Environment and Natural Resources

The transition from President Obama to President Trump has triggered fears that the new administration will overturn many of the policies, programs and successes of the last eight years. These fears are especially strong concerning the issue of climate change.

While the policies of the new White House are still unclear, President Trump has appointed a number of people who have opposed the climate initiatives and, in some cases, expressed skepticism that the human induced climate threat even exists.

The concern in many circles is that the administration will walk away from the Paris Agreement and repudiate the ambitious emission reduction targets set out in the U.S.-China bilateral agreement signed by Presidents Obama and Xi Jinping in November 2014.

In the last two years, China’s President Xi Jinping signed two major climate agreements with the United States committing China to peak its carbon emissions by 2030 and to increase the non-fossil-fuel share of all energy to a target of 20 percent. In addition, China submitted to the United Nations’ meaningful Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) outlining its carbon reduction targets. Chinese officials at all levels of government — central, provincial and local — are focused on developing low-carbon initiatives, with each one competing to have the most visible initiatives, ideally without having to expend much in the way of new resources.

UxC's Jonathan Hinze, Executive Vice President, International, recently interviewed Dr. Hui Zhang, a respected Harvard University expert, regarding the current state and future prospects for China's nuclear energy program.

Dr. Zhang is a Senior Research Associate at the Project on Managing the Atom in the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Dr. Zhang has deep knowledge and insights into all aspects of China's nuclear energy program.

The dramatic fall of oil prices is set to jeopardize both the U.S. ambition to become a big gas exporter by the end of this decade and the long-awaited development of a global gas market.

"An ambitious deal might also stimulate more demand for innovations in clean technologies, in which China is emerging as a global leader. But because of the UN's decision-making process, in which all its members have to agree on a new deal, Xi Jinping is in the powerful position of being able to commit to only as much emission reductions as fit his domestic policy agenda."

"...[U]ntil now, Beijing's response to unmet energy demand has focused primarily on securing resources overseas, and building infrastructure for imports. China now generates more electricity from imported coal than from nuclear, wind and solar combined. Without a strong, coordinated policy shift, the country will depend on fuel imports for most of its energy consumption by the time it becomes a developed country."

"First, China must move away from coal and boost recycling and renewable energies. Second, emissions-mitigation indicators, such as energy-efficiency targets, should be set relative to physical output (such as tonnes of steel production) rather than to economic growth. Third, regional energy supply and demand must be balanced. Fourth, energy prices should be linked to market mechanisms rather than set centrally by authorities. And fifth, China must reduce air pollutants alongside CO2 emissions."

"Since last year, American Electric Power Mountaineer has employed CCS on a smaller scale of about 30 megawatts and, as such, is a unique example of CCS technology working today. As CCS scales up from this small size, the risks of capture and transport are negligible, making larger plants possible. Because renewables, for various reasons, cannot be implemented at the large scale sufficient to meet the 80 percent emissions reduction goals, we must deploy CCS for larger-scale commercialization. As a crucial means of decarbonizing some industrial processes, CCS will reduce emissions across industries, allowing chemical producers, for example, to meet their targets."

Coal-based power plants are—and will continue to be—the backbone of India’s energy engine. They currently account for about 69 out of 128-gigawatt installed capacity of utilities, and projections by the Planning Commission indicate that coal will fuel the power sector for at least the next three decades.

Op-Ed in India Today on India's struggle to meet the country's growing energy demand.