Environment China

IPCC指出，全球49%的温室气体排放与城市有关，与此同时，我们正在经历大规模快速的城市化浪潮，预计2030年全球将有60%的人口生活在城市中，而2050年这个数字将增长至70%。这既是机遇又是挑战，城市化过程需要从传统模式向低碳模式转变，而城市的经济发展模式也需要经历转型的阵痛。可以说，城市转型的成败关乎全球2℃目标的实现与否。中国自2010年开始进行低碳试点工作，截至目前已确定了29个省区81个城市进行低碳试点。如何评价中国城市的低碳发展进程？独立智库绿色创新发展中心联合美国劳伦斯伯克利国家实验室，在能源基金会的支持下开展了一项名为“中国城市绿色低碳发展指数”的研究，通过构建一套多维度综合指标体系，选择115个样本城市，收集数据，基于指标体系和城市分类对中国城市重点领域的绿色低碳发展行动和政策的实施效果进行量化分析，追踪和比较城市绿色低碳发展状态和程度。本次中国环境播客请到这项研究的主要负责人绿色创新发展中心的杨鹂博士为我们详细解读这项研究及其主要发现。 The guest of this episode is Dr. Yang Li, the Program Head of innovative Green Development Program (iGDP). Recently, iGDP, Energy Foundation (China), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) China Energy Group launched the China Low-carbon Green Index of City (China Logic) to track green low-carbon development in China’s cities to explore future development models. It is a multi-dimensional comprehensive index, which selects 115 cities as samples, collects data, quantifies green low-carbon development policy implementation and actions, and tracks and compares cities’ green low-carbon development. Yang Li shared the details of this research and key findings.

Most of China’s youth are being raised in urban jungles, with little chance to experience and understand the earth’s tremendous ecosystems. But one intrepid environmentalist from Shandong wanted to see Antarctica so badly she started a crowdfunding campaign to support her expedition — and has been finding ways to teach the next generation about everything from penguins to polar melting ever since.

In this episode, we sit down with Songqiao Yao, an environmental explorer and serial entrepreneur. Songqiao is the founder of WildBound, "a nature-inspired school situated in classroom earth and taught by teacher ecosystems.” Songqiao shares her own story of growing up yearning to explore the world’s environments, and how she is currently leveraging her background in environmental policy, geography and business strategy to instill that same drive for environmental protection in China’s youth. You can follow WildBound on WeChat @野声WildBound.

Note: WildBound is hiring for various positions! If you are interested and have relevant experience in environmental education, conservation, science, sustainable consulting and/or communication, get in touch! They are a growing team with presence all over the world, so you don’t even have to be based in China. Write to Songqiao or send your CV directly to [email protected].

过去几年来，中国深受雾霾困扰，无论是政府还是专家都在积极寻求成因和良策。在北京深圳这样的大城市，基本达成的共识是机动车是PM2.5的主要污染源。于是，在政府大力治理大气污染的同时，具有零排放或低排放的新能源汽车在中国的迅猛发展也就不难理解了。今天做客环境中国播客的嘉宾是来自国际清洁交通委员会的中国团队研究员崔洪阳。洪阳和大家分享了中国新能源汽车的推广概况和经验，也介绍了不同城市的新能源汽车推广的共性和个性，同时还介绍了国内外遇到的共同难题。如果听众朋友希望了解更多内容，可以登录国际清洁交通委员会的网站www.theicct.org或者关注icct微信公众号（搜索国际清洁交通委员会即可）

Our guest for this episode is Cui Hongyang, Researcher in China team of International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), who joins us to discuss the rapid development of electric vehicles in China. Hongyang shares his insights on China's national and local policies and also domestic and international experience. He also discusses the problems we face in the promotion of electric vehicles.

To curb climate change, we need not only to reduce carbon emissions, but also to actively suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. That's where bamboo comes in. It turns out that bamboo is more than a snack for pandas; it's also an excellent carbon straw, sequestering carbon better than almost any other plant in the world. And given that bamboo grows incredibly fast, and is both strong and light-weight, it also has thousands of potential commercial applications .

In this episode, we sit down with Charlotte King, a Communications Specialist at the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR), to learn about the global efforts to scale up bamboo agriculture. Charlotte explains some of the biology behind this super grass. We also learn about other environmental applications of bamboo, including erosion control and a replacement for traditional firewood.

近年来，气候变化毋庸置疑已经成为了全球热点话题。此前中美两国在应对气候变化方面的双边合作以及各自国内政策吸引了广泛的关注。然而随着不久前美国总统特朗普宣布退出《巴黎协定》，局面又有了新的发展。同时另一方面，中国设立气候变化南南合作基金，积极开展合作项目。无论是中美对话还是南南合作，中国本土NGO都在其中发挥了重要作用。

今天做客环境中国播客的嘉宾是来自全球环境研究所GEI的常务秘书季琳。季琳所在的GEI是一家成立于2004年的中国本土非营利性组织，曾积极参与并推动中美两国气候变化的二轨对话，同时帮助中国政府推进落实气候变化南南合作项目，特别是中国对缅甸的气候援助。

We're excited to bring you our first Chinese-language pilot episode: “The Role of Local Chinese NGOs in the Fight Against Climate Change."

Our guest for this episode is Ji Lin, the Executive Secretary at the Global Environmental Institute (GEI), who joins us to discuss China's emergent climate leadership in the aftermath of President Trump's decision to leave the Paris Agreement. We learn about the progress of China's South-South Cooperation Fund and about GEI's work to bring Chinese climate aid to Myanmar.

The California-China climate relationship has been thrust into the spotlight since Governor Jerry Brown of California visited China following President Trump’s Paris withdrawal announcement, and also recently extended the state's cap and trade program to 2030. This relationship could soon be taken to new heights as China prepares to launch the world’s largest carbon market next year and aims to learn from California's cap and trade experience. 

We’re excited to invite Chris Busch, Research Director at Energy Innovation and head of the firm’s California policy program, onto our show to walk us through the basics of carbon markets, including California’s revamped carbon market and what China may be able to take away from California's experience thus far as China builds a carbon market of its own. You can read more from Chris in a recent editorial he published in China Daily on how carbon markets enable sustainable growth.

Cities are microcosms of the world’s environmental issues. By 2030, one billion people are expected to be urban residents in China, and some three quarters of global emissions to come from cities. The issues impacting a urban sustainability are numerous: land use layout, public transit, and resource usage, to name a few. With over a hundred cities hosting a population of 1 million or more, China has to consider these issues on an unprecedented scale.

Our guest, Chenzi Yiyang, helps show us the path forward for how cities can become sustainable – by balancing development and environmental protection. Chenzi has worked on addressing urban issues with several international NGOs and development agencies. She tours us through what an ideal city would look like (spoiler alert: it doesn’t exist, yet). However, Chinese cities are making strong efforts to develop various eco-city and low-carbon city programs to create scalable solutions to urban sustainability issues. Chenzi breaks down this complicated problem and guides us through the key elements of greening Chinese cities.

Environment China is on summer break this week!

We will be back in two weeks' time, with our regular schedule of episodes and interviews with environmental professionals in China.

Plus, listen in this week for a special announcement about our soon-to-launch series of Chinese-language episodes!

In the meantime... we hope that you are enjoying your summer, too!

Our planet is warming; our ice caps and glaciers are melting. By pumping massive amounts of greenhouse gases into the air, humankind is effectively tinkering with the atmosphere, putting ourselves on a path to dangerous levels of climate change. But what if we could tinker in the other direction, to keep global temperatures at safe levels?

To find out more about the so-called idea of geoengineering and China's related research efforts, we sit down with British expat John Moore, who is Chief Scientist heading China's leading research program on the topic housed at Beijing Normal University. You can read more on John's personal website (http://kaares.ulapland.fi/home/hkunta/jmoore/johnpage.htm), including a recent article he co-authored on whether China will be the first to initiate geoengineering, or by checking out this recent article in MIT Technology Review. John also recommends a recent editorial in Science, entitled, "How to govern geoengineering?".