Energy Current: In Search of Net Zero System

Send us Fan Mail Despite of the high expectation in decarbonizing the fossil fuels sectors for years, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has not been scaled up. In the next 5-10 years, will the comprehensive technology be a game changer in the global climate mitigations? Can the oil and gas giants in the middle east countries sustain their business in the future by both producing carbon as usual and...

Send us Fan Mail As one of the most developed metropolitan areas, Hong Kong is a latecomer in the climate action arena in the region. By committing to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 last year, Hong Kong is catching up with other peer cities such as Tokyo and Seoul. In her annual policy address on October 6th 2021, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam announced some specific policy measures both in climate...

Send us Fan Mail We invited Dr. Mao Da, Director of Shenzhen Zero Waste (an environmental campaign group), to our program. He has over 18 years’ experiences in environmental field China/overseas and a well-known public figure on waste issues in China. Shenzhen Zero Waste  has a very focused target, namely to reduce the toxic chemicals in consumer products on the major the E-commerce platforms like...

Send us Fan Mail Right before the ease of Shanghai's two-month lock-down, China State Council  has been intensively convened and formulating a package of measures to stimulate economic activities, in order to get the economy back on track and keep major economic indicators within an appropriate range. This episode firstly discussed the logics behind this stimulus plan, and then analyzed the e...

Send us Fan Mail The “New Energy Vehicles Industry Development Plan (2021-2035)”, launched on November 2nd, 2020, sets a target of an approximately 20% share for new energy vehicles (NEVs) in new vehicle sales by 2025. The annual market penetration rate of electric vehicles exceeds 13% in 2021, it’s therefore possible to achieve the 2025 target ahead of schedule. When China’s transport sector will...

Send us Fan Mail In April 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) and England’s public healthcare system, the National Health Service (NHS), have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, to help the two organizations cooperate on activities to promote and facilitate the decarbonization of healthcare systems around the world. A similar Memorandum was signed between the WHO and the United States&apos...

Send us Fan Mail In Feb 2022, Russia and China signed a new gas deal to supply 10 bcm of pipeline gas per annum to China, starting around 2025 for over 30 years from Russia’s Far East. This contract is in addition to an agreement signed in 2014 to provide 38 bcm over 30 years, and bringing the combined annual gas deliveries of Russian gas to China to 48 bcm per annum under the two pipelines. China...

Send us Fan Mail The "Medium and Long-term Planning for the Development of Hydrogen Energy Industry (2021-2035)", launched on March 23rd 2022, is a clear and strong message for supporting hydrogen development in China's 2060 carbon neutrality strategy context. Can China come on top in the competition to develop this new decarbonization technology among other major economies? Will th...

Send us Fan Mail In July 2020, the South Korean government announced its Green New Deal, which included a list of investment projects to propel the country into a green economy. In today’s episode, we’d like to re-broadcast a previous episode, in which Lin Jiaqiao from REEI and Ms. Chin Yusun from a Korea-based campaign group, Solutions For Our Climate discusses the Korea’s “Green New Deal” and co...

Send us Fan Mail In 2021, the imported natural gas from Russia accounted for 40% of EU's annual gas consumption. Responding the Russian’s invasion of Ukraine, EU have chosen the most difficult strategy to cope with the most challenging situation. One thing that EU have no choice is to cut off its natural gas dependence on Russia as much and quick as possible.    Today, we discuss a report, “A...

Send us Fan Mail "The 2021 China Report of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change" gave a detailed analysis of the health impacts of climate change in China and what Chinese government may do to overcome these challenges. In this episode, REEI's Erin Pan and Ang Zhao dissects this report. As World Health Organization suggests, climate change becomes the largest public hea...

Send us Fan Mail The coal power upsurge in 2021 may raise the concern that China faces more challenges on peaking its national carbon emissions before 2030. However the breakdown of electricity consumption may suggest that the downturn of economic growth, low urbanization and aging population will reduce the power demand in the near future. In addition, the slower infrastructure construction and t...

Send us Fan Mail On 9 February 2022, National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) organized an online meeting on stabilizing the price of thermal coal. The local energy regulatory authorities from major coal mining and coal power provinces and some large state-owned coal mining corporations attended this meeting. The national energy policy regulator’s new effort just after the Chinese New Yea...

Send us Fan Mail Recently, a focus on the development in hydrogen fuel has pushed FCEVs (Fuel cell electric vehicles) once again to the forefront of road transportation decarbonization. In today’s episode, we'd like to re-broadcast a previous episode, in which Ang Zhao discusses with Dr. Gregory Trencher about the potential of FCEVs and policy strategies from major players in the field, parti...

Send us Fan Mail In today’s episode, we'd like to re-broadcast a previous episode, in which Ang Zhao from REEI and Dr. Kenji Otsuka from the Institute of Developing Economies discussed the role of non-state actors in environmental governance in the Northeast Asia region. In 2021, we saw that non-state actors, including NGOs and industries, have been playing an increasingly significant roles i...

Send us Fan Mail By publishing "Achieving a Carbon Neutral Energy System in China by 2060", Shell becomes another international organization to present a carbon neutral roadmap for China by the middle of this century. What are the additional inputs and different policy recommendations in Shell's report? Why does the report, which is based on the database of International Energy Agen...

Send us Fan Mail All climate mitigation actions have to be built upon quantification, monitoring, reporting and verification of carbon emissions. A newly launched database on carbon footprint of products in China aims to promote a participatory approach to support all kinds of organizations and businesses to assess the carbon footprint of products and services, as well as develop their carbon mana...

Send us Fan Mail Many advancements in energy and climate policy in 2021 will still be significant in 2022. In today's episode we'd like to look into the potential challenges and opportunities surrounding China’s climate and energy events in 2022. We will discuss the power supply issue, how China's methane emission reduction commitment will be materialized and how China will enhance...

Send us Fan Mail On the last day of 2021, we would like to look back to all the episodes from this past year and see what we have learned from the major climate and energy events in 2021. At the same time, we would like to look ahead at an eventful year 2022 will bring. We've enjoyed sharing our podcast with our listeners this year, and we look forward to many more exciting episodes. Support...

Send us Fan Mail China's electricity shortage this past year has caused significant impact on the global manufacturing supply chain. The ripple effect of it has already been seen around the globe, affecting consumers directly with shortages from paint to electronics. In this episode, we want to dissect the reasoning behind these disruptions, who were affected and looking ahead at how China ca...

Send us Fan Mail Tsinghua University 3E Institute of China, in collaboration with Chatham House of UK, published a series of three reports in December of 2021. These publications gave a well rounded and detailed examination into China's climate risk evaluation and estimated economic loss, case studies and lessons from the current Chinese climate risk governance strategies, and policy recommen...

Send us Fan Mail The EU is taking a big step forward to address the "just" issue of waste trafficking by adopting new policy proposals. Environmental justice finally got another  chance to be embedded into policy measure. In this episode, we are rebroadcasting a conversation on how to pursue an inclusive and just transition to circular economy which was recorded about a year ago. In the...

Send us Fan Mail Following COP26's "Global Methane Pledge" and "US-China Joint Climate Statement", China's methane reduction efforts became an area of international focus. In China's newest 14th Five Year Plan, Methane policies are set as priority for the first time. This episode takes a deep dive into the significance of Methane in combating climate change, and...

Send us Fan Mail Healthcare sector accounts for around 4.4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. At COP26 in Glasgow, several countries and organizations committed to building a sustainable and low-carbon health system and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 or earlier. In this episode, we will share healthcare decarbonization pathways and introduce two case studies for energy efficiency improveme...

Send us Fan Mail As COP 26 concluded on Nov 13th, COP26 president Alok Sharma commented that “We have kept 1.5 degrees alive. But its pulse is weak, and it will only survive if we keep our promises and translate commitments into rapid action.” What led to his conclusion? In this episode, Yating Yuan and Jiaqiao Lin from REEI reviewed and shared their views on the outcomes of this COP, mainly focus...