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Climate change diplomacy

Climate change diplomacy
Latest news and analysis about how different governments engage with each other over environmental policies, including competition, collaboration and negotiations.
A large screen shows news footage of China’s Chang’e-6 lunar probe collecting a sample from the far side of the moon, in Beijing, China, on June 4, 2024. Photo: Reuters
China economy

Opinion | Rise of China complicates ‘authoritarian’ vs ‘democratic’ binary

As China’s trajectory exposes the limitations of labels inherited from another era, understanding how governance systems work is more important.

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Central Asia

An Asian alternative to Nato? How Cica is rethinking Middle East security

Climate change

Opinion | Why China and Europe should care about Central Asia’s water crisis

China economy

Opinion | How a rising China is becoming a provider of global public goods

When China provides the hi-tech, low-cost hardware of development and multilateral banks provide regulatory oversight, the Global South wins.

Workers check solar panels on a lake in Tianchang, eastern China’s Anhui province, on January 12. China’s industrial scale effectively functions as a “green” subsidy for the planet. Photo: AFP
Diplomacy

China bids to host High Seas Treaty secretariat, even as US exits UN bodies

China puts forward Xiamen as potential future home of Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction secretariat as treaty comes into force.

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Diplomacy

Opinion | High Seas Treaty will both boost China’s power and hold it accountable

Beijing realises that maritime leadership will be measured not just by fleets and bases but also by who protects the planet’s last great commons.

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China exports

Goodwill or necessity? Why is China slashing solar and battery subsidies?

Analysts expect policy will signal to Europe that Beijing is interested in serious trade relations and is a good partner.

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Authorities announced on Friday China will cancel export VAT rebates for solar panels and lower rebates for batteries from 9 per cent to 6 per cent from April 1. The rebates for batteries will be cancelled on January 1, 2027. Photo: VCG via Getty Images
United Nations

‘World stands at a crossroads’: UN chief issues grim New Year message

Antonio Guterres laments US$2.7 trillion global arms race and urges leaders to choose ‘people and planet over pain’ in 2026.

Science

US green tech retreat echoes mistake of China’s Qing dynasty before collapse

While Washington pulls back on climate, Beijing is making it possible for developing nations to leapfrog into a cleaner energy era.

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China economy

Opinion | How China is cementing its central role as the architect of green tech

Beyond climate leadership and capacity building, China is rewriting its own energy system – and the global energy order.

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An aerial view of the No 1 booster station of the Ningxia Power Investment Yongli (Zhongwei) 3-megawatt photovoltaic green power project, in Shapotou district, Zhongwei city, Ningxia. It was officially connected to the grid and began power generation on October 25. Photo : Xinhua
China-EU relations

Opinion | How France and China offer an alternative to zero-sum diplomacy

As the countries stake their relationship on sustainability and hi-tech cooperation, they are building a new template for bilateral ties.

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French President Emmanuel Macron, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Chinese first lady Peng Liyuan gaze at the Dujiangyan irrigation system, a Unesco World Heritage site in Sichuan province on December 5. Photo: Reuters
Climate change

Opinion | How Hong Kong can distinguish itself as a climate finance hub

The city should lead by directing capital to projects that modernise grids, electrify transport and accelerate green supply chains.

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Climate change

Opinion | Fashion industry must tailor climate plans to Asian suppliers’ reality

Efforts to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions in the fashion industry will not work if they rest on a Western design paired with Eastern sacrifice.

Climate change

Opinion | How Cop30 laid bare the new geopolitics of climate action

Fractures, even among the Global South, show the energy transition is not just a technical challenge but a deeply political negotiation.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
Climate change

Opinion | China’s quiet climate leadership offers hope for Global South and world

The Global North is failing to deliver on its climate pledges while Beijing patiently lays the groundwork for a greener future.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
Climate change

‘Important steps’: what Cop30 deal means for climate unity and Global South

Despite the limited outcome, the summit also reveals how developing nations can still influence the global transition, analysts say.

Climate change

Language Matters | Why language loss in indigenous communities hurts biodiversity conservation

Ecosystem loss and language erosion often occur in tandem. Thankfully, Cop30 marked an unprecedented effort to elevate indigenous voices.

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China-India relations

India, China align on climate at Cop30 as ties thaw

Analysts say pairing China’s cleantech prowess with India’s energy needs has the potential to redefine Asia’s decarbonisation trajectory.

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A solar farm in China’s Shandong province. China leads the world in clean-energy investment, spending US$625 billion on the sector last year alone. Photo: Xinhua
Climate change

Cop30 seals uneasy climate deal that sidesteps fossil fuels

The EU had pressed for language on the move away from fossil fuels but faced stiff resistance from Arab Group nations including Saudi Arabia.

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Climate change

Macroscope | What China, not the free market, gets right about climate finance

China’s central and local governments and state entities are willing to issue or guarantee green bonds on a scale unmatched elsewhere.

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United Nations

Fire breaks out at Brazil’s Cop30 talks, forcing delay at critical phase

Fire forces evacuation at summit site in Belem as nations attempt to resolve contentious climate issues.

People use fire extinguishers to put out a fire at the Pavilion of Countries in the Blue Zone. Photo: Reuters
Australia

‘We can’t have it all’: Turkey to host UN climate summit as Australia budges

Canberra will lead the conference’s negotiations among governments as its neighbour Papua New Guinea slammed the summit process as useless.

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Activists from the Make Polluters Pay coalition pose with fake currency bills in front of a giant oil barrell balloon during a performance urging oil companies to fund climate solutions in Belem, Brazil, on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters
Climate change

Can Brazil’s Cop30 spark a climate breakthrough in the Amazon?

Brazil accelerates talks, urging nations to finalise climate plans, aid distribution, and transparency by Friday.

Americas and the Caribbean

Cop30: climate protesters rally in Brazil at UN summit’s halfway mark

The rally in Belem, attended by indigenous peoples and activists, is the first major protest outside the annual climate talks since Cop26.

Japan

Pikachu protest at Cop30 takes on Japan’s fossil fuel empire

The Japan Bank for International Cooperation financed over US$7 billion in loans for coal and gas projects from 2016 to 2024, study shows.

An activist in a Pikachu costume joins the protest against Japan’s financing of coal and natural gas projects during the Cop30 UN climate summit on Friday. Photo: AP
Climate change

Outside In | Takeaway from Cop30: climate action needs to be up close and local

A focus on adaptation means a pivot to action on floods, typhoons, heatstroke deaths, wildfire damage – issues of immediate survival.

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Construction workers put up large umbrellas in Wan Chai on May 23, when a very hot weather warning was issued. Hong Kong has suffered 50 to 60 hot nights (over 28 degrees) every year since 2020, compared with around 20 a year a decade earlier. Photo: Dickson Lee
Climate change

Editorial | As the US sits out Cop30, China and others must pick up the slack

Technology and investment partnerships, especially among developing nations, could reinvigorate efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

United States

At Cop30, California Governor Newsom seizes spotlight and takes aim at Trump

With the US president absent, the California governor and 2028 prospect called Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Accord an ‘abomination’.

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