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The Chinese Communist Party and its supporters are increasingly using social media platforms to shape China's public image. This online image is a means of strengthening domestic nationalism and of projecting "soft power" abroad. This paper examines various forms of anti-Westernism that are central to this image-making. It analyzes several recent topics—the Belt and Road Initiative, climate change, the COVID-19 vaccine, the Beijing Olympics, and the conflict in Ukraine—on the r/Sino subreddit page of Reddit and compares them with two online news outlets, the South China Morning Post and China Daily. The paper focuses on how these media frame the contest between a rising China and a failing West, so creating a discourse that competes with the negative portrayals of China outside the country. The paper contrasts the aggressive strengthening of China's image against the West on social media with more sober accounts of the same topics in China's official media and in commercial news outlets. The contribution of the paper is to document an emerging online anti-Westernism that is playing an increasing role in the changing geopolitical landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Carbon neutrality is an important policy in the current global response to climate change and has been widely recognized by various industries. In the process of promoting carbon neutrality, new energy plays a pivotal role. In this study, the definition and connotation of new energy and its role and specific operation in the energy transition of carbon neutrality are firstly explained. Promoting new energy development requires significant green and low-carbon investments. Taking China as an example, this paper analyzes the opportunities brought by the carbon neutral process to the field of green finance and analyzes the main features and development trends of green finance in China at present. Then this paper proposes policy recommendations to strengthen the development of green finance in China in terms of improving the green financial policy system, enhancing the supply capacity of green financial services, and optimizing the supporting environment for green financial development. Finally, this paper analyzes the measures and experiences of the United States in promoting low-carbon development and proposes countermeasures for China's low-carbon development on the basis of the five major relationships that need attention in China's carbon-neutral process. That is, strengthen the top-level design and improve the regulatory policy system; optimize the energy structure and increase the proportion of clean energy; optimize the industrial structure and reduce energy consumption in key industries; build a complete low-carbon technology system and promote low-carbon technology research and development and demonstration applications, and encourage local conditions to explore low-carbon development paths. The development of green finance can contribute to the advancement of new energy technologies, thus contributing to the achievement of carbon neutrality goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban areas mediate climate transformations and generate new forms of climate urbanism. Looking at climate action in the twelve fastest-growing cities in China with under one million people, this paper proposes a perspective on urban climate politics 'from elsewhere' that foregrounds the potential role of smaller urban areas in mediating climate transformations. The analysis reveals three climate action strategies that reflect practical, institutional, and personal spheres of climate transformations. Planning action in the personal sphere provides opportunities for urban transformations. A perspective 'from elsewhere' calls for greater attention to planning for diverse change strategies for climate transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the world's largest carbon emitter, China is under great pressure to cut down carbon emissions. Understanding the evolution of carbon emissions across Chinese cities is important for policymakers when allocating carbon emission quota among these cities. This paper draws upon the Open-source Data Inventory for Anthropogenic CO2 to calculate city-level per capita carbon emissions in China from 2001 to 2016. Overall, we find that per capita carbon emissions of Chinese cities have been generally on the rise during the 2001–2016 period. However, there has been on average a modest decline in per capita carbon emissions of cities in China's Yangtze River Delta region and Pearl River Delta region from 2011 to 2016, after a remarkable increase during the 2001–2011 period. Besides, the average north-south gap has been enlarged, with northern cities having a relatively higher level of per capita carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's political environment offers limited space for critical debates on domestic politics. In such a constrained environment, people tend to represent and articulate climate change issues without explicitly addressing their political aspects. The aim of this paper is to examine this political ambiguity in climate change discourses. Q methodology was employed to elicit the subjective positions of forty-five young and educated Chinese individuals. Three discourses were extracted: namely, prosaic environmentalism, co-operative economic optimism and actor scepticism. These discourses do not indicate critical intent and deep engagement in the political arguments regarding climate change. This raises concern about the growth of climate citizenship within the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes a modern research framework for establishing a grounded theory perspective on regional development initiatives along the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Grounded theory is a well-known research approach that uses comparative analysis to generate hypotheses from analyzed data. Thematic event analysis exposes the transitions between domains throughout CPEC project design and execution, including political, economic, social, technical, legal, and environmental elements. The Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT) project's axial coding highlights contextual variables such as problematic agreements, circumvention of regulations, lack of preparation, public indignation, heritage demolition, tree cutting, and regional tensions. These elements, coupled with China-Pakistan relations, the CPEC framework, infrastructural conditions, and other considerations, impact top-down planning, bureaucratic difficulties, and mismanagement of government plans. Consequently, these techniques cause project delays, unsustainable subsidies, historical damage, and environmental implications, raising questions about accountability and political regime change. This chapter focuses on data collection by using the Grounded Theory Method. These ramifications go beyond the CPEC project, emphasizing the significance of consulting key parties and selecting projects based on scientific and technological criteria. Institutional strengthening, climate change policies, and a focus on sustainable development are all critical. Policy consequences include open and accountable resource allocation, enhanced planning and risk assessment, cost-cutting techniques, cultural heritage preservation, specialized courts, and investment in education and healthcare. It is also critical to strengthen democratic institutions and reduce the environmental dangers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 2009 Copenhagen Accord, China agreed to slash its carbon intensity (carbon dioxide emissions/GDP) by 40% to 45% from the 2005 level by 2020. We assess whether China can achieve the target under the business-as-usual scenario by forecasting its emissions from energy consumption. Our preferred model shows that China's carbon intensity is projected to decline by only 33%. The results imply that China needs additional mitigation effort to comply with the Copenhagen commitment. The emission growth is more than triple the emission reductions that the European Union and the United States have committed to in the same period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article undertakes a systematic study of press articles on climate change in the rich West (Norway), the emerging East (China) and the developing South (Ghana) to explore the cognitive basis for collective climate policy action. Newspapers depict Ghana moving out of a climate-victimhood towards a more active climate policy for development; China figures as spearheading energy efficiency and clean technologies for growth; while Norway is described as exporting its climate action. Our analysis finds little common ground for climate mitigation through binding climate emission limits and carbon pricing. A pluralistic 'green growth' strategy would have greater chances of success. The article also highlights differences in sources and story types: Norway features much enterprising journalism, and academics are the dominant source. In China and Ghana most articles are routinized, with politicians and public officials dominating in China, whilst the press makes heavy use of international sources in Ghana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Responding to the proposition that learning to live in the Anthropocene involves learning how to die, this article problematises the modes of world-making upheld in some of the contemporary proposals for the global reorganisation of societies towards just, socio-ecological transitions beyond the techno-fixes of geoengineering, green growth, and their attendant ideals of progress. Specifically, it critically examines one such proposal that, inspired by process philosophy, has proven deeply influential in China's recent shift in ecological (geo)politics: the idea of an 'ecological civilisation' based on principles of ontological relationality, democratic responsibility, and a new alliance between the sciences and the humanities. The article argues that while such a project rejects the substantive values of modern progress, its regulative notion of civilisation retains the modern story of progress as a mode of valuation and therefore reinscribes imperial, colonial values at the heart of ecology. In response, the article suggests that learning to die in the wake of ecological devastation requires making life outside the modern coordinates of progress, which is to say living without the ideal of civilisation. Seeking to expand the political imagination at a time of socio-ecological transformations, it calls for 'ecological uncivilisation' as a permanent experimentation with improbable forms of world-making and methodologies of life that are envisaged thanks to ongoing histories of decolonisation and not in spite of them; that strive to live and die well but not always better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the effect of human capital on CO2 emissions using the Chinese provincial panel over the period 1997-2016. Allowing for cross-sectional dependence and structural breaks, we find a negative association between human capital and CO2 emissions in the long run and attribute it to the influences from younger workers and workers with advanced human capital. In particular, our results suggest that a one-year increase in average schooling reduces CO2 emissions by 12 per cent. Using disaggregated emission dataset by energy sources and end emitters, we demonstrate this negative association is likely to manifest through technology effect and the improvement in energy efficiency. These manifestations are limited to production sector. Our finding suggests a promising avenue for abating greenhouse gases without impeding economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the prospects of, and politics and practices around, solar energy in China. It examines two different solar energy technologies, namely, solar photovoltaic (PV) and solar water heaters (SWHs), to understand how different pathways for low-carbon innovation are supported and constrained by (the lack of) political support at the national and local level, the interactions between state and nonstate actors, as well as how they relate to changing practices among consumers. This article also discusses obstacles and trade-offs. We find two very different approaches to solar energy. The solar PV industry in China is experiencing increased domestic growth, after many years of being mainly export-oriented. Prices declined rapidly in recent years, and solar PV also enjoys much political and financial support from the central government and local governments. However, there are high bureaucratic and technical hurdles to get grid connected and access the feed-in-tariff, particularly for individual users. SWHs on the other side are a “homegrown” Chinese technology that is ubiquitous in China, particularly in rural areas; that is easy to install and use; and that has developed from the grassroots levels to mass products with relatively little government support. Although being largely neglected by high-level discussions and plans, SWHs could contribute much to low-carbon transitions that are driven at the local level in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the possible implications of the withdrawal of the U.S. from the COP21 Paris Climate Change. It mentions that the U.S. has joined the COP21 United Nations Climate Change Conference in December 2015 with other countries as they aim to limit the increase in the global average temperature below 2 degrees Celsius. It cites that the decision for the U.S. to withdraw from the agreement has made a lot of countries hostile towards the agreement.

China has become the largest emitter of carbon dioxide in the world. However, the Chinese public's willingness to pay (WTP) for climate change mitigation is, at best, under-researched. This study draws upon a large national survey of Chinese public cognition and attitude towards climate change and analyzes the determinants of consumers' WTP for energy-efficient and environment-friendly products. Eighty-five percent of respondents indicate that they are willing to pay at least 10 percent more than the market price for these products. The econometric analysis indicates that income, education, age and gender, as well as public awareness and concerns about climate change are significant factors influencing WTP. Respondents who are more knowledgeable and more concerned about the adverse effect of climate change show higher WTP. In comparison, income elasticity is small. The results are robust to different model specifications and estimation techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. I explore the use in undergraduate classes of active learning situations (ALSs) that model the structure of common pool resources. I respond to critiques of the usefulness of ALSs for use in classrooms by reviewing their ability to convey important concepts and theories and to facilitate student acquisition of policy details.Aim. I examine how learning efficiency is enhanced by choosing the right form of ALS – ranging from abstract games to detailed simulations. The learning efficiency of using games or simulations in the classroom, or something in between, likely depends on the instructor’s purposes – conveying general theories applicable to many cases or the details and dynamics of particular policies.Method. I discuss use of a hybrid example of a common pool resource ALS to illustrate use of the ALS to help achieve the purposes of a course on the Rise and Decline of Human Civilizations.Conclusion. Descriptions of the content of debriefing sessions for six courses taught in the US and China provide support for the usefulness of this ALS in achieving purposes that focus on conveying knowledge about abstract features of common pool resource challenges confronting past societies, the climate change problem confronting contemporary global society, and how to avoid tragic outcomes in each case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]