Do you still remember your old Nokia “brick”? In the age of smartphones, old cell phones seem like technology from a distant past. But they also had their advantages: The battery was replaceable, and they were virtually “unbreakable.” In today’s smartphones, laptops and other devices, the batteries are often firmly welded or glued.
Is a greater integration of battery and “devices” also the future of EV batteries? Christiane Kühl has taken a close look at the latest innovations in battery technologies. CATL, for example, is working on batteries that are permanently installed in the chassis. This is supposed to save space and increase range. However, it would also mean increased problems for the recycling industry.
What is the financial value of clean water, an intact climate or the pollination services of bees? Beijing could soon be faced with these hard questions. The Central Committee of the Communist Party and the State Council have published plans to assess the value of natural resources and services to make them tradable via usage rights. This is intended to advance environmental protection. In the medium term, the value of natural resources is even to be given the same importance as economic growth. This would have implications for companies and officials.
I hope you enjoy our newest issue!
China has been recording immense growth rates for over 40 years. From the poorhouse of the world, it developed into the second-largest economy. A fair economic development is the decisive pillar of the authoritarian rule of the Communist Party, because it gives it legitimacy. But it also has its downsides: China is now the largest emitter of greenhouse gases. And the rapid economic growth is at the expense of the environment. In many places, the air and water are polluted, prompting even citizens of the dictatorship to protest. That’s why authorities are even trying to coordinate green movements.
But a recent decision by Beijing could usher in a paradigm shift. Authorities want to assess the value of “ecological goods and services” in the future, as the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council decided on in April in a largely unnoticed document. Environmental protection could be put on a par with economic growth in the midterm. The document outlines, for example, that in the medium-term local officials will no longer be evaluated solely on economic growth rates, but also on how well they take care of “ecological products”, ergo, the environment. Analysts see this as a “potential tectonic shift that could significantly alter China’s political landscape,” according to Trey McAvern of the consulting firm Trivium China.
The Central Committee and the State Council want to give the environment a measurable financial value in order to encourage politicians, economic actors and individuals to protect the environment. If they successfully do so, they will be rewarded. Should they damage the environment instead, they will have to pay “compensations”. Authorities specifically stress that the practice of “sacrificing” the environment for economic growth should be “completely abolished.” Ecological protection and economic development are supposed to be mutually beneficial.
The exact nature of ecological products and services and how their value is to be measured is still left open by the authorities. A look at Shenzhen could shed some light, however. The city serves as a pilot project and has recorded the value of its “ecological resources” with 19 indicators. These include the extent to which the environment:
The Shenzhen government uses these individual values to calculate an indicator called Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP), which reflects the total annual value of environmental goods and services. The GEP pilot project in Shenzhen could be extended to all Chinese regions and provinces in the medium-term. The economization of the environment could have a significant impact on enterprises and policymakers, according to the Central Committee and State Council document.
There are considerations to introduce an “ecological score system for companies, social organizations and individuals”. Economic actors would receive points according to their contribution to environmental protection. Companies displaying exemplary behavior gain “financial advantages and other services”, according to the document. This sounds a lot like the already existing social credit system to encourage companies to comply with laws and rules (as reported by China.Table).
Environmental goods and services are also to become tradable. To this end, for example, “trading centers for ecological products” are to be established. The extent of trading in industrial emissions and “energy rights of use” could work is to be explored. CO2 emissions trading (as reported by China.Table) could serve as a model for China. Pilot projects on the trade of “water rights” should also be improved. Companies acting in a particularly eco-friendly manner could thus turn environmental use rights into money.
China’s provincial officials should take particular notice of the document from the Central Committee and the State Council. Until now, the success of officials has been primarily measured by economic growth. High growth rates are crucial for advancement to the upper echelons of the Chinese Communist Party. The idea of the Central Committee and the State Council is that environmental aspects should also play a role in the future. It is to be “explored how indicators for the value of ecological products” can be included. In the medium-term, a “double evaluation” could even be introduced, in which economic development and the preservation of “ecological commodities” could be placed on an equal level. Similarly, officials should be held accountable if “the overall value of ecological products shows a serious decline during their tenure”.
This means high stakes for the official. Coincidently, temptations to manipulate the value of “ecological products” and services are high, as is already often the case with economic growth. In general, it is extremely difficult to measure the financial value of nature. Detailed data on natural vegetation or the CO2 sequestration rate of certain ecosystems are often not available at all. For most “ecological goods” and services “there is no functioning market”. It could be “easy for governments to manipulate these prices,” consultants of Trivium China write.
In addition: The conceptualization of a basic framework for the evaluation of “ecological product value” is not to be expected before 2025. By 2035, a mechanism for the value assessment of “ecological goods is to be fully established”. This means that officials still have more than a decade to adapt to the new realities.
Who will be the first to break the sound barrier of a battery range of 1000 kilometers? Several Chinese companies are taking part in the race to reach the milestone. Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited, or CATL for short, China’s largest manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries, is pretty much active in all areas in order to defend its top position in the industry.
Last week, the company signed a framework agreement with the Shanghai municipal government to build a new gigafactory for electric car batteries, very close to the US e-car maker Tesla’s plant there. Shortly before, CATL presented a sodium-ion battery that does not require lithium, cobalt or nickel, all raw materials that are becoming increasingly scarce. CATL is the first major manufacturer to introduce this technology (China.Table reported). The supply chain should be in place by 2023.
The energy density of the new sodium-ion batteries is still lower than conventional batteries, said Huang Qisen, deputy director of the CATL research center. But it works well in cold weather and for fast charging, he said. The three current mixtures of materials in electric car batteries are nickel-cobalt-aluminum (NCA), nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) and lithium-iron phosphate (LFP).
CATL is also active in the field of so-called structural car batteries: This involves a “cell-to-pack” (CTP) technology as well as – in a further step for the integration of battery and body – a “cell-to-chassis” (CTC) approach. With CTP, battery cells are inserted directly into the battery housing without first being arranged in modules. CTC even dispenses with the housing itself: The battery cells are integrated directly into the chassis. This creates more space for more cells with the same construction volume, because modules and packs are no longer necessary. More cells increase the range. Today, on the other hand, the batteries still sit in “bulky and heavy housings in the underbody” of the electric cars, writes the trade magazine Auto-Motor-Sport.
CATL has been offering CTP batteries since 2019. They are installed in the Tesla Model 3, for example, as well as in electric cars from the start-up Nio. According to a report by the trade magazine CNEVpost.com, this type of battery already enables 15 to 20 percent greater efficiency in the use of space and requires 40 percent fewer components.
CATL wants to bring the even more space-saving CTC variant onto the market by 2025. This could achieve a range for electric cars of over 800 kilometers per battery charge, said CATL Chairman Zeng Yuqun at an industry conference in Wuhan a year ago. In January, Xiang Yanhuo, president of CATL’s Passenger Vehicle Solutions (PVS) division, announced plans to present an even more advanced, intelligent CTC variant by 2028. By then, at the latest, the 1000-kilometer range could be cracked.
Theprivate Chinese carmaker BYD has also developed its own battery using CTP technology, which it markets under the Chinese name “Doupian” battery – which means “blade battery” in German. The battery is so named because it is flatter and more elongated than conventional square batteries. BYD is putting these models made from traditional lithium iron phosphate (LFP) into its Han e-sedan. This gives the vehicle a range of over 600 kilometers, according to BYD.
In April 2021, BYD also announced that all future e-models would be equipped with the Blade battery. The company stressed that it has proven to be particularly safe in rupture, pressure or fire tests. The technology will “put an end to spontaneous combustion in electric vehicles,” BYD founder Wang Chuanfu said. The space required for battery installation is also 50 percent less than a comparable conventional battery, it said.
BYD also wants to sell the Blade batteries to other manufacturers . Among others, the Korean automaker Hyundai and Tesla are said to be interested. The Chinese website cls.cn reported in early August that delivery of the battery to Tesla is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2022. This has not yet been confirmed – but would be a “turbo credibility booster” for BYD, according to auto China expert Michael Dunne. Tesla, meanwhile, is also developing its own CTP batteries in the US.
Another alternative for the future are so-called solid-state batteries, whose electrodes and electrolyte consist of solid inorganic material. This is considered to be more reliable, more efficient and safer than the conventional liquid or polymer gel electrolytes of current batteries. Liquid electrolytes with organic components are fire hazards – so the technology could alleviate one of the electrical industry’s major concerns.
CATL is also researching solid-state lithium metal batteries, PVS President Xiang said in January. The company aims to bring this technology to mass production by 2030. At 400 watt-hours per kilogram (Wh/kg), CATL’s solid-state batteries are expected to achieve around twice the energy density of current batteries – and bring a range of 1000 kilometers within reach.
Among others, Nio wants to use solid-state batteries. The start-up claims to be the first company to install a 150-kWh solid-state battery with 360 Wh/kg energy density in a car: in the latest model in its portfolio, the ET7 e-sedan. With this, the ET7 will manage more than 1000 km of range, Nio announced. However, Nio has so far not disclosed who the supplier is – but speculation is mainly about CATL.
Many of the big plans are still dreams of the future. Perhaps not all of them will work out in the end. But it shows that China is pushing the pace on this issue and that the key companies are working on substantial innovations.
In addition to the plans of battery heavyweights like CATL and BYD, there are also more exotic projects. In winter, state-owned Guangzhou Auto (GAC) announced that it had developed a super fast-charging battery equipped with ultra-thin graphene, which is now being tested in vehicles. The group’s Aion V model – the first vehicle to be equipped with the battery – is expected to go into series production in a few weeks.
Graphene consists of only one layer of carbon atoms and is considered the thinnest material in the world. Due to the excellent conductivity and the special 3D structure of this material, a car with the new GAC battery can be charged to 80 percent of the battery capacity within just eight minutes, according to the company. That would then be barely longer than a normal visit to a filling station with the combustion engine.
Anyone who chooses international trade as their focus of research is hardly able to ignore the world’s largest infrastructure project: China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This includes Alexander Sandkamp, Junior Professor of Economics at Christian Albrechts University in Cologne and Fellow at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW). For a while now, the 32-year-old has been investigating the impact of the New Silk Road, as the BRI is also known. He describes himself as overcome by “mixed feelings”, consisting of euphoria on the one hand and concern on the other.
In the beginning, it was mostly euphoria. Sandkamp remembers the year 2013 well, when Xi Jinping officially took on the role of the People’s Republic’s new head of state and impressed the world with a breathtaking plan. Hundreds of construction projects with an investment volume of several trillion dollars were to boost the global economy in the coming decades and lay the foundation for flourishing trade between economies around the world. The trick is that all roads lead to China in the end.
“At the time, I was thinking: great, an expansion of infrastructure,” says Sandkamp. The prospect of new railway lines, modern seaports and closer connections between countries like Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan to the global economy fascinated Sandkamp. And he is still captivated by the impact of this project.
But in the meantime, emerging evidence accompanying the construction of the New Silk Road is worrying even staunch supporters of the project. Sandkamp now speaks of “risks and side effects” that should be kept in mind. For example, with regard to the growing dependence of individual countries on China or the “discriminatory use” of infrastructure, which means that China is deliberately seeking to gain the upper hand. As an expert on international trade, Sandkamp warns that “It is important that the EU does not stand idly by, but reacts actively.”
Early on, it became apparent that business would be a common thread running through his business life. Back in the day, Sandkamp made did A-levels in the UK. Even then, he was fascinated with economics. “I was fascinated by the mathematical preparation and modeling of problems,” he says.
But Sandkamp, on the other hand, found access to China through its language. While everyone else was trying to learn “old school foreign languages”, as he calls it, he wanted to learn Chinese. “In the UK, I also met a lot of nice people from China,” he recalls, “and most of the time, interest in a country is sparked through these kinds of people.”
However, it was not until his doctorate that Sandkamp first became professionally involved with China. More specifically, with the effects of anti-dumping duties on international trade and their contradiction to the actual intention of fair competition. “The EU’s methodology leads to a particularly sharp decline in trade with Chinese exporters,” Sandkamp noted.
Even during his Master’s at the London School of Economics and Political Science and at HEC Paris, and his subsequent departure to Germany for his doctorate at the Ifo Institute for Economic Research and Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, he was always “attracted by the proximity to policy advice”. Meanwhile, Sandkamp has an urgent recommendation to politicians around the globe, as he learned during his first trip to Beijing. Deep smog hung over the city and created an “aha” effect: “It makes you realize that we should all do a bit more for the environment,” he says. Lisa Winter
At the Paralympics, China’s Li Hao (left) competed against the Englishman Piers Gilliver. Li defeated his opponent and won the gold medal after further duels. It was the first gold medal for China at this year’s Paralympics in Tokyo.
Do you still remember your old Nokia “brick”? In the age of smartphones, old cell phones seem like technology from a distant past. But they also had their advantages: The battery was replaceable, and they were virtually “unbreakable.” In today’s smartphones, laptops and other devices, the batteries are often firmly welded or glued.
Is a greater integration of battery and “devices” also the future of EV batteries? Christiane Kühl has taken a close look at the latest innovations in battery technologies. CATL, for example, is working on batteries that are permanently installed in the chassis. This is supposed to save space and increase range. However, it would also mean increased problems for the recycling industry.
What is the financial value of clean water, an intact climate or the pollination services of bees? Beijing could soon be faced with these hard questions. The Central Committee of the Communist Party and the State Council have published plans to assess the value of natural resources and services to make them tradable via usage rights. This is intended to advance environmental protection. In the medium term, the value of natural resources is even to be given the same importance as economic growth. This would have implications for companies and officials.
I hope you enjoy our newest issue!
China has been recording immense growth rates for over 40 years. From the poorhouse of the world, it developed into the second-largest economy. A fair economic development is the decisive pillar of the authoritarian rule of the Communist Party, because it gives it legitimacy. But it also has its downsides: China is now the largest emitter of greenhouse gases. And the rapid economic growth is at the expense of the environment. In many places, the air and water are polluted, prompting even citizens of the dictatorship to protest. That’s why authorities are even trying to coordinate green movements.
But a recent decision by Beijing could usher in a paradigm shift. Authorities want to assess the value of “ecological goods and services” in the future, as the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council decided on in April in a largely unnoticed document. Environmental protection could be put on a par with economic growth in the midterm. The document outlines, for example, that in the medium-term local officials will no longer be evaluated solely on economic growth rates, but also on how well they take care of “ecological products”, ergo, the environment. Analysts see this as a “potential tectonic shift that could significantly alter China’s political landscape,” according to Trey McAvern of the consulting firm Trivium China.
The Central Committee and the State Council want to give the environment a measurable financial value in order to encourage politicians, economic actors and individuals to protect the environment. If they successfully do so, they will be rewarded. Should they damage the environment instead, they will have to pay “compensations”. Authorities specifically stress that the practice of “sacrificing” the environment for economic growth should be “completely abolished.” Ecological protection and economic development are supposed to be mutually beneficial.
The exact nature of ecological products and services and how their value is to be measured is still left open by the authorities. A look at Shenzhen could shed some light, however. The city serves as a pilot project and has recorded the value of its “ecological resources” with 19 indicators. These include the extent to which the environment:
The Shenzhen government uses these individual values to calculate an indicator called Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP), which reflects the total annual value of environmental goods and services. The GEP pilot project in Shenzhen could be extended to all Chinese regions and provinces in the medium-term. The economization of the environment could have a significant impact on enterprises and policymakers, according to the Central Committee and State Council document.
There are considerations to introduce an “ecological score system for companies, social organizations and individuals”. Economic actors would receive points according to their contribution to environmental protection. Companies displaying exemplary behavior gain “financial advantages and other services”, according to the document. This sounds a lot like the already existing social credit system to encourage companies to comply with laws and rules (as reported by China.Table).
Environmental goods and services are also to become tradable. To this end, for example, “trading centers for ecological products” are to be established. The extent of trading in industrial emissions and “energy rights of use” could work is to be explored. CO2 emissions trading (as reported by China.Table) could serve as a model for China. Pilot projects on the trade of “water rights” should also be improved. Companies acting in a particularly eco-friendly manner could thus turn environmental use rights into money.
China’s provincial officials should take particular notice of the document from the Central Committee and the State Council. Until now, the success of officials has been primarily measured by economic growth. High growth rates are crucial for advancement to the upper echelons of the Chinese Communist Party. The idea of the Central Committee and the State Council is that environmental aspects should also play a role in the future. It is to be “explored how indicators for the value of ecological products” can be included. In the medium-term, a “double evaluation” could even be introduced, in which economic development and the preservation of “ecological commodities” could be placed on an equal level. Similarly, officials should be held accountable if “the overall value of ecological products shows a serious decline during their tenure”.
This means high stakes for the official. Coincidently, temptations to manipulate the value of “ecological products” and services are high, as is already often the case with economic growth. In general, it is extremely difficult to measure the financial value of nature. Detailed data on natural vegetation or the CO2 sequestration rate of certain ecosystems are often not available at all. For most “ecological goods” and services “there is no functioning market”. It could be “easy for governments to manipulate these prices,” consultants of Trivium China write.
In addition: The conceptualization of a basic framework for the evaluation of “ecological product value” is not to be expected before 2025. By 2035, a mechanism for the value assessment of “ecological goods is to be fully established”. This means that officials still have more than a decade to adapt to the new realities.
Who will be the first to break the sound barrier of a battery range of 1000 kilometers? Several Chinese companies are taking part in the race to reach the milestone. Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited, or CATL for short, China’s largest manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries, is pretty much active in all areas in order to defend its top position in the industry.
Last week, the company signed a framework agreement with the Shanghai municipal government to build a new gigafactory for electric car batteries, very close to the US e-car maker Tesla’s plant there. Shortly before, CATL presented a sodium-ion battery that does not require lithium, cobalt or nickel, all raw materials that are becoming increasingly scarce. CATL is the first major manufacturer to introduce this technology (China.Table reported). The supply chain should be in place by 2023.
The energy density of the new sodium-ion batteries is still lower than conventional batteries, said Huang Qisen, deputy director of the CATL research center. But it works well in cold weather and for fast charging, he said. The three current mixtures of materials in electric car batteries are nickel-cobalt-aluminum (NCA), nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) and lithium-iron phosphate (LFP).
CATL is also active in the field of so-called structural car batteries: This involves a “cell-to-pack” (CTP) technology as well as – in a further step for the integration of battery and body – a “cell-to-chassis” (CTC) approach. With CTP, battery cells are inserted directly into the battery housing without first being arranged in modules. CTC even dispenses with the housing itself: The battery cells are integrated directly into the chassis. This creates more space for more cells with the same construction volume, because modules and packs are no longer necessary. More cells increase the range. Today, on the other hand, the batteries still sit in “bulky and heavy housings in the underbody” of the electric cars, writes the trade magazine Auto-Motor-Sport.
CATL has been offering CTP batteries since 2019. They are installed in the Tesla Model 3, for example, as well as in electric cars from the start-up Nio. According to a report by the trade magazine CNEVpost.com, this type of battery already enables 15 to 20 percent greater efficiency in the use of space and requires 40 percent fewer components.
CATL wants to bring the even more space-saving CTC variant onto the market by 2025. This could achieve a range for electric cars of over 800 kilometers per battery charge, said CATL Chairman Zeng Yuqun at an industry conference in Wuhan a year ago. In January, Xiang Yanhuo, president of CATL’s Passenger Vehicle Solutions (PVS) division, announced plans to present an even more advanced, intelligent CTC variant by 2028. By then, at the latest, the 1000-kilometer range could be cracked.
Theprivate Chinese carmaker BYD has also developed its own battery using CTP technology, which it markets under the Chinese name “Doupian” battery – which means “blade battery” in German. The battery is so named because it is flatter and more elongated than conventional square batteries. BYD is putting these models made from traditional lithium iron phosphate (LFP) into its Han e-sedan. This gives the vehicle a range of over 600 kilometers, according to BYD.
In April 2021, BYD also announced that all future e-models would be equipped with the Blade battery. The company stressed that it has proven to be particularly safe in rupture, pressure or fire tests. The technology will “put an end to spontaneous combustion in electric vehicles,” BYD founder Wang Chuanfu said. The space required for battery installation is also 50 percent less than a comparable conventional battery, it said.
BYD also wants to sell the Blade batteries to other manufacturers . Among others, the Korean automaker Hyundai and Tesla are said to be interested. The Chinese website cls.cn reported in early August that delivery of the battery to Tesla is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2022. This has not yet been confirmed – but would be a “turbo credibility booster” for BYD, according to auto China expert Michael Dunne. Tesla, meanwhile, is also developing its own CTP batteries in the US.
Another alternative for the future are so-called solid-state batteries, whose electrodes and electrolyte consist of solid inorganic material. This is considered to be more reliable, more efficient and safer than the conventional liquid or polymer gel electrolytes of current batteries. Liquid electrolytes with organic components are fire hazards – so the technology could alleviate one of the electrical industry’s major concerns.
CATL is also researching solid-state lithium metal batteries, PVS President Xiang said in January. The company aims to bring this technology to mass production by 2030. At 400 watt-hours per kilogram (Wh/kg), CATL’s solid-state batteries are expected to achieve around twice the energy density of current batteries – and bring a range of 1000 kilometers within reach.
Among others, Nio wants to use solid-state batteries. The start-up claims to be the first company to install a 150-kWh solid-state battery with 360 Wh/kg energy density in a car: in the latest model in its portfolio, the ET7 e-sedan. With this, the ET7 will manage more than 1000 km of range, Nio announced. However, Nio has so far not disclosed who the supplier is – but speculation is mainly about CATL.
Many of the big plans are still dreams of the future. Perhaps not all of them will work out in the end. But it shows that China is pushing the pace on this issue and that the key companies are working on substantial innovations.
In addition to the plans of battery heavyweights like CATL and BYD, there are also more exotic projects. In winter, state-owned Guangzhou Auto (GAC) announced that it had developed a super fast-charging battery equipped with ultra-thin graphene, which is now being tested in vehicles. The group’s Aion V model – the first vehicle to be equipped with the battery – is expected to go into series production in a few weeks.
Graphene consists of only one layer of carbon atoms and is considered the thinnest material in the world. Due to the excellent conductivity and the special 3D structure of this material, a car with the new GAC battery can be charged to 80 percent of the battery capacity within just eight minutes, according to the company. That would then be barely longer than a normal visit to a filling station with the combustion engine.
Anyone who chooses international trade as their focus of research is hardly able to ignore the world’s largest infrastructure project: China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This includes Alexander Sandkamp, Junior Professor of Economics at Christian Albrechts University in Cologne and Fellow at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW). For a while now, the 32-year-old has been investigating the impact of the New Silk Road, as the BRI is also known. He describes himself as overcome by “mixed feelings”, consisting of euphoria on the one hand and concern on the other.
In the beginning, it was mostly euphoria. Sandkamp remembers the year 2013 well, when Xi Jinping officially took on the role of the People’s Republic’s new head of state and impressed the world with a breathtaking plan. Hundreds of construction projects with an investment volume of several trillion dollars were to boost the global economy in the coming decades and lay the foundation for flourishing trade between economies around the world. The trick is that all roads lead to China in the end.
“At the time, I was thinking: great, an expansion of infrastructure,” says Sandkamp. The prospect of new railway lines, modern seaports and closer connections between countries like Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan to the global economy fascinated Sandkamp. And he is still captivated by the impact of this project.
But in the meantime, emerging evidence accompanying the construction of the New Silk Road is worrying even staunch supporters of the project. Sandkamp now speaks of “risks and side effects” that should be kept in mind. For example, with regard to the growing dependence of individual countries on China or the “discriminatory use” of infrastructure, which means that China is deliberately seeking to gain the upper hand. As an expert on international trade, Sandkamp warns that “It is important that the EU does not stand idly by, but reacts actively.”
Early on, it became apparent that business would be a common thread running through his business life. Back in the day, Sandkamp made did A-levels in the UK. Even then, he was fascinated with economics. “I was fascinated by the mathematical preparation and modeling of problems,” he says.
But Sandkamp, on the other hand, found access to China through its language. While everyone else was trying to learn “old school foreign languages”, as he calls it, he wanted to learn Chinese. “In the UK, I also met a lot of nice people from China,” he recalls, “and most of the time, interest in a country is sparked through these kinds of people.”
However, it was not until his doctorate that Sandkamp first became professionally involved with China. More specifically, with the effects of anti-dumping duties on international trade and their contradiction to the actual intention of fair competition. “The EU’s methodology leads to a particularly sharp decline in trade with Chinese exporters,” Sandkamp noted.
Even during his Master’s at the London School of Economics and Political Science and at HEC Paris, and his subsequent departure to Germany for his doctorate at the Ifo Institute for Economic Research and Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, he was always “attracted by the proximity to policy advice”. Meanwhile, Sandkamp has an urgent recommendation to politicians around the globe, as he learned during his first trip to Beijing. Deep smog hung over the city and created an “aha” effect: “It makes you realize that we should all do a bit more for the environment,” he says. Lisa Winter
At the Paralympics, China’s Li Hao (left) competed against the Englishman Piers Gilliver. Li defeated his opponent and won the gold medal after further duels. It was the first gold medal for China at this year’s Paralympics in Tokyo.
