For long, China was seen as a climate villain, fuelling its amazing economic growth by burning more and more coal. But times are changing, and the People’s Republic is emerging as a climate leader.
Shanghai
Trees capture particulate pollution
Air pollution kills a lot of people around the world and the situation in some Chinese cities has become nothing short of unbreathable. Meanwhile, we have seen in my series ” Plant, baby, plant “ that trees can solve many related problems. To a new study from Lancaster University, trees can absorb half of particulates, … Read more
China coal consumption could peak soon
The People’s Republic of China is in the middle of a very serious situation as it is struggling with horrendous air pollution which in the Northern provinces cut life expectancy by over five years.
To avoid this from worsening even more, the local government has been investing heavily in the past and will invest more in the future in low carbon alternatives : negawatts ( energy efficiency ) and renewables.
Those very same renewables are getting cheaper and cheaper – reaching grid parity – while coal is only getting more and more expensive.
Biking is booming globally
I wrote a few months ago that vehicles are getting more and more efficient as efforts are being made in the USA, China and Europe. In the conclusion I was noting that it was good news but that more had to be done in biking among others.
It seems to be the case as Courrier International shown last July. Around the world, from Buenos Aires to Hangzhou and from New York to Moscow or Copenhagen, more and more people are biking.
This is good news as bikes are a great solution to many problems that are plaguing our communities : obesity, traffic congestion, energy use and air pollution.
Is China reaching a tipping point on pollution ?
Over the past few days and weeks, so many horrifying news have been making the headlines on China that I thought a recap would be needed. As an introduction you might read my post on the airpocalypse in Beijing.
All the news I will develop today clearly allow us to understand why the country is willing to push forward renewable energies and efficiency so massively. Business as usual is simply killing people and endangering the nation itself.
Unbridled economic growth without any environmental concern or regulation is clearly unsustainable, environmentally, socially and economically.
Starry, Starry, Starry Night
You may perhaps remember the not so distant time when I was posting astrophotography pictures on this very website. I have also wrote a few times on how we are lighting up our cities too much.
Now a fellow Frenchman, Thierry Cohen, created a series of pictures of what the night could look like if cities like Paris, New York, Shanghai or Sao Paulo were to turn of all their lights. The result is quite stunning.
Not that I am advocating turning off ALL lights at night in our cities, I am just thinking that we should see more stars at night.
Shanghaï to work on climate change mitigation
According to the WWF, Shanghaï (and another Chinese city, Boading) joins the Low Carbon City Initiative, a pioneering project from the renown organization.
This will enable the cities to decrease their CO2 emissions by working on energy efficiency of buildings as well as the environmental quality.
This is great news and I can’t wait for the first results of this project as climate change mitigation from China will be vital for us all. For more details, please