BEIJING, May 27 (Xinhua) -- Construction of the "Ice Jar" comprehensive training center was completed on Wednesday, becoming the first newly-built venue in the Beijing competition zone this year, as confirmed by Beijing Major Projects Construction Office. The "Ice Jar" will become the only winter ice training and competition base of the General Administration of Sport of China in Beijing, undertaking the training and scientific research tasks of the national short track speed skating and figure skating. It will effectively improve the national team's training and competition facilities to help promote the development of winter sports in China and improve its technical level. Fang Shipeng, the project leader of the construction unit, said that it took three years to build the "Ice Jar" which has two international standard ice rinks that can be used for short track speed skating and curling training. The ice rinks adopt two sets of independent transcritical carbon dioxide refrigeration systems to reduce the intermediate cooling procedure, save coolant loss, which greatly reduce the carbon emission compared with the traditional refrigeration method, and improve ice making efficiency and accuracy, Fang said. The two refrigeration systems can be used as standby for each other, and can also be quickly converted according to the needs of short track speed skating, figure skating, ice hockey, and curling.  Source: Xinhua Author:Zhang Chenlin Date: 2020-05-27

BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhua) -- China will not relax its ecological and environmental protection in the next five years, Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu said Monday. "In the 14th five-year plan period, we will continue to improve ecological and environmental quality by reducing pollutant emissions, and vigorously promote ecological protection and restoration," he said on the sidelines of the annual session of the national legislature. China should further adjust the industrial structure, advance the transformation toward low-carbon development, promote green lifestyle, and provide the public with more eco-friendly products, he said. Ecological and environmental protection goals set for the 13th five-year plan period (2016-2020) are being accomplished in a smooth manner, Huang said, adding that seven of nine binding targets set for evaluating the protection work have been achieved, such as the emission control of major pollutants. By the end of 2019, the average concentration of PM2.5, a major particle matter pollutant, in cities that previously did not meet air quality standards dropped 23.1 percent from the level of 2015, he said. Source: Renmin News Author: xinhua Date: May 26, 2020

China's implementation of a national carbon trading market to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions requires reliable and timely information on GHG sources and impacts. Recent GHG monitoring and modeling studies provide new GHG emission estimates to help policymakers guide progress toward emission reductions. "Atmospheric Greenhouse Gas Measurement and Application in China," a joint special issue of three journals—Advances in Atmospheric Sciences (AAS), Atmospheric and Ocean Science Letters, and Advances in Climate Change Research— details the latest observations and findings presented by researchers at the First China Greenhouse Gas Monitoring Conference, held in Beijing from May 30 to 31 in 2019. Reporting on carbon dioxide distribution in Xi'an City, ozone flux over a maize field, hydrofluorocarbon emissions in the Yangtze river delta and stratosphere-troposphere exchanges of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide above China, these and other studies presented in this comprehensive AAS issue reflect China's improved atmospheric GHG measurement techniques. "As a nation heavily impacted by climate change, China has implemented many actions to respond to this global challenge," said Dr. Pengfei Han, of the State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modelling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics of Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Han is one of the organizers of the joint special issue. "These efforts provide scientific understanding, technical support and solutions for major issues such as energy conservation and emissions reduction, carbon market transactions and low-carbon development." Greenhouse gas emissions (top) in cities can be detected in remote areas (bottom). The cover art design for the bottom figure is reproduced from a photo taken by Peng Liu showing the China Global Atmosphere Watch Baseline Observatory (CGAWBO) at Mt. Waliguan, Qinghai Province. Credit: Advances in Atmospheric Sciences Highlights from the issue cover all of the 2019 conference topics: CO2 background monitoring. Mai et al measured background atmospheric CO2 and potential regional sources in the Pearl River Delta region. CO2 city area (emission sources) monitoring. Xiong et al. report on CO2 spatial distribution in Xi'an City using carbon-14 data. Bao et al. used a low-cost, non-dispersive infrared sensor to observe vertical CO2 distribution in Shijiazhuang. Zhang et al. analyzed CO2 variation and transmission in Taiyuan. Non-CO2 GHG monitoring. Pu et al. estimated 2012-2016 hydrofluorocarbon emissions in the Yangtze River Delta region. GHG flux measurement. Zhu et al. compared ozone flux above a maize field using gradient and eddy covariance methods. New technologies and applications for GHG measurement. Ji et al. document methane distribution in Xianghe derived from ground-based measurements. Yi et al. used the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's AirCore method to directly observe atmospheric transport and stratosphere-troposphere exchange based on CO2 profile measurements in Inner Mongolia. Applications of observational data. Fu et al. studied the sensitivity of simulated CO2 concentrations to interannual variations over East Asia Along with this special issue, the China Carbon Monitoring Alliance has been established, and a data resources platform was established , and a data resources platform was established to provide opportunities for collaborations. Source: phys.org Author: Chinese Academy of Sciences Date: MAY 18, 2020

BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhua) -- China has achieved much progress in environmental protection and taken the lead in green development in recent years. The efforts have exemplified Chinese President Xi Jinping's proposal of "working together for a green and better future for all" made a year ago in his speech at the opening ceremony of the International Horticultural Exhibition 2019 Beijing. In the keynote speech, Xi proposed a five-point initiative on promoting green development, namely pursuing harmony between man and nature, pursuing the prosperity based on green development, fostering a passion for nature-caring lifestyle, pursuing a scientific spirit in ecological governance, and joining hands to tackle environmental challenges. China's hard work on environment protection has paid off. The ecological environment has improved significantly. People are enjoying more days of blue sky, cleaner water, and fertile land. China has achieved the goal of zero growth of desertified land by 2030 set by the United Nations ahead of time. Besides, forest stock volume increased by 4.56 billion cubic meters compared with that of 2005. Carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP in 2018 fell by 45.8 percent compared with that of 2005, exceeding the target set for the year. After more than 30 years of hard work, the seventh largest desert in China, the Kubuqi Desert in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, once known as the "sea of death" difficult for birds to fly across, has turned into a green valley. In January 2020, in a letter in reply to the student representatives of the Global Alliance of Universities on Climate, the Chinese president mentioned his thoughts about ecological civilization in his youth. "Over four decades ago, I lived and worked for many years in a small village on the Loess Plateau in western China. Back then, the ecology and environment there was seriously damaged due to over-development and the local people were trapped in poverty as a result," Xi wrote. "This experience taught me that man and nature are a community of life and that the damage done to nature will ultimately hurt mankind," said Xi. China's progress and achievements are recognized worldwide. The ecological civilization and green development advocated by China are actually an endeavor to find a way to balance economic development and environmental protection, said John Cobb, Jr., the founding president of the Institute for Postmodern Development of China and member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Noting that the endeavor is a remarkable exploration, he expressed his hope that it will succeed. China is on the right path in dealing with global climate change and achieving sustainable development, said Borge Brende, president of the World Economic Forum. In addition to making efforts at home, China has also rolled out a series of measures to support the global combat against climate change. In September 2015, ahead of the Paris climate change conference, Xi pledged a 20-billion-yuan (3-billion-U.S. dollars) China South-South Climate Cooperation Fund, which was dedicated to help other developing countries combat climate change. China has also been fulfilling the obligations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, and achieved the goal of its intended nationally determined contributions submitted to the secretariat of the Climate Change Convention as scheduled. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his appreciation for China's important contributions to addressing the climate change and building a green "Belt and Road," and said he expects China to continue to play a leading role in addressing the climate change and other issues. "Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets," a concept put forward by Xi in 2005 when he visited Yucun Village in southeast China's Zhejiang Province as the party chief of the province, has become the motto of the Lao Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. In March 2020, when Xi returned to Yucun, he said that economic development should not be achieved at the expense of the ecological environment. To protect the ecological environment is to develop the productive forces, he said. The history of civilizations shows that the rise or fall of a civilization is closely tied to its relationship with nature, Xi said at the International Horticultural Exhibition last year. Only by joining hands can the humankind advance a global ecological civilization and march towards the bright future of building a community with a shared future for mankind.  Source: Renmin  Author: Xinhua Date: April 29, 2020

As International Mother Earth Day is coming, attention is drawn again to our planet's unfolding environmental crisis. China has been actively participating in global climate governance and taking leading actions in staving off climate change with widely recognized achievements. Click to see where it stands now. #EarthDay http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-04/21/c_138996015.htm Source: Xinhua Author: huaxia Date: 2020-04-21