China
China’s Timely Charging Infrastructure Plan
Already the country with the most electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in the world—over 1.2 million in 2019—China is soon looking to add around 600,000 more, thanks to an infrastructure stimulus package announced by the central government in March. The package targets “new infrastructure,” a category that includes information technology,…
Op-ed: Clean Energy Tipping Points
Editor’s note: The following op-ed was posted in Mandarin in Caijing Magazine, an influential Chinese publication that covers social, political and economic topics. On April 20, 2020, for the first time ever, the price of oil—specifically the price on the futures contract for West Texas crude oil—was negative. COVID-19…
Implementing Life Cycle Carbon Emissions Standards in Urban Development
The construction and operation of buildings account for nearly 40 percent of global CO2 emissions. As the urgency of the climate challenge increases, efforts to address carbon emissions in the buildings and construction sector is shifting from a focus almost exclusively on operations to the full life cycle of…
Bringing Electricity Markets to China: Adapting International Experience in Power Sector Deregulation to Fit China’s Economy
Introducing competitive electricity markets to China could reduce global emissions by 0.4 percent. The world’s second-largest economy is moving away from its centrally planned roots and is undertaking systemic power sector reforms. Chinese regulators’ motivations are not all that different than those of regulators in the West: they are trying…
Shenzhen: A City Miles Ahead
Two weeks ago, The Washington Post called Shenzhen, the tech hub in Southern China, a “pacesetter,” when reporting on how it became the first city in the world to turn nearly all of its buses and taxis electric. But it is not just public and for-hire fleets electrifying in…
