Asia & the Pacific

118 Items

A man fishes near an oil drilling platform

AP/Eric Gay, File

Policy Brief - Harvard Initiative to Reduce Global Methane Emissions

Updating Estimates of Methane Emissions: The Case of China

    Authors:
  • Zichong Chen
  • Daniel Jacob
| May 2023

The Harvard Initiative to Reduce Global Methane Emissions released its first publication in May 2023: a research brief titled “Updating Estimates of Methane Emissions: The Case of China.” The Initiative is one of five interdisciplinary research clusters funded by the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability at Harvard University. The Harvard Project on Climate Agreements collaborates in the implementation of the Initiative.

Hong Kong's harbor and skyline

Wikimedia CC/Benh LIEU SONG

Policy Brief - Harvard Project on Climate Agreements

Increasing the Emissions-Reduction Efficiency of Carbon Trading Schemes in China Under the “30.60” Target: Reflection on the Carbon Markets of Guangdong Province, China

    Author:
  • Chen Shaoqing
| March 2022

The author explores opportunities for expanding the scope of Guangdong Province’s emissions trading system in the context of China’s recently-launched national carbon-pricing system.

Yuexiu, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China

Wikimedia CC/ 张彬

Policy Brief - Harvard Project on Climate Agreements

The Offsetting Mechanism in Guangdong Province’s ETS: Lessons Learned and the Way Forward

    Author:
  • Yang Shu
| February 2022

As one of the first low-carbon pioneering provinces in China, Guangdong launched its carbon market in 2013. An important design feature of the Guangdong emissions trading system (ETS) has been the use of offset credits. This brief, in both Chinese and English, explores the Guangdong ETS’s offset mechanism and its possible future evolution.

A hydrogen fuel cell in a workshop

Adobe Stock

Policy Brief

China: The Renewable Hydrogen Superpower?

| May 2021

Renewable hydrogen offers significant advantages for China. It can help Beijing meet its climate and pollution goals—at a time when coal continues to dominate—while avoiding increased reliance on imported fuels. As a readily dispatchable means of storing energy, hydrogen can help to address intermittency and curtailment issues as renewable energy increases its share of China’s energy mix. As a sustainable mobility energy carrier, it can power fuel-cell electric vehicles or be the base for synthetic fuels. Finally, renewable hydrogen can open new avenues for developing clean technology manufactured goods for both internal and export markets.

Containers are pictured on board of the ‘Star’ vessel of the China Shipping Container Lines shipping company at the harbor in Hamburg, Germany, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014.

AP Photo/Michael Sohn

Policy Brief - Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship and the German Council on Foreign Relations

Transatlantic Action Plan: China

| January 2021

Both sides of the Atlantic are converging in their assessment of the challenges China poses to transatlantic prosperity and democracy. The U.S. and Europe must now build on this convergence to advance a common strategy toward China. Only together can the U.S. and Europe, alongside other democratic nations, maintain the necessary leverage in trade, technology and multilateral engagement to hold China accountable to a set of standards that protects democratic societies and contributes to global stability.

To develop a stronger transatlantic approach toward China, the Biden administration must work to rebuild trust in the transatlantic relationship and recommit to multilateral alliances and institutions abandoned by President Trump. Europe for its part must unite and take action where it sees China exploiting its critical industries and infringing on its values. A common position on China at the EU–level and across several influential EU member states is critical to making transatlantic cooperation on China feasible.

In this Nov. 28, 2019 file photo, smoke and steam rise from a coal processing plant in Hejin in central China's Shanxi Province.

AP Photo/Sam McNeil

Policy Brief

China’s National Carbon Market: Paradox and Potential

| December 2020

China announced it would launch a national carbon market in 2017, yet this policy is taking years to come into effect. What will it take for a carbon market to work in command-and-control China? This policy brief explores an understudied challenge—emissions accounting—and identifies potential opportunities that have arisen in the first phase of China’s national carbon market.

Houses of Parliament

Wikimedia CC/Arpingstone

Testimony

Written Evidence Submitted to the UK Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee

| June 27, 2020

Grand Strategy, Security, and Statecraft Fellow William James submitted written evidence to the UK Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee for its inquiry into the government's forthcoming Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy.