Krista Charles

Feb 6, 2024 | chinadialogue.net | Niu Yuhan |Krista Charles

In January, potholes began appearing on Dalian’s roads after heavy snowfalls. Residents of the north-eastern Chinese city even reported hearing their chassis strike the highway. The local government admitted that widespread use of road salts for snow clearance is a cause of the damage. Road salts – usually called “snowmelt agents” in China – prevent ice forming on the road by lowering the freezing point of water.

Jan 25, 2024 | chinadialogue.net | Rebecca Root |Krista Charles

Though Myanmar’s per capita greenhouse gas emissions are relatively low – 113th out of 191 countries – in 2021 its government committed to reducing national emissions by at least 244 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) in 2021-2030. For context, in 2021 alone, the US emitted 5.5 billion tonnes of CO2e. Fast-forward to the present day, however, and a military takeover has set back the achievement of this and other climate goals.

Jan 2, 2024 | dialogue.earth | Ruchi Kumar |Krista Charles

For three consecutive years, Afghanistan has experienced recurring droughts and flash floods exacerbated by climate change. And yet, Afghanistan was left out of the United Nations’ annual conference of the parties (COP) dedicated to dealing with climate change – for the third year in a row. COP28 concluded on 13 December 2023 and was attended by nearly 200 countries.

Nov 28, 2023 | chinadialogue.net | Joydeep Gupta |Krista Charles

A former head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) used to describe the annual climate summit as “the only circus in town”. It may not be good enough to control climate change, he said, but the situation would be worse without it. A few weeks ago, UNFCCC published a new analysis of national climate pledges to date, the NDC synthesis report, that underlines the huge gap between current action and what is required to keep global warming within 2C of pre-industrial levels.

Nov 22, 2023 | chinadialogue.net | Krista Charles

A climate deal between China and the US, the world’s two largest emitters of global-heating greenhouse gases, is a bright spot ahead of tough negotiations at the COP28 climate talks starting in Dubai on 30 November. US and China climate watchers say the agreement, which follows months of discussions and a diplomatic push to ease tensions, can inject momentum into the negotiations but still leaves much hard work for countries to agree on a successful COP28 outcome.