Fiscal implications of global decarbonization
Internationally coordinated climate mitigation policies can effectively put the world on a path toward achieving the agreed Paris temperature goals. Such coordination could be initiated by large players,
China
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China's Xinxing Group in JV to set up steel plant in K'taka
Chinese conglomerate Xinxing Group, along with its partners, will invest Rs 8,735 crore to set up a pellet and steel manufacturing facilities in Karnataka in two phases. The $11 billion group along with Chinese and Indian partners has forged a joint venture, XINDIA Steels Ltd, to set up a steel plant in Koppal district of Karnataka. In the first phase, XINDIA Steels will invest Rs 400 crore to set up a 2 million tonne per annum (MTPA) iron ore pellet plant in 300 acres. XINDIA has acquired a steel manufacturing company, Humpi Steels, where it will set up the plant. XINDIA is a joint venture among Xinxing Group, China Minmetals Corporation, Manasara Investments, Kelachandra Group and Sigma Minmet Ltd with Chinese firms
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China closes plastic bags firm
The battle to clean up China's environment has led to the closure of the country's largest producer of plastic bags. The announcement comes after a state-led campaign discouraging the consumption of plastics was launched last month. The new regulations banned the use of ultra-thin bags (under 0.025 mm thick) and ordered supermarkets and shops to stop giving away free carriers from June 1. Following the move, Suiping Huaqiang Plastic Co., a company that annually produced some 250,000 tonnes of bags, has closed. State media revealed that the firm ceased production in mid-January. "Over 90 per cent of our products are on the limit list, so the only way forward for the factory is closure,' a management official was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency. According to official statistics, Chinese people use up to 3 billion plastic bags a day and the country has to refine 5 million tonnes (37 million barrels) of crude oil every year to make plastics used for packaging. Suiping Huaqiang, a 2.2-billion yuan ($305 million) company, employed 20,000 persons who now face an uncertain future. China's decree on plastics was a surprise move that went further than similar action taken by the United States and many other developed nations. It is being seen as a sign of growing environmental awareness in a country where breakneck economic growth has led to a serious toll on the air and water. The closure of Suiping Huaqiang may well be followed by others. Chinese leaders are increasingly anxious about the environment and draft laws to punish polluters will be high on the agenda of the annual meeting of the National People's Congress, China's Parliament, next week.
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Beijing denies fiddling air pollution figures
Beijing officials on Wednesday denied a report by a U.S. environmental expert alleging they have been fiddling with figures to make it look as if the city's air pollution is falling ahead of the Olympic Games. Environmental consultant Steven Andrews wrote in the Wall Street Journal last month that after studying the statistics he found that scientists have stopped including data from two of the more heavily polluted monitoring stations in the city and that the criteria for judging the level of smog was changed two years ago. Andrews said that without these changes, Beijing would have fallen far short of its targets for reducing pollution levels in 2006 and 2007.
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Millennial- and orbital-scale changes in the East Asian monsoon over the past 224,000 years
High-resolution speleothem records from China have provided insights into the factors that control the strength of the East Asian monsoon.
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The rhythm of the rains
Deposits in a Chinese cave tell the story of the region 's climate stretching back more than 200,000 years, well past the last interglacial warm period
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$1.5b dam: China at work in PoK
Beijing: Two Chinese companies
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Wheat breaches $12 for first time after biggest gain since '02
Chicago wheat prices rose by the most in more than five years, breaching $12 a bushel for the first time as investors poured money into agricultural commodities on signs that global crop production isn't keeping pace with demand. Global wheat stockpiles will probably fall to a 30-year low this year, while corn inventories are headed for the lowest since 1984, the US department of agriculture said on February 8. Almost $1.5 billion flowed into farm commodities in the week to February 19, investment bank UBS AG said in an e-mailed report on Monday. Wheat, soybeans, corn and palm oil are among commodities that touched records this month, stoking prices of bread, pasta and noodles worldwide. The gains have driven up costs for food Companies from Kellogg Co to Nissin Food Products Co and complicated efforts to curb prices in China, India and Malaysia. "Speculators keep jumping into the market as supplies are very tight globally, especially spring wheat,' Takaki Shigemoto, an analyst with Tokyo-based commodity broker Okachi & Co. Dry conditions in some wheat-producing areas in northern China and also lent support, he said. Wheat for May delivery rose by the daily limit of 90 cents, or 8%, to $12.145 a bushel in after-hours trading on the Chicago Board of Trade, the biggest one-day percentage gain since October 2002. Record prices, led by scarce high-protein varieties, have not deterred buyers. Export sales from the US, the world's largest shipper of the grain, are up 56% since June 1 compared with the same period a year earlier. Global wheat stockpiles may fall to 109.7 million metric tonne by May 31, while corn inventories may decline to 101.9 million tonne as of October 1, the US government estimated on February 8. US inventories of wheat will drop to 7.4 million tonne, the lowest for the end of the marketing year since 1948, according to the USDA. Hard-red spring varieties, traded in Minneapolis, are in short supply as dry weather curbed output last year in the US and Canada. On the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, wheat for May delivery advanced $1.35, or 7.9%, to $18.4325 a bushel. The March contract, which has no limit because it is the closest to delivery, rose as high as $24.26 a bushel, after Monday becoming the first US wheat contract to top $20 a bushel. On the Kansas City Board of Trade, hard-red winter wheat for May delivery also rose as much as the 90-cent limit, or 7.7%, to $12.65 a bushel. Q4 earnings at Kellogg Co, fell 3.3% as price increases failed to keep pace with the higher expense of making Eggos, Frosted Mini-Wheat cereal and cookies.
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New dam repeats stupid mistake'
To its opponents, China's Three Gorges dam on the Yangtze River is all the more tragic because it has a historical precedent. Built in the 1950s, the huge Sanmenxia
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Japanese carmakers avoid downturn in west
Japan's top three carmakers produced a record number of vehicles globally last month, highlighting the resilience of the Japanese car industry in the face of a higher yen, soaring oil prices and slowing economic activity in key markets. Toyota said January production for the group, which includes Daihatsu, the mini-vehicle maker, and Hino, the truckmaker, rose 8.2 per cent to a record 801,873. Japan's largest vehicle maker is experiencing strong demand in emerging markets, such as China, India and Russia, which has more than offset slight weaknesses in the US and Europe.
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CLP To Develop World's Largest Solar Power Station
An Australian subsidiary of CLP Holdings Ltd, the larger of Hong Kong's two power utilities, has agreed with Melbourne-based Solar Systems to develop the world's largest solar power station. TRUenergy will contribute an initial A$7 million ($6.5 million) to develop a 2-megawatt heliostat concentrated photovoltaic pilot plant, subsequently investing up to A$285 million to build the remaining stages of the 154 megawatt project in northern Victoria, Australia, CLP said. The Australian and Victorian governments have also committed to fund development of the HK$2.9 billion ($371 million) project, which will be capable of powering 45,000 homes. Work will begin in 2009. CLP's shares were up 3.8 percent in mid-morning trade, outperforming a flat Hong Kong market. TRUenergy has taken a 20 percent stakeholding in Solar Systems, a private company that has been developing solar technology for 17 years. CLP also entered into a 10-year agreement with Solar Systems to deploy photovoltaic technology in the Asia Pacific region, including China. The Hong Kong-based firm has hit a target of generating 5 percent of its capacity from renewable energy by the end of 2007, three years ahead of schedule, it said. Its latest solar development agreements will make an important contribution to a new target of sourcing 20 percent of its power from non-carbon-emitting generation technologies by 2020, it added. (US$1=A$1.082=HK$7.8) (Reporting by Judy Hua; Editing by Edmund Klamann) REUTERS NEWS SERVICE