News
On Thursday and Friday almost 40 heads of state and government will meet at the invitation of the US president for a virtual climate summit. Xi Jinping is also expected to attend. China is a global leader in the field of green finance, i.e. green investments to restructure the economy. The problem is that in the People's Republic green bonds may also be used for "clean coal", "clean oil and gas". This is hardly compatible with climate targets. However, the authorities are striving for reform.
By Nico Beckert
The introduction of emissions trading in China opens up the opportunity for joint certificate trading with the EU. The gains from such a link would be enormous, and border adjustment would be superfluous. Sonja Peterson and Malte Winkler, researchers at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, write about the political conditions that need to be created and the regulations that need to be put in place for the project to succeed.
By Antje Sirleschtov
Rapid economic growth in China has been accompanied by environmental damage in many regions. Shenzhen has introduced the GEP, an alternative system to GDP that measures the growth and well-being of its citizens based on ecological factors. Figures from the new eco-indicator will be presented for the first time in June. The GEP is intended to provide incentives for more sustainable investment.
By Frank Sieren
In 1957, Mao ordered 60 million Chinese to "cook steel" and built 240,000 small blast furnaces. That was the beginning of a steel addiction that has driven China's steel production up year after year ever since. With state-subsidized steel, Beijing floods the world market. Now, Xi Jinping says this has to stop because the steel glut is counteracting his goals for reducing CO2 emissions.
By Antje Sirleschtov