The Diplomat | China’s Energy Intensity and Carbon Intensity Targets Are All But Unachievable

On May 29, China’s State Council released its 2024-2025 action plan for energy conservation and carbon reduction, setting targets to decrease energy intensity (energy consumption per unit of GDP) by 2.5 percent and carbon intensity (carbon emissions per unit of GDP) by 3.9 percent in 2024. However, these goals appear insufficient to meet China’s previous commitments of reducing carbon intensity by 18 percent and energy intensity by 13.5 percent between 2020 and 2025 as part of its international climate pledges.  Read the full article here.

Mint | The carbon emissions of war put humanity’s right to exist at risk

The regional head of a well-regarded global philanthropic foundation recently told me that his board had decided to exclusively focus on funding causes concerned with combating climate change. Knowing that it had previously supported work on nuclear disarmament and international security, I asked why those problems were no longer of interest to the foundation. His reply left me bemused. Climate change, he told me, is a long-term existential threat to humanity. Read the full article here.