Environmental China, February 5th to February 12th, 2010, Issue 46

OPINION

Why China keeps poisoning the milk (Wall Street Journal, 2/10/2010) China and Japan are each going through their own unique quality crises. In China, officials are hunting for 170 tons of contaminated milk powder that is still on shelves more than a year after the melamine scandal was first exposed. And in Japan, discussions are focused on all that has gone wrong with its automotive industry after Toyota's recent recalls. But a closer look at the two scandals shows how far apart the countries are in their approach to quality—and how much China stands to learn from Japan.

PUBLIC SECTOR/NGOs

Chinese farming practices are acidifying soils (Mongabay.com, 2/11/2010) A new study in Science shows that farming practices in China are acidifying the nation's soils and threatening long term productivity at a time when food concerns worldwide have never been higher. The culprit is the increasing use of nitrogen fertilizer.

China’s first modern coal plant receives $135 million loan (EcoSeed, 2/11/2010) China’s efforts to make its coal use more efficient in reducing carbon emissions, a first in a developing country, have been given a $135 million loan support by the Asian Development Bank.

Survey shows water crisis is public’s main concern (People’s Daily, 2/11/2010) Corporate Social Responsibility Research Center of Chinese Academy of Social Science (CASS) released a Corporate Social Responsibility Survey 2010 and the top ten issues of corporate social responsibility on Tuesday. The public's main concern is the water crisis, pollution and food safety.

Songjiang perch returns to Shanghai dining tables after 22 years (Channel News Asia, 2/11/2010) There is a new dish on the menu this Lunar New Year. For the first time in more than 20 years, the Songjiang perch, also known as the roughskin sculpin, will make an appearance in Shanghai. 


China’s farms pollute as much as its factories, survey finds (The Hindu, 2/10/2010) For every tonne of chemical effluents that factories dump into China’s rivers and lakes, a comparable amount of harmful waste finds its way into this country’s water bodies from green fields and farmhouses.

90% of Himalayan glacier melting caused by aerosols and black carbon (Treehugger, 2/9/2010) The article goes on to caution that black carbon may be an even larger contributor than that though--perhaps as much as four times higher Menon says--because data inventories used in the simulations report less black carbon than what has been measured at several monitoring stations in India.Unfortunately though, this measured data is not complete enough to be incorporated into these particular climate model.

Drought causes economic loss of 952 mln USD Yunnan Province (People’s Daily, 2/8/2010) The worst drought in 60 years has inflicted a direct agricultural economic loss of 6.5 billion yuan (952 million U.S. dollars) in southwest China's Yunnan Province, a local official said Sunday.

Chinese villagers attack government building (Reuters, 2/8/2010) More than 300 people in a southern Chinese town attacked a government building over the weekend in protest against a water diversion scheme, state news agency Xinhua said on Monday.

Villagers protest against water diversion project (China Daily, 2/8/2010) More than 300 villagers attacked a local government building Sunday in a small town of south China's Guangdong Province, protesting against a government-sponsored project to divert some of its water to a neighboring town.

Beijing’s wetland faces serious degradation (CCTV, 2/8/2010) It has been learned from the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Landscape and Forestry working conference that Beijing’s wetland areas, only about 51,400 hectares, are declining drastically, and the city faces a severe threat of environmental degradation.

International Potato Center opens Asia branch in China (The Independent, 2/8/2010) The International Potato Center, repository of the largest potato gene bank in the world, has opened a regional office in China to help boost Asian production of the ubiquitous tubers, the Peru-based center said Thursday.

China brews superbugs (Sydney Morning Herald, 2/7/2010) China’s reckless use of antibiotics in its health system and agricultural production is fuelling an explosion of drug-resistant superbugs that threaten global health.

Tibet temperatures highest since records began say Chinese climatologists (Guardian, 2/5/2010) The roof of the world is heating up, according to a report today that said temperatures in Tibet soared last year to the highest level since records began.

CORPORATIONS

Australia Greens question colossal China coal deal (AFP, 2/12/2010) A massive Australian coal export deal with China, seen as boosting the economy and creating jobs, would ultimately result in enormous greenhouse gas emissions, The Greens political party said Sunday.

ADB offers USD135 million to green coal power project in China (ChinaCSR, 2/11/2010) The Manila-based Asian Development Bank has received approval to provide a USD135 million loan to a green coal power demonstration project in Tianjin to help develop clean coal power system and reduce green house gas emissions and pollution in China.

China Industrial Waste Management provides update on Dongtai organic waste treatment project (PR Newswire, 2/11/2010) China Industrial Waste Management, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: CIWT) ("China Industrial Waste Management" or the "Company"), a leading environmental services and solutions provider in China, announced today that its Dongtai Organic Waste Treatment Project (the "Project") received its first payment of $120,000 from the sale of biogas (natural gas). The Company expects the Project to yield at least $180,000 per month in revenues from supply of natural gas when it reaches full capacity.

China Coal to modernize Uzbekistani coal mine for US$120.4 mln (China Knowledge, 2/11/2010) China Coal Energy Company<601898><1898>, one of the leading coal producers in the country, has won a tender to modernize an Uzbekistani coal mine for US$ 120.4 million by the end of 2011, according to source

China Environment wins S$1.2 m thermal power plant contract (Channel News Asia, 2/10/2010) Mainboard-listed waste gas treatment firm, China Environment, said it has won a S$12.1 million contract.

Eastern Environment to partner with Veolia Environment to generate clean energy from landfill gas (CNNMoney, 2/09/2010) Eastern Environment Solutions Corporation (OTCBB: EESC), a leading provider of municipal solid waste (MSW) processing and disposal services in northeast China, entered into a letter of intent with Veolia Environment, one of the world's leading environmental services firms, on a project to establish a power plant that would utilize recaptured landfill gas from Eastern Environment's Harbin landfill to power turbines and generate electricity.

China’s ICBC to adjust lending to promote more eco-friendly growth (China Daily, 2/9/2010) China's largest bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), said Monday it would tailor its lending to promote more environmentally friendly economic growth.

Huaneng said to plan $1 billion H.K. wind power IPO (Business Week, 2/8/2010) China Huaneng Group Corp., the country’s largest power producer, plans to take its wind power unit public in a Hong Kong share sale this year worth at least $1 billion, said four people familiar with the plan.

Australian firm strikes $60B coal deal with China (Boston Herald, 2/6/2010) Australian company Resourcehouse Ltd. said Saturday that it has struck a $60 billion, 20-year agreement to supply coal to China Power International Development Ltd., calling it Australia’s biggest export contract.

Old mine may house garbage-burning plant (China Daily, 2/5/2010) A controversial waste treatment project once slated for Liulitun, Haidian district, Beijing may be recycled and built instead in an isolated mountainous area far from populated parts of the city, a Beijing News report said yesterday.

Poisoning probe focuses on Sprite container (China Daily, 2/5/2010) Police have sent the metal packaging of a sprite drink to a specialist laboratory for tests in a bid to unravel the mystery of how a man was hospitalized with mercury poisoning, the Beijing News reported.

GOVERNMENT

China issues policy on NOx emissions (Market Watch, 2/11/2010) Fuel Tech, Inc. (FTEK 5.62, -0.01, -0.18%) , a world leader in advanced engineering solutions for the optimization of combustion systems and emissions control in utility and industrial applications, provides the following summary on the recently announced nitrogen oxide (NOx) emission control policy from the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People's Republic of China.

China fears of rich nation ‘climate conspiracy’ at Copenhagen revealed (Guardian, 2/11/2010) Rich nations furthered their "conspiracy to divide the developing world" at December's UN climate summit in Copenhagen, while Canada "connived" and the EU acted "to please the United States", according to an internal document from a Chinese government thinktank obtained by the Guardian.

China finds energy security is ‘a breeze’ (Market Watch, 2/10/2010) As China's need for energy security grows, so does its interest in wind -- an environmentally friendly, cheap, abundant and powerful energy source -- and that's likely to benefit all sorts of companies in the industry, from wind farmers and operators to turbine manufacturers.

China: The First Chinese Standard for voluntary greenhouse gas offset (Mondaq, 2/10/2010) On 26 November 2009, the State Council of the People's Republic of China announced that the PRC pledged to voluntarily reduce its carbon intensity at 40 percent - 45 percent per unit of gross domestic product by 2020 against 2005. As the first step to move towards a low carbon society in line with the national policy, the China Beijing Environment Exchange ("CBEEX") officially released the first standard for voluntary greenhouse gas ("GHG") offset entitled "Panda Standard Version 1.0" on 16 December 2009 at the Copenhagen Convention. The principal founders of the Panda Standard are CBEEX, the BlueNext (Europe's largest carbon credits exchange) and the China Forestry Exchange.

Guangzhou battles bad air quality ahead of Asian Games (The Times of India, 2/10/2010) The battle against “bad air” quality that authorities fought before the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games is now repeated in the south China city of Guangzhou, which is hosting the Asian Games in November. Local officials have expressed worries that the atmospheric demon would not be easy to beat down.

China releases first national pollution census (AP, 2/10/2010) China has revealed its most ambitious measure of what explosive development has done to its environment, saying Tuesday its first national pollution census has mapped nearly 6 million sources of industrial, residential and agricultural waste.

China, India seeks to limit climate plan, Stern says (Business Week, 2/09/2010) China, India, South Africa and Brazil seek to “limit the impact” of the U.S.-led Copenhagen Accord by emphasizing that the climate change deal isn’t legally binding, U.S. negotiator Todd Stern said today.

China both pollutes and tackles pollution in quest for clean coal (Seeking Alpha, 2/8/2010) China is part of the global Co2 emissions problem. So is the U.S., and if you ask Al Gore, so are humans for breathing. (Well excuse me for breathing, Al!)

China marks year of tiger with drive to save biggest cat (Guardian, 2/7/2010) Taking turns to act as human ploughs, Liang Jianmin and his tiger survey team forge through mile after mile of knee-deep snow in the mountain forests near China's frozen mountain border with Siberia.

China likely to replace India in Iran-Pak gas pipeline (One India, 2/6/2010) Iran Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has said that China is keen to join the Pakistan-Iran Gas Pipeline Project.

Chicken parts join menu of U.S.-China disputes (Reuters, 2/5/2010) China said on Friday it will slap heavy anti-dumping duties on U.S. chicken parts, a move likely to aggravate trade ties between two of the world's most important economies at a time of strained political relations.

China’s 2009 State Land sales cover 40% of stimulus plan’s cost (Bloomberg, 2/5/2010) China’s government netted 1.6 trillion yuan ($234 billion) from land sales last year, or 40 percent of the cost of the nation’s two-year stimulus package.