China Environmental Law

At the end of his trip to China in May, Senator Kerry was feeling positively giddy about the prospects of a deal with China at Copenhagen:
“Based on these meetings, I am very optimistic at the possibility of producing a successful outcome in Copenhagen,” said Kerry.
He described his talks in Beijing as the “most constructive and [...]

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Back from a wonderful trip to Jiangxi Province.  I’ll try to post some photographs and a write-up later.
Secretaries Chu and Locke have been here this week.  They were touring “Future House USA“ (in the house of the future form apparently follows function, but this structure is depressingly ugly) while I was visiting August 1st Square in [...]

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Although it was initially reported that China “welcomed” the passage by the US House of Representatives of the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), it has quickly pulled up the “Welcome” mat.  A Xinhua article, which could have been written by Pan Jiahua, ridicules and lambasts the House bill.  The US “fell short of [...]

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There was a flurry of stories this weekend that reported as breaking news the fact that US climate envoy Todd Stern was not seeking an absolute cap on carbon emissions from China.  I was a little surprised by these reports because to the best of my knowledge Stern has never stated he was seeking such [...]

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We haven’t focused too much here at CELB on the demand of developing countries, with China as a vociferous cheerleader, for “technology transfers” from developed to developing countries as part of a Copenhagen deal.
We have noted that during Todd Stern’s recent visit to China he apparently agreed with his Chinese counterparts to establish a “joint [...]

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In our continuing effort to provide you with every little shred of information released about the recent visit of US climate negotiator Todd Stern to Beijing, here is a portion of the transcript of Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Qin Gang’s Regular Press Conference on June 9, 2009 which touches on the topic.

Q: The US climate [...]

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Maybe its just the gloomy Shanghai weather or maybe it’s the fact that little progress was reported in the talks between Todd Stern and Xie Zhenhua that is making me pessimistic about the possibility of a climate deal between China and the US.
As Stern’s visit to China was wrapping up, China Daily was reporting that [...]

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The public pronouncements weren’t encouraging, but perhaps the private discussions are getting somewhere.  The only story I have seen is one from Xinhua which at first blush only contains bland platitudes and the obligatory sit and chat picture.
The story reports on a meeting between Todd Stern and Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang.  Here are the [...]

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Hats off to Zhou Shengxian, the Minister of the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP)!  He has always been fairly outspoken and frankly critical of local implementation of national environmental laws and policies, but his comments today in an interview with China Daily reveal a new level of commitment to China’s environment, and a candor not often [...]

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Todd Stern (quoted by Bloomberg):
“I don’t think that there’s any question that China and the other major economies have to be in the game,” Stern said today on a conference call with reporters. “They’re doing a lot already, but they’re going to need to do more actions and commit to them and be able to [...]

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