Climate

In the ever-evolving landscape of global geopolitics, worsening climate change impacts and the need to accelerate the clean energy transition, the contest for critical raw materials and renewable energy technologies has emerged as a focal point of contention between the European Union (EU) and China. The upcoming EU-China summit in Beijing on 5 and 6 December offers an opportunity to address their disagreements.

US-China pledges to work together on climate action have been all too familiar, throughout times of changing US administrations and tense US-China relations. Even as cajoling each power to take more action has its limits, the greater danger is a global green technology war that punishes the global south.

Former journalist Goh Choon Kang notes the gap between the global north and global south, with more affluent countries not delivering on promises and commitments made to less developed countries. Is there hope of reconciling the strong and the weak?

Issues such as gender diversity and environmental protection seem to be too abstract for first-generation Chinese immigrants in the US, who see these problems as having no impact on day-to-day life. US academic Wu Guo mulls over the reasons why this group of new immigrants, for all their desires to be part of the American education system, is a staunch detractor of progressive ideals that are part and parcel of the system itself.

The EV adventure in China has been successful in some respects, not least with 5.9 million EVs sold on the Chinese market, amounting to 59% of EVs sold globally. However, as a means to reduce climate change, the effort has tended to “put the cart in front of the horse”, because EVs are not particularly environmentally friendly without a steady stream of renewable electricity supply. Academic Erik Baark lays out the factors involved.

After experiencing the hottest June on record for the city, Beijing is now witnessing the most rainfall in the 140 years since records began. How did Typhoon Doksuri bring the prolonged heavy rainfall to northern China thousands of kilometres away from its landing point?

In his keynote address at the Caixin Asia New Vision Forum, Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said that the US and China can still step away from confrontation and conflict, and both sides must do so by building strategic trust. Meanwhile, Asia and the rest of the world must also take active steps to bring about greater collaboration. Together, countries can work to bring about a new global architecture that promotes inclusive and sustainable development. This is an edited version of his speech.

With just about six months to go to the COP28 climate change conference in Dubai, how is China stepping up its transition to a low-carbon economy and is it on track to achieve a peak in carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060?

Academic Rishi Gupta gives an overview of the outcomes of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s recent visit to India and the implications for Japan-India relations.