Climate Watch

China has taken a major step toward improving corporate climate transparency with the release of its new "Corporate Sustainable Disclosure Standard No. 1 – Climate (Trial)." What does the standard require, and how should businesses and investors prepare? Zhao Ying speaks with Allan Xie, Deloitte China's Climate and Sustainability Leader.

This episode was recorded on the sidelines of the 2026 International Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy Economics. Special thanks to the School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua University, which co-hosted the conference.

Since January 1st, the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) has fully entered into force. It places a carbon price on imports including iron, steel, and aluminum. For manufacturers in China and across global supply chains, it's no longer just about the quality or price of a product; it's now fundamentally about the carbon embedded within it. How can companies track, report, and verify emissions to EU standards? What do the EU’s default values mean for exporters? In this episode, Zhou Fang spoke with Tu Jianjun, Managing Director of Agora Energy China and Lin Boqiang, Dean of China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy.

The European Union has reached an agreement with Beijing on general guidelines regarding the pricing of Chinese electric vehicles. Shortly thereafter, Canada announced it would allow up to 49,000 Chinese EVs to enter the country at a most-favored-nation rate of 6.1 percent. Are countries finally prioritizing affordable decarbonization over a global trade war?

Zhao Ying speaks with Arvea Marieni, European Climate Pact Ambassador.

China and the UK have forged a robust foundation in advancing green energy and climate action. In recent years, cooperation between China and the UK in the offshore wind sector has grown increasingly close, transitioning from project investments by Chinese companies to deeper industrial integration. At the same time, the technological frontier of cooperation has extended to emerging fields, such as offshore wind-to-hydrogen production.

Zhou Fang spoke with Guan Dabo, Distinguished Chair Professor of Climate Change Research from Tsinghua University. We explore how this synergy moves from dialogue to real-world projects. We also discuss the urgent need for joint research on enhancing climate adaptation and resilience.

A UN report declares that the world has entered an era of global "water bankruptcy," with irreversible consequences. The report warns that many societies have been using water faster than nature can replenish it, and that the situation is so severe that old terms like "water crisis" or "water stressed" simply don't capture the full magnitude anymore.

What does a global water bankruptcy really mean? Why is it happening? And can we restructure this debt before it's too late?

Zhao Ying speaks with Wu Changhua, President of Global Climate Academy and Chair of the Governing Council of the Asia Pacific Water Forum.

The Trump administration has announced its intention to withdraw from 66 international bodies, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Later this month, on January 27, the US will also officially depart the Paris Agreement for the second time.

What does all this mean for global climate action?

Zhao Ying speaks with Daniel Kreeger, the executive director and co-founder of the Association of Climate Change Officers.

The High Seas Treaty, formally known as the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction agreement, will enter into force on 17 January, marking a major step in global ocean governance. What does it do, who benefits, and will it truly change how the high seas are managed? Zhao Ying speaks with Zhang Yimo, Priority Project Coordinator of WWF China's Sustainable Blue Economy Program.

As global temperatures continue to rise due to greenhouse gas emissions, can we dim the sunlight to cool the Earth?

The idea may sound extreme, but solar radiation management, or solar geo-engineering, has already become a serious subject of scientific research. And it's not just scientists—billionaires like Elon Musk and Bill Gates have also shown interest.

How viable is this concept in practice? What ethical, environmental, and global governance challenges could it bring?

Zhao Ying speaks with John Moore, a research professor at the Arctic Center, University of Lapland in Finland. From 2015 to '22, he led the Chinese geoengineering research program while serving as Chief Scientist at the College of Global Change and Earth System Science, Beijing Normal University.

As the year comes to a close, we step back to look at what 2025 tells us about where we are on climate change. What climate events mattered most? Where did we see real momentum, and where are the biggest risks? And as we head into 2026, what should we be watching most closely? Zhao Ying speaks with Fei Fei to unpack it all.

For years, critics in Washington and Brussels have warned about China producing "too many" solar panels. But could this so-called "overcapacity" actually be the key to solving Africa's energy crisis?

A recent report by global energy think tank Ember shows that Africa’s imports of Chinese solar panels surged by 60% in the year leading up to June, marking the first signs of a solar take-off across the continent.

Zhao Ying speaks with Dave Jones, co-founder of Ember and the author of this report, to explore the potential for solar energy to transform Africa's energy landscape.