http://www.engagingchina.com/blog Understanding China's new economy and its impact on western businesses en-us Wed, 23 Jul 2008 05:23:54 +0200 environment Blogware Geoff Nairn http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/8/29/3156760.html http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/8/29/3156760.html Wed, 29 Aug 2007 06:00:00 +0200 What does Kentucky mean to your average Chinese consumer? Kentucky Fried Chicken would probably be at the top of a very short list. Nevertheless, the state believes it has more to offer in China's new economy and wants to become a booming source of clean technology exports to China... energy environment Geoff Nairn http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/8/22/3155924.html http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/8/22/3155924.html Wed, 22 Aug 2007 08:00:00 +0200 Its going to be tough being seen among the crowds at next year's Olympics. And that goes for the sponsors too. Coca-Cola has found an original way to stand out by associating itself with the landmark Beijing National Stadium, popularly known as the Bird's Nest stadium because of its nest-shaped structure... consumer environment Geoff Nairn http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/8/17/3149417.html http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/8/17/3149417.html Fri, 17 Aug 2007 06:00:00 +0200 Like car owners the world over, most Chinese consumers prefer to put their green principles to one side when it comes to purchasing a new car. Large, expensive vehicles are preferred to smaller, low-emission models, and that uncomfortable reality shows up in the declining sales for low-emission cars... environment Geoff Nairn http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/8/10/3148673.html http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/8/10/3148673.html Fri, 10 Aug 2007 10:00:00 +0200 [UPDATED] Scares about air quality are nothing new for the Olympics. The choice of Mexico City to host the 1968 Olympics was disastrous for many athletes because of Mexico DF's high altitude and rarefied air. Forty years on, events at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing may get postponed if the city's plans to rein in pollution fail... environment Geoff Nairn http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/7/17/3099851.html http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/7/17/3099851.html Tue, 17 Jul 2007 19:44:36 +0200 An OECD report says China's breakneck economic growth is wreaking severe environmental damage, with air pollution in Chinese cities amongst the worst in the world. Hardly a revelation, of course, but nevertheless, its good to see that the OECD is not afraid to say China's pollution problem is bad -- and getting worse... Main Page environment Geoff Nairn http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/6/29/3057002.html http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/6/29/3057002.html Fri, 29 Jun 2007 16:29:53 +0200 Some ethanol plants in China have suspended production due to the high cost of corn coupled with low ethanol prices. The tightness of the corn market is blamed on traders stockpiling corn in the expectation of higher prices. Government concern that China's ethanol producers are jeopardising China's food supply is also dampening prospects for the sector... energy environment Geoff Nairn http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/6/27/3049887.html http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/6/27/3049887.html Wed, 27 Jun 2007 10:01:49 +0200 In 2006, China surpassed the US to become the world's largest emitter of CO2, according to the Dutch environmental assessment agency. The figures are the most alarming yet and contrast with predictions made last year by the International Energy Authority, which maintained that China would not surpass the US until 2009 at the earliest... environment Geoff Nairn http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/6/21/3037612.html http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/6/21/3037612.html Thu, 21 Jun 2007 16:16:21 +0200 Bad news from London-listed China Biodiesel International. China, more than any country, could do with some greener alternatives to fuel its rapidly growing economy. But biodiesel's attractions have waned because of a rise in the price of the feedstock that CBI uses to make its fuel... energy environment Geoff Nairn http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/6/20/3033313.html http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/6/20/3033313.html Wed, 20 Jun 2007 02:00:00 +0200 Siemens has won a €300m order to bring electrical power to China's power-hungry Pearl River Delta. It will help build the world's highest capacity power link stretching 1,400km beween the provinces of Yunnan, where new hydroelectric plants are being built, and Guangdong... Main Page energy environment Geoff Nairn http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/6/18/3029886.html http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/6/18/3029886.html Mon, 18 Jun 2007 14:08:07 +0200 Investment house London Asia Capital is betting on growing environmental awareness in China by investing £2.7m in Hainan Zhengye Zhongnong High-tech Co (ZYZN), a maker of bio-pesticides. China is the largest consumers of pesticides in the world but the high-toxicity products that dominate the market cause severe damage to the agricultural ecosystem... environment finance Geoff Nairn http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/6/13/3018472.html http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/6/13/3018472.html Wed, 13 Jun 2007 10:54:38 +0200 Johnson Controls, the US automotive supplier, wants to show China a better way to recycle lead-acid batteries. China is woefully behind the west in lead-acid battery recycling and nearly 70% of the lead scrap from batteries is not recycled, a stark contrast to recycling rates of 97% achieved in the west... environment Geoff Nairn http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/6/12/3016953.html http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/6/12/3016953.html Tue, 12 Jun 2007 19:29:21 +0200 Chinese consumers have a green conscience too. Under pressure from environmentalists, B&Q, the UK-based home improvement retailer, today announced it had stopped selling endangered hardwood in its Chinese stores... consumer environment Geoff Nairn http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/6/5/3000325.html http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/6/5/3000325.html Tue, 05 Jun 2007 18:51:49 +0200 To celebrate World Environment Day, staff members of Beijing's Olympic organising committee promised they would leave their car at home today and take the bus or bike instead. Symbolic gestures like that made today are good as far as they go, but that is not very far, unfortunately... environment Geoff Nairn http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/5/31/2987805.html http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/5/31/2987805.html Thu, 31 May 2007 16:47:36 +0200 Siemens has won a big contract to tame the traffic in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province and China's fifth largest city. The system aims to coordinate traffic signal timing to increase traffic flow and reduce delay at road junctions, in a bid to improve the efficiency of the transport network. Wuhan, like a lot of China's second-tier cities, has seen an explosion of traffic growth in recent years... environment hi-tech Geoff Nairn http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/5/31/2985402.html http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/5/31/2985402.html Thu, 31 May 2007 03:00:00 +0200 China seems hell-bent on consigning the bicycle to the history books, but a growing number of cities in the west are doing just the opposite by adopting bike-friendly policies that encourage people to leave their car at home and take the bike instead. EngagingChina was intrigued to hear on a recent trip to Paris of the Velib initiative... environment hi-tech Geoff Nairn http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/4/25/2904521.html http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/4/25/2904521.html Wed, 25 Apr 2007 13:24:02 +0200 Beijing is concernded about the poor image and potential disruption that traffic-choked streets will create for visitors to next year's Olympic Games. To that end, it hopes to reduce traffic congestion by 20% to 30% by keeping 1m cars off the roads for the duration of the games... environment Geoff Nairn http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/4/24/2902788.html http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/4/24/2902788.html Tue, 24 Apr 2007 18:49:56 +0200 China has delayed indefinitely its national "action plan" on climate change, which was due to be released earlier this week. The delay comes at a time of growing international concern at China's apparent desire to back-pedal on earlier commitments to adopt a "green" agenda for economic growth... economy environment Geoff Nairn http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/4/23/2900235.html http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/4/23/2900235.html Mon, 23 Apr 2007 19:17:18 +0200 Another Chinese renewable energy project has benefited from Kyoto's Clean Development Mechanism, despite China's refusal to join other Kyoto signatories in accepting binding emission reductions... environment Geoff Nairn http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/4/20/2894069.html http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/4/20/2894069.html Fri, 20 Apr 2007 18:48:51 +0200 China is poised to overtake the US as the world's biggest emitter of CO2 as early as next year. That is worrying news, particularly as China wants to rejects binding caps on carbon emissions until the country's modernisation is complete... environment Geoff Nairn http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/4/4/2858122.html http://www.engagingchina.com/blog/_archives/2007/4/4/2858122.html Wed, 04 Apr 2007 17:47:17 +0200 Greenpeace, the environmental activist group, has given China's Lenovo top marks for its practices for handling electronic waste -- a growing problem in the high-tech industry. Lenovo's achievement will come as a surprise to western critics who believe that Chinese firms prefer to put profits before environmental concerns... environment hi-tech