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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.
last updated:
9 September, 2024
A worker at a car battery plant in Nanjing, China. Photo: AFP
Electric & new energy vehicles

From oversupply to Trump 2.0: the outlook for EV batteries in 2025

Here are a few things you need to know about the EV battery market in 2025.

Climate change

Opinion | After a mixed bag for climate action in 2024, businesses must take the lead

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US-China relations

Sino-Russian Arctic cooperation need not trouble US yet, Pentagon official says

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Climate change

Opinion | Southeast Asia’s energy transition is lacking both finance and policy

The bulk of funds needed will have to come from private finance, which requires a conducive environment that regulatory policy can create.

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Climate activists protest at the Cop 29 UN climate change conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, on November 23. Photo: EPA-EFE
Climate change

Opinion | Did Cop29 make any meaningful progress on climate change?

Market reforms are needed to motivate investors to deliver more affordable capital and to level the playing field between fossil fuels and renewables.

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Climate change

Is Asia’s climate funding hope fading over ‘unclear’ Cop29 pledges?

Experts say the summit outcome lacks details, making it challenging to secure financing for Southeast Asia and South Asia.

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Climate change

Opinion | Will China seize the chance to become a world leader on climate?

Despite growing scrutiny of its international climate finance contributions, Beijing’s domestic policies could help set standards in the Global South.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping visits a section of the Yellow River to learn about ecological conservation measures in Lanzhou, Gansu province, on September 11. Photo: Xinhua
ESG investing

Jane Goodall: all Hongkongers need to work together to promote biodiversity

‘We have five years to get together and try and slow down these horrific harms that we’ve done to the planet,’ primatologist says.

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Climate change

Developing nations blast Cop29 climate deal as insufficient

Some hailed it as a good step forward, but delegates from poorer countries said it wasn’t enough to help them meet their goals.

Climate change

Cop29 ends with US$300 billion deal, saving talks from brink of collapse

But the agreed funding still falls far short of the trillions poor and vulnerable nations say they need to climate-proof their economies.

European Commissioner for Climate Action Wopke Hoekstra applauds during a closing plenary meeting at Cop29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Saturday. Photo: Reuters
Climate change

Cop29: developing nations seek trillions, get billions in cash deal

Several countries were disappointed at the deal which pledges US$250 billion annually by 2035 – far short of the recommended $1 trillion.

Activist Gina Marcela Cortes Valderrama, center, participates in a demonstration for climate finance at the Cop29 UN Climate Summit on Saturday in Baku, Azerbaijan. Photo: AP
Climate change

Macroscope | Are governments finally getting serious about climate finance?

The world still lacks an institution with the authority to enforce financial commitments, but policymakers are at least starting to realise the size of the problem.

Climate change

Cop29 talks drag as poor nations reject US$250 billion offer from rich ones

A group of 134 developing states, including China, had demanded at least US$500 billion to help build resilience against climate change.

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Environment

Open Questions | Why eco-warrior Ma Jun sees hope for China’s role in Cop29 amid US uncertainty

NGO founder explains how mapping initiative helps hold authorities and companies accountable for carbon emissions and cover-ups.

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Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen
SCMP Highlights

Recap | Lula pushes action at G20, Asia’s rice revolution: 6 climate stories

From super typhoons to dengue outbreaks, climate change is having an impact across the globe. Here are six of our latest stories.

Asia’s rice farmers are striving to tackle the urgent challenges of climate change by transforming rice production into a sustainable and profitable venture. Photo: AFP
G20

G20 ends with call for urgent action on climate, global health, women’s rights

‘We only scratched the surface of the deep challenges the world has to face,’ Brazilian host says as gathering of world leaders concludes.

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Climate change

Opinion | US must be consistent to reclaim climate leadership role from China

As China emerges as a climate leader, the US can still be a reliable partner by staying in global agreements and making progress at home.

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US-China relations

My Take | Is China ready to lead the way on fighting climate change after Trump’s return?

Beijing is under pressure to fill the leadership vacuum, but the world’s largest carbon emitter is resisting calls to provide more funding.

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China now produces more emissions that the US and EU combined. Photo: Getty Images
Climate change

Opinion | On climate finance, China is only guilty of being too modest

While China must do better in making clear its climate leadership, the rest of the world should stop looking for scapegoats and start paying up.

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Climate change

UN chief urges G20 ‘leadership’ on stalled climate talks

Antonio Guterres said the spotlight was on G20 countries, which account for 80 per cent of global emissions.

Joe Biden

Biden becomes first sitting US president to visit Amazon rainforest

US president flew over the jungle in a helicopter and met with Indigenous leaders, before heading to the G20 summit in Rio.

US President Joe Biden in Marine One has an aerial tour of the Amazon in Manaus, Brazil. Photo: Reuters
Climate change

World watches Rio for G20 climate talks breakthrough

Negotiators at UN talks in Azerbaijan hit an impasse on climate finance that they hope leaders of the world’s 20 major economies can break.

Giant portraits of (left to right) US President Joe Biden, China’s President Xi Jinping, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, and Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, submerged by indigenous people to protest the lack of leadership among the world’s richest nations on addressing the anthropogenic climate and biodiversity crisis, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Saturday.
US-China relations

Apec statement calls for enhanced free trade, climate action

Leaders statement on comes despite deep scepticism on trade from incoming US president-elect Trump.

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Climate change

Opinion | As China-Japan climate action grows, Tokyo must rethink LNG push in Asia

Japan’s progress in shrinking its domestic carbon footprint is being offset by its aggressive LNG development drive in South and Southeast Asia.

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Cop29

Letters | Conflict of interest should have ruled out Azerbaijan as Cop29 host

Readers discuss protecting the legitimacy of the COP climate talks, how a hit film is tapping Hong Kong’s rich traditions and the sales of phone subscriptions to foreign domestic workers.

A driver uses his mobile phone at the electric charging station as Baku city hosts the United Nations Climate Change Conference (Cop29), in Azerbaijan, on November 14. Photo: Reuters
Shanghai

Shanghai is world’s most polluting city, says new data revealed at Cop29

While the Chinese city was found to be worse than all of Colombia or Norway, a site in Texas ‘is the worst polluting site in the entire world’.

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A man rides a bicycle near a power station in Shanghai. File photo: AFP
United States

Outside In | ‘Trump-proofing’ is distracting the world from far graver challenges

From G20 and Apec to the WTO and Nato, global cooperation on climate, security and open trade and investment must be quickly restored.

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Cop29

UN urged to ban Cop climate talks in pro-fossil fuel countries

Prominent figures make appeal to the United Nations as Azerbaijan, a major oil and gas producer, hosts Cop29.

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