to help rebuild key infrastructure damaged by Cyclone Ditwah, which killed at least 641 people and caused extensive damage, the island's foreign minister said on Monday. Vijitha Herath said he made the request during talks with his ...

Japan to Test Deep Sea Rare Earth Mining to Cut China Reliance

Japan embarks Sunday on what it says is the world's first bid to tap deep sea rare earths at a depth of 6,000 metres -- greater than the height of Mount Fuji -- to curb dependence on China. A Japanese deep-sea ...

In Congo’s Cobalt Belt, a Chinese Miner’s Waste Leaves Villages Poisoned and Furious

By Camille Lafont Carrying her sore-pocked daughter across her decaying field, Helene Mvubu says she is one of thousands to have fallen victim to the toxic waste defiling the Democratic Republic of Congo's mining capital. ...

China and LAC at Odds: Blue Diplomacy in the Era of IUU Fishing

In China’s engagement with the Global South, climate diplomacy is one area where Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries play a particularly decisive role. The Global South is set to be disproportionately affected by climate change, yet its governments must negotiate solutions with the world’s largest emitters—China ...

Chinese Mining Companies Need Deeper Dialogue With Overseas Communities

By Chen Yu Minerals like nickel, lithium, cobalt, and copper are foundational to the global clean-energy transition. Solar panels, wind turbines, EVs, and battery storage cannot be built without them. Yet extracting, processing, and transporting these “transition minerals” can be resource-intensive, ...

G7 to Launch ‘Alliance’ Countering China’s Critical Mineral Dominance

By Ben Simon G7 energy ministers meeting in Canada on Thursday planned to launch a new alliance to counter China's critical mineral dominance, in a push for more reliable access to the resources that power advanced technologies.

Eye-Rolling Through the Apocalypse

November’s COP30 gathering in Belém, Brazil, marks three decades since COP1 in Berlin in 1995, and raises a sobering reminder of how deep we’ve sunk into a climate morass of our own making amid non-stop warnings. The evacuation of millions of people and the deaths ...

Turning Trash into Treasure: Chinese Waste-to-Energy Projects in Central Asia

Since the 1990s, energy has been at the heart of China’s engagement with Central Asia. What began with oil and gas pipelines has, in recent years, expanded into solar and wind, reflecting Beijing’s push toward greener development. Now, a new frontier is opening: waste-to-energy (WtE).

China May Strengthen Climate Role Amid U.S. Fossil Fuel Push

By Issam Ahmed and Ivan Couronne All eyes are on China this week, as the world's biggest polluter readies a new emissions-cutting plan -- reinforcing its role as a steadfast defender of global climate diplomacy while Europe stalls and the United ...
Page 1 of 1812…18
Detected IP: ...