The government of China announced the appointment of a new environment minister on Tuesday, following the former environment minister, Chen Jining, being appointed as the acting mayor of Beijing.
Clean, fresh air. Those who are fortunate enough to live in parts of the world where pollution levels have not gone insane yet will barely be aware of its exceptional value, but those living in places where there just doesn’t seem to be such a thing as leaving the house without ruining your respiratory system know its virtue. Interesting news in that regard involves South Korea.
Over the next ten years, China is expected to install an annual average of more than 25 gigawatts of new wind capacity, resulting in a cumulative growth across the decade of about 403 gigawatts, according to new figures from MAKE Consulting.
US Department of Energy data as reviewed by The Associated Press reveals that the US mined a staggering 19% more coal in the first 5 months of 2017 than during the same period in 2016. This is especially surprising given the developments of last year, when US coal was clearly dwindling.
All heads of the European Union, from EU Member States through to the EU Presidents of the Council and Commission, last week reaffirmed their strong commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement, and their desire to “swiftly and fully” implement the goals therein.
A new report published this week by the OECD has concluded that, while many countries are making progress on environmental productivity in terms of carbon, energy, and materials, and the growing consensus that carbon dioxide emissions and fossil fuel use have decoupled from economic growth, progress is still too slow if we are to meet the targets outlined in recent international treaties and commitments.
Rumors of a new Tesla factory in Shanghai, China, have been flying around the internet for months. And just as quickly as they popped up, Tesla batted them away, saying they were just speculation, there was nothing official, it was looking at several locations in China, it had made no decision yet, and things of that nature.
While Elon Musk and Tesla start the electric car revolution from the high end of the market, Chinese company CHJ Automotive plans to start from the low end. Co-founder Kevin Shen says the company plans to introduce an ultra-compact electric car starting at around $7,800 in 2018. The company is working together with Clem, a French ride-hailing service, to test the cars in Paris.
The Chinese market had more than 40,000 new EVs zooming the streets last month, a 49% increase in sales over the same month last year, with the EV market share now at 1.4%, close to last year’s record (1.45%). Expect improvement as the year progresses and sales expand, with the Chinese EV market potentially surpassing 2% market share.
Last week, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met privately with German chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss China’s proposal to require all manufacturers to sell more so-called new energy vehicles. After the meeting, Merkel thought she had an agreement that would allow German companies that manufacture cars in China a little breathing room before complying with the new rules.
