Blog Archive
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2009
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September
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- Sixty gun salutes fired marking China’s 60th anniv...
- China kicks off National Day extravaganza
- The60th anniversary of the founding of the People'...
- 60th anniversary of China's National Day
- News Today
- Rome: 10 Things to Do in 24 Hours
- Do-It-Yourself Translations Through Facebook Connect
- 1-800-Flowers Gets Analytics Tool for Measuring Fa...
- Mad Men Keeps Viewers Involved Through Interactive...
- YouTube Falls Short In Facebook Popularity Contest...
- Love, pleasure, duty: Why women have sex
- Plan your ideal walking workout
- Parents clueless when it comes to kids' growth charts
- 'Sorry I Haven't Written': A Scientific Explanation
- What You Need To Know About The H1N1 Vaccine
- News Today
- T-ara Celebrates Chuseok
- Rain’s Shanghai Concert Is A Scam
- Wonder Girls’ Diary in America Part 1
- Kris Allen Working With Adele and Duffy's Collabor...
- Rob Thomas' 'Someday' Music Video Debuted
- Radiohead's Thom Yorke Forms New Band With RHCP's ...
- Mitchel Musso's 'Shout It' Music Video Comes Out
- Lady GaGa Reveals Storyline of Her Joint Tour With...
- Mayday Parade Premiere 'The Silence' Music Video
- '90210' 2.05 Preview: Naomi Goes Green
- Preview of 'Melrose Place' 1.05: Canon
- 'Grey's Anatomy' Welcomes Sarah Drew as New Doctor
- A New Trailer of Epic Miniseries 'The Pacific'
- The Sue Storm of 'Fantastic Four' is in talks to j...
- Jessica Alba to Stir Things Up in 'Little Fockers'
- 'Whip It!': On the Set With Jimmy Fallon, Ellen Pa...
- Sylvester Stallone in New 'The Expendables' Photo
- 'Avatar' Sequel Could Explore Pandora Deeper
- Mandy Moore Talks Disney's 'Rapunzel'
- Emmy Rossum Reportedly Dating Counting Crows' Adam...
- Jon Cryer and Wife Lisa Joyner Adopt a Baby Girl
- Christina Milian and The-Dream Planning Another We...
- Private Memorial Service for Patrick Swayze Set fo...
- Scarlett Johansson: 'I Have Terrible Stage Fright'
- Karina Smirnoff Has New Boyfriend
- News Today
- The Obama Assassination Poll — Another Story About...
- New England Patriots Use Facebook As Primary Onlin...
- Taylor Swift’s Facebook Page Still Growing Fast, W...
- Miami: 10 Things to Do in 24 Hours
- Want to Lose Weight? Avoid Skinny Overeaters
- Scientists Announce Trove of Fragile New Species i...
- Miss Switzerland 2009 Linda Faeh
- News Today
- Giant panda twin cub
- T-ara And Supernova To Unleash TTL Listen.2
- What’s long, black and fits nicely in SNSD’s hands?
- Opening Dance Stage at Girl Groups Chuseok Special
- Sugababes' Amelle Reportedly Receives Death Threat...
- Snippet of The Queen Project's Debut Single
- Weezer Will Duet With Lil Wayne on 'Can't Stop Par...
- Lady GaGa Named Billboard's Rising Star
- 50 Cent Rushed to Hospital After Listening to Fat ...
- 'Camp Rock 2' Invites Fans to Join the Filming
- 'One Tree Hill' 7.04 Preview: Believe Me, I'm Lying
- Preview of 'Gossip Girl' 3.04: The Stars Are Coming
- Recap: Jive, Tango and Quickstep on 'Dancing with ...
- 'Wizards of Waverly Place' Receives More Episodes
- 'Heroes' 4.04 Preview: Tracy Is Back
- Oren Peli's 'Paranormal Activity' Expands to 20 Mo...
- Salma Hayek Gets a Vision in New 'The Vampire's As...
- 'New Moon' Unleashes Three Fresh Character Posters
- No 'Valentine's Day' for Joe Jonas
- First Look at Amanda in 'Saw VI'
- Plot Details on Robert Rodriguez's 'Predators'
- 'The Princess and the Frog': Extended Clip and Fea...
- Kim Kardashian and Reggie Bush 'Totally Back Toget...
- Emmy Rossum's Husband Justin Siegel Files for Divorce
- Robert Pattinson Isn't an 'Attention-Seeker'
- Hayden Panettiere Denies Dating Kevin Connolly
- Fred Durst and Wife Divorcing
- Taylor Lautner Feels Uncomfortable With His Muscul...
- News Today
- Iran Says It Test-Fires Longest-Range Missiles
- Five insider strategies for avoiding a hotel billi...
- Chicago: 10 Things to Do in 24 Hours
- Cartoons of the Week, September 26, 2009 - October...
- How Can A Pregnant Woman Get Pregnant Again?
- Why Doctors Are Giving Heroin to Heroin Addicts
- News Today
- Follow Ivy Behind the Scenes
- Lee Hyori’s New Album is going to be off the hook!
- JQT Releases Teaser
- Brown Eyed Girls @ Circle Nightclub Teaser!
- Carrie Underwood's 'Cowboy Casanova' Music Video A...
- Artist of the Week: Mariah Carey
- Video: Jenny Slate Dropped the F-Word on 'Saturday...
- 'Amazing Race' Eliminates Two Pairs Early in Its S...
- Cloudy with a Chance' Sticks to Box Office's Top
- A 'Predators' Role for Danny Trejo
- Tickets for Michael Jackson's 'This Is It' On Sale
- Jaime Pressly Ties the Knot
- Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom's Wedding Is On, t...
- Justin Guarini Weds Fiancee Reina Capodici
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September
(587)
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Is China Turning Into the Climate Change Good Guy?
A resident rides a motor bike past the Helanshan Wind Power Plant in Ningxia province on Sept. 23, 2009The U.S. entered this week's round of climate negotiations as the global bad guy, a holdover from eight years of barely veiled contempt for the process from former President George W. Bush's Administration. But China wasn't far behind. The world's biggest country is now it's biggest carbon emitter, and its sheer rate of economic expansion — fueled chiefly by polluting coal — ensures China won't lose that spot any time soon. While the U.S. earned the world's antipathy for refusing to sign onto the Kyoto Protocol, China, as a developing nation, had no requirements under that pact — and rarely seemed interested in stepping up to its responsibilities within the UN climate change process. While the standoff between the U.S. and China — over who needed to cut carbon emissions and who needed to pay for it — has been the main reason behind the deadlock in global climate negotiations over the past few years, both countries deserved blame for failing to take the lead internationally.The world knew the U.S. would change when President Barack Obama took office, given the importance he placed during his campaign on climate change. But coming out of the UN's high-level meeting on climate change on Sept. 22, it is China that has managed to seize the moral high ground — fairly or not. President Hu Jintao told the UN that China would increase the share of renewable and nuclear power in its energy supply to 15% by 2020, plant 40 million hectares of forest by 2020, increase investment in a greener economy and reduce its carbon intensity — the amount of economic value it gets per unit of power — by a "notable margin" by 2020. Many of those domestic goals had already been announced, but the tone of Hu's speech made an impact on his audience. "I think China has provided impressive leadership," said Al Gore after Hu's talk. Now the world's fastest growing big economy is ready to move into one of the world's fastest growing financial markets: carbon trading. The China-Beijing Environmental Exchange (CBEEX) and the French emissions exchange BlueNext announced on Sept. 23 that they were putting together a carbon market standard for China. Although details at the announcement were fuzzy — aside from the fact that it would be called the "Panda Standard" — the move is an early step toward creating a voluntary carbon trading system in China. Although China is still very far from accepting the mandatory carbon caps used by countries covered by the Kyoto Protocol — Hu emphasized the importance of economic development first in his speech — the Panda Standard is a sign that China could see a stake in the creation of a global carbon market. "Any carbon market inside China has the potential to be a game-changer," says David Yarnold, the executive director of the Environmental Defense Fund.China is already involved in the emerging global carbon market — companies in the developed world can sponsor carbon-cutting projects in China under the Kyoto Protocol to earn offsets. But the CBEEX-BlueNext collaboration could begin to allow Chinese companies themselves to get involved in the offset market — just as voluntary markets in the U.S. have done for American companies. For now, the standard will focus on agriculture and forestry projects, with expectations that it will grow to cover Chinese transportation, power and manufacturing. "We think that Chinese companies are very aware of their greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, and that they're keep to support a voluntary carbon reduction initiative in China," said David Ralpin, a BlueNext official. The key word is "voluntary" — China is a long way from accepting the need to put an absolute cap on its carbon emissions. Hu didn't promise to actually reduce Chinese carbon emissions, but simply become more energy efficient — something it needs to do anyway. "China knows that if it continues consuming and developing the way it has been, the machine will collapse," said Yvo de Boer, the head of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change. But China hasn't even said how much it will improve its carbon intensity — Xie Zhenhua, China's top environmental official, only told reporters that "We are studying this issue and we should be able to announce a target soon."Still, it's a notable change for a country that's been played its cards tightly on the diplomatic stage. The U.S., after all, has yet to say for sure how much it is willing to cut its own carbon emissions, thanks to the slow movement of the Senate, which still has yet to fully take up a cap and trade bill. Both countries will need to do more — much more — if the UN Climate Change summit in Copenhagen is to be a success, and they'll need to be more straightforward. But as EDF's Yarnold said in a speech today: "China is no laggard in the race to develop clean energy and reduce global warming pollution. In fact, it is moving ahead." If the U.S. isn't careful, it might get lapped. source: time.com