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Weekly News Digest
Climate Change in China
November3 -7, 2008
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November 2 Chinese Regulators Destroy Tons of Tainted Animal Feed (New York Times)
SHANGHAI — Chinese regulators said over the weekend that they had confiscated and destroyed more than 3,600 tons of animal feed tainted with melamine, an industrial chemical that has contaminated food supplies in China and led to global recalls of Chinese dairy products.
In what appeared to be China’s biggest food safety crackdown in years, the government also said Saturday that it had closed 238 feed makers in a series of nationwide sweeps that involved more than 369,000 government inspectors.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/0 ... rld&oref=slogin
November 3 Frequency Convertible Air Conditioner is the Optimal Choice for China’s Energy-saving (Business Sohu Network)
In many countries, saving energy from air-conditioner usage is important.In recent years, a series of measures have been taken to encourage new air-conditioner products that use energy efficiently.According to statistics, 76% of the countries have set up the minimum energy efficiency standards or logos that every product should meet; 19% of the nations have implemented the voluntary standards or logos. So far, 37 countries and regions including the European Union, the United States, Canada, Brazil, Australia and South Korea, have widely applied national energy efficiency rating logo to many products.
http://business.sohu.com/20081103/n260407278.shtml
November 3 Climate Change May Significantly Affects China's Grain Production (Xin Hua Network)
The result presentation of “The Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture in China" research project, carried out by Chinese and British scientists, was held in Beijing on October 31.The research shows that if China does not take appropriate measures to adapt to climate change, climate change will affect China's future grain production.Lin Erda, the Chinese expert, who is a researcher in China Agriculture Science Faculty, said that China will suffer from the adverse effects of climate change rather seriously than other developing countries.The climate change will raise China’s instability in grain production.To strengthen scientific research in related fields, and enhance China's ability to adapt to climate change in agriculture is of great importance for China to ensure food security and maintain social stability.
http://discover.news.163.com/08/1103/09/4PQKBNPV000125LI.html
November 4 China and Britain Seek to Cooperate in Fighting Climate Change in Guangdong (Guangdong News Network)
UK Department for International Development and National Development and Reform Commission of People’s Republic of China arrived at Guangdong Province and had a discussion on the impact of climate change and adaption program, which is one of the collaboration programs in the field of climate change. On Nov.3, the experts from the two counterparts and Development and Reform Commission of Guangdong Province, the Administration of Meteorology of Guangdong Province and the Administration of Water Resources of Guangdong Province, exchanged their views on how to enhance the local ability to monitor extreme climate disasters, to relieve disasters, to research on climate change, to evaluate the danger and impact of climate change.
http://www.gd.chinanews.com.cn/2008/2008-11-04/8/85900.shtml
November 4 Four Major Problems on Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction ( People News Network)
Gu Binlin, the president of Tsuinghua University, pointed out four major problems that haunt energy conservation and emission reduction in the Fourth International Forum on Environment and Developing China.
First, energy intensive and high pollution industries are proportionally high in domestic industries.
Second, current energy structure is not in favor of energy conservation and emission reduction, because the high-quality energy supply is in shortage.
Third, the domestic technology for energy conservation and emission reduction is relatively lagged behind other countries in the world.
Fourth, the domestic policy and supervision system still need to be improved, especially in law, regulation and policy aspects.
http://business.sohu.com/20081104/n260435604.shtml
November 5 Five Problems in Electricity Industry’s Energy Saving and Emission Reduction Work(China News Network)
China’s power industry has achieved a remarkable success in energy saving and emission reduction.However, there are still some problems, mainly in five aspects.
First, the effect of desulfurization facilities is limited and need to be improved.
Second, the quality of coal used for generating electricity declined.It affects the results of energy saving and emission reduction in power industries.
Third, the energy-saving and emission reduction efforts made by the small coal steam-electric plants and captive power plants remain to be strengthened. Fourth, current energy saving and emission reduction statistics are voluntarily reported by corporations, numbers may not updated and concise enough.
Fifth, the measure of applying market-based instruments to promote energy saving and emission reduction is not mature yet.
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/cj/kong/news/2008/11-05/1437398.shtml
November 5 "Energy Saving, Emission Reduction, and Development in Hebei" Forum Opened (Xin Hua Network)
A two-day "Energy Saving, Emission Reduction, and Development in Hebei" opened yesterday in Hebei Province.Experts and scholars made an analysis of current situations in environmental protection and energy utilization in Hubei and explored the ways of saving energy and reducing emissions.Hebei Province will speed up the implementation of major energy-saving projects. While actively competing for the national financial support, Hebei Province, at the same time, will supervise the allocation of the special funds for energy-saving projects all over the province, support energy-saving pilot projects, and aim to complete 100 energy-saving projects and start 100 projects in one year.
http://www.he.xinhuanet.com/news/2008-11/05/content_14835966.htm
November 6 Prestigious University Students Debated about Global Climate Change ( People News Network)
The first invitation competition on Mimic Climate Change Conference was rounded off on Nov. 3 in Wuhan University.18 contestants from 9 prestigious universities including National University of Singapore, Peking University, Tsuinghua University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Wuhan University, hotly debated climate change issues. Based on different groups’ interests, each representative proposed the specific plan on carbon emission reduction across the world.
At the end, Hu Shuguang, from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wang Chao, from Nanjing University, Du Jun, from Wuhan University, respectively got “The Best Manner Prize,” “The Most Eloquent Prize” and “The Most Potential Prize.”Two girls from Tsuinghua University earned the first prize for their outstanding carbon emission reduction plan, strong academic background and extraordinary eloquence.
http://news.sohu.com/20081106/n260477786.shtml
November 6 Development and Reform Commission of People’s Republic of China Explains China’s Policy and Action towards Climate Change ( People News Network)
Xie zhenhua, the deputy director in Development and Reform Commission of People’s Republic of China, explained the white paper of China’s Policy and Action towards Climate Change to the media.
The white paper issued today consists of 8 chapters, that is, the climate change and Chinese national conditions, the influence of climate change to China, the strategy and goal to fight climate change, the policy and action to slow down climate change, the plan to raise the public awareness and participation, the emphasis on international cooperation on fighting the climate change, and mechanism building for fighting climate change.
In addition, it comprehensively introduces China’s efforts on fighting climate change, the achievement of implementing National Plan on Fighting Climate Change and the standpoint of Chinese government on reacting to the climate change.
http://news.qq.com/a/20081106/002069.htm
November 7 China Developed Low-carbon Economy to Promoted Energy Saving
(People Network)
"Low-carbon economy” is defined as low energy consumption, low pollution based economy.In the backdrop of global climate change, the idea of "low-carbon economy" has been increasingly encouraged all over the world.
China’s rapid economic growth in recent decades has made it now facing energy, resources and environment problems.Thus, the development of low-carbon economy and the promotion of energy saving have become the top priority for Chinese Government.Currently, the technologies of solar energy, hydrogen energy and wind energy have achieved a breakthrough.Electric ties from them can also be generated at a market scale.The growth of the proportion of renewable energy has exceeded the overall growth of energy consumption.
http://energy.people.com.cn/GB/8297793.html
November 7 Wen Jiabao Presented at the Technology Development to Address Climate Change Seminar (China Network)
Wen Jiabao, stressed in the speech at Technology Development and Transfer to Address Climate Change High-level Seminar: China must strengthen the international technological cooperation to deal with climate change.He said that China is in the phase of rapid development and industrialization, however, its per capital greenhouse gas emission is less than one-third of those developed countries’.Now China faces multi-pressure of economic development, poverty eradication and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Wen Jiabao pointed out that Chinese Government is always a responsible manner, attaching high importance to the issue of climate change.At the end, he also said that science and technology are decisive in effectively dealing with climate change.Consequently, China must adhere to address climate change relying on technological progress .
http://www.china.com.cn/news/txt/2008-11/07/content_16731149.htm
November 9 China Wants West to Fund Its Cleanup (Washington Post)
BEIJING| China is trying to persuade rich nations to finance its fight against climate change just as the developed world is tightening its purse strings.
The Chinese government used a two-day conference in Beijing, which ended Saturday, to trumpet proposals for rich economies to devote up to 1 percent of their gross domestic product to help developing countries reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"The developed countries have a responsibility and an obligation to respond to global climate change by altering their unsustainable way of life," Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao told representatives of 76 nations.
China has been quick to grab the initiative in global climate change talks, wary of pressure over its own ballooning emissions.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/n ... o-fund-its-cleanup/
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Translators: Gong Chao, Liu Lang,
Editor: Tzu-Yi Hsu
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