Ditching Russian gas no way for EU to reach climate goals – Putin

The EU should have been better prepared for its green energy transition, the Russian president says. The EU’s decision to slash natural gas imports while trying to reach climate goals was a mistake, President Vladimir Putin said on Monday during an environmental forum in Kamchatka in Russia’s Far East. “First, they (EU) jumped ahead, and then, after cutting off Russian gas supplies, returned everything that was reviled,” Putin stated. He emphasized that all nations are in favor of reducing emissions into the atmosphere, noting however that everything should be done in a timely manner. “And if you jump ahead, get … Continue reading Ditching Russian gas no way for EU to reach climate goals – Putin

NEW UN REPORTS CONFIRM NO GENOCIDE IN CHINA’S XINJIANG REGION

The UN Office of the Commission for Human Rights released a document this week that completely exonerates the leadership of the Chinese region of Xinjiang from accusations of genocide or use of slave labor.Wait, you say. That’s not the summary … Continue reading NEW UN REPORTS CONFIRM NO GENOCIDE IN CHINA’S XINJIANG REGION

Brazil Becomes China’s Main Investment Destination

Investment by Chinese companies in Brazil more than tripled in 2021, returning to pre-Covid pandemic levels and making the country the main destination for Chinese capital last year. After a lukewarm performance in 2020, operations such as Tencent’s investments in fintechs and startups such as Nubank, QuintoAndar and Cora, as well as billionaire investments by Chinese oil companies in the Santos Basin have increased. Also noteworthy was the purchasing of the power transmission company in Rio Grande do Sul by State Grid and of the Mercedes-Benz plant in Iracemápolis (SP) by Great Wall Motors. According to a report by the … Continue reading Brazil Becomes China’s Main Investment Destination

BRI participant Pakistan issues climate reparations demand

First world countries are the main polluters, but it’s the poor who foot the bill, the Pakistan climate minister said. Pakistan’s minister for climate change described global warming as “the existential crisis,” adding that Pakistan has contributed less than 1% to greenhouse gas emissions. She also accused the first world countries of breaking their promises on fighting climate change. “We all know that the pledges made in multilateral forums have not been fulfilled”, she stressed. Sherry Rehman, climate minister Rich countries, which are responsible for the bulk of greenhouse emissions, should pay reparations to developing economies as the latter bear … Continue reading BRI participant Pakistan issues climate reparations demand

A New Environmental History of Socialist States

Review of: Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro, Socialist States and the Environment: Lessons for Ecosocialist Futures (London: Pluto Press, 2021), 288 pages, $26.95, paperback. Starting in the late 1970s, a narrative emerged about the extreme levels of environmental damage in the Soviet Union and, by implication, most state-socialist countries. The explosion and initial cover-up at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986 did much to crystallize this image of the environmental record of socialist states as being worse than those of their capitalist counterparts. Instead, over the past twenty years, environmental historians of the Soviet Union have largely come to the opposite conclusion. As … Continue reading A New Environmental History of Socialist States

China to maintain climate change strategy

The English-language website of China News Service reports: – China’s special envoy for climate change, Xie Zhenhua, speaking at an official forum on 30 August in Beijing, that China will maintain its climate change strategy and continue to promote carbon … Continue reading China to maintain climate change strategy

China is building world’s first commercial land-based Small Modular Reactor

China is building the “Linglong-1,” a small modular reactor (SMR) in the country’s southern island province of Hainan. It’s the world’s first of this type of reactor to be approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and it intends to … Continue reading China is building world’s first commercial land-based Small Modular Reactor

US security agencies control American social media: Maria Zakharova

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova published a post on her Telegram channel which claimed FBI and other US security agencies secretly control American social media giants. The claim follows a recent interview with Mark Zuckerberg, in which the Facebook CEO acknowledged such influence in recent appearance on The Joe Rogan podcast.  “if the FBI come to us and tell us we need to be on guard about something, then I want to take that seriously” [Mark Zuckerberg] According to the Russian diplomat, Facebook’s CEO recounted how FBI operatives had visited him ahead of the 2020 US presidential elections, asking … Continue reading US security agencies control American social media: Maria Zakharova

China chairs UN Convention on Biological Diversity

China currently holds the rotating Presidency of the Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biodiversity (CBD). This is the first time China has overseen a major UN intergovernmental negotiation on the environment. The first meeting in the current … Continue reading China chairs UN Convention on Biological Diversity

China’s Policies and Actions for Addressing Climate Change

In November 2019 the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People’s Republic of China published a report titled China’s Policies and Actions for Addressing Climate Change. The stated aim of the report was to help “interested people fully understand … Continue reading China’s Policies and Actions for Addressing Climate Change