On February 22, 2021, China’s State Council issued the “Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Establishment and Improvement of a Green and Low-Carbon Circular Development Economic System”. Published by the highest Chinese governing body only few weeks before the start of the “Two Sessions”- the annual plenary sessions of the national…
On February 2, 2021, the British government published a review of “The Economics of Biodiversity” by academic Sir Partha Sarathi Dasgupta. In it, the authors point out the “collective failure” of humanity to preserve nature, due to a “widespread and deeply rooted institutional failure”. Accordingly, Dasgupta calls for a transformative…
On January 10th, the State Council Information Office (the administrative office under the State Council) published the White Paper on “China’s International Development Cooperation in the New Era” (中文版本). In 8 chapters, the paper summarizes China’s recent engagement in (generously) providing development assistance (intermixed with its overseas economic engagement) and…
The original article was published on Panda Paw Dragon Claw on 11th January, 2021 and has been updated on Jan 18, 2021. “When the tide goes out, you see who is swimming naked”! This is a quote coined by Warren Buffet about those who take on too much debt, believing…
On September 22, 2020, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that China aims to peak CO2 emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060 during the UN General Assembly. EU-China-summit-2020 (Pic: European Council) One important partner for China to reach its ambitions is the European Union (EU). On September 14,…
Executive Summary Download the report here China is a major lender for countries of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, many of these countries have seen their sovereign debt become unsustainable. Based on the analysis of debt in 52 Selected BRI countries from 2014 to…
This article was originally published on China Dialogue under a Creative Commons licence. It will be a gargantuan task for China to make good on its recent pledge to become carbon neutral by 2060. Currently, it contributes about 26% of global carbon emissions, its economy is still rapidly developing, and many of its sectors and…
On October 26, 2020, five Chinese government ministries/regulators jointly issued the “Guidance on promoting investment and financing to address climate change” (find original here and an unofficial English translation here) – in short “Climate Finance Guidance”. The Climate Finance Guidance came weeks after Chinese President Xi’s announcement at the United…
The European Union Project EC-Link published the new report by IIGF Director Christoph Nedopil, Ying Cui, Andreas Kress and Marie Kleeschulte on “Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) & Green Urban Finance”. In this article, we provide a short summary of the report. Download the full report here About the report…
On September 21, 2020, the aerospace giant Airbus announced concept designs for “ZEROe”, a zero-emission, hydrogen-powered airplane that would enter service by 2035. While it might be difficult to imagine traveling on a hydrogen-powered plane, hydrogen as a fuel is not new: liquid hydrogen has served as a rocket propellant…