Environment China

Fossil fuel subsidies lower the price we pay for gasoline, heating, and other commodities, but they also incentivize greater consumption of coal and oil – which pollute the environment and threaten the global climate. A recent peer review of China’s fossil fuel subsides found that China spends over 13 billion USD a year on fossil fuel subsidies – and that may be a conservative estimate.

In this episode, we interview Liu Shuang, a Program Officer at Energy Foundation China, to learn about the progress China is making in reforming its fossil fuel subsidies, and about the work Energy Foundation is doing to help China develop more efficient and low-carbon economic policies.

Read more about fossil fuel subsidies in Liu Shuang's piece for chinadialogue here.

Health concerns from food safety scares have compelled some Beijingers to buy imported food. Erica Huang wants to buck that trend by making safe, sustainable food and other products accessible to urban residents of Beijing.  

This episode features our conversation with Erica, the founder of Farm to Neighbors, a weekly market that brings together local farmers and other entrepreneurs to sell goods produced using sustainable and eco-friendly practices. We learn about the challenges of organic certification in China and about a wave of “new farmers” – young, educated entrepreneurs who want to ditch cities for farmland. 

The Farm to Neighbors market operates on Saturdays and Sundays from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Grand Summit in Liangmaqiao. You can learn more about F2N by following their WeChat account: farm2neighbors.

We apologize that the audio quality is still not 100% perfect. The problem has since been fixed.

"Renewable energy" typically conjures up images of rooftops decked out in solar panels or wind turbines twirling on a hillside.  But there are also less “picturesque” forms of clean energy— including sludge, a byproduct of wastewater treatment. Did you know that an increasing number of U.S. cities are turning sewage into renewable low-carbon electricity? Maybe "poo power" has a future in China, too.

In this episode, we interview Jennifer Turner, director of the Wilson Center's China Environment Forum and manager of the Global Choke Point Initiative, as she relays stories of a "forgotten renewable" and how new applications such as wastewater sludge to energy may transform city systems in the USA and China. Jennifer also explains why we should pay more attention to the art of storytelling.

Find out more about the China Environment Forum here: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/program/china-environment-forum.

 *We apologize for the sound quality in this pilot episode. We've identified the equipment problem, and subsequent episodes will not have this issue.

Local pollution, climate change, and increasing demand all pose significant strains on the availability of clean and reliable water supplies for China's homes, farms, and industries. And all of this translates to real financial risks for companies and investors who rely on water resources in their assets.

In this episode, we interview Hubert Thieriot of China Water Risk about his work to improve valuation methodologies of water risks and his recent case study on ten listed companies in China, "Toward Water Risk Valuation in China."

Find more about China Water Risk here: http://chinawaterrisk.org/.

Download the report "Toward Water Risk Valuation in China" here: http://chinawaterrisk.org/notices/new-cwr-report-toward-water-risk-valuation/.

Tune in to learn about Environment China, a brand-new podcast from the Beijing Energy Network (BEN). We hope you'll join us in listening to our first series of podcasts as we chat with advocates, entrepreneurs, and experts in the environmental field in China and explore why now is the right time for real and positive change for China's environment.

See you next time -- smog or shine!