China asks the EU to justify the planned carbon tax at the World Trade Organization.

China has asked the European Union to "justify its new border carbon tax" at the World Trade Organization, "suggesting it may challenge the law at the trade court in Geneva," reports the South China Morning Post. It adds that Beijing's WTO envoy "suggested using the Trade and Environment Committee for multilateral negotiations" on "contentious environmental measures", starting with the EU's Carbon Boundary Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which China "insists on". that it "does not comply with global trade rules". The Hong Kong-based newspaper also notes a Tsinghua University paper published in 2021 that said "China, as the world's largest producer of industrial raw materials such as cement and steel, would be most affected by EU legislation." However, the article points to a China Dialogue report stating that "the first wave of levies would only apply to 2 % of China's EU exports".

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that "a surge in wind power generation in China helped curb coal burning earlier in the year, even as the government struggled to jump-start the economy after abandoning Covid Zero." It said wind turbines produced 134 TWh (terawatt hours) of electricity in January and February, a "30 % jump" from a year earlier. Along with "growing" solar power production, new generation from renewable sources "was able to more than cover the 2.3 percent increase in electricity demand in two months," the portal points out, adding that it "allowed thermal plant operators to reduce operations, emissions from the world's most polluting industry have been reduced". State news portal Xinhua writes that "renewables are undoubtedly winning" as the country is "well on its way to achieving its goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 2030," citing Lei Yang, a professor at Peking University's Institute of Energy. Yang adds, "For China, developing its own renewable energy capacity is helpful in achieving energy security... The energy transition is consistent with long-term energy security." Radio Free Asia, a US-funded news service, reports that "China's renewed reliance on coal threatens the world's climate ambitions". China Daily reports a commentary by Lin Boqiang, a researcher at the Tan Kah Kee Innovation Laboratory and dean of the China Institute for Energy Policy Studies at Xiamen University. He writes: "For China to achieve its 'dual carbon' goals, in the coming decades it will build a new energy system dominated by wind and solar power sources and phase out fossil fuels (including coal)." He adds: "A phase-out would require replacing traditional energy sources with renewable energy sources. For now, China's low-carbon transformation must take into account energy costs and energy security, making it impossible for the country to move away from coal in the short to medium term." He concludes: "Even if China reaches its peak carbon emissions in 2030, coal-fired power plants will continue to provide the vast majority of electricity to drive China's economic growth, and plans to "phase out" coal-fired power generation capacity will be hotly debated. The key lies in recognizing the role of coal power as a 'stabilizer' and 'ballast stone' to secure electricity supplies and progress the transition to a low-carbon economy at relatively lower costs."

Separately, coverage of China's annual "Two Sessions," a major political gathering in Beijing that ended on March 13, continues. An article published in China Dialogue magazine said lawmakers and political advisers "offered thousands of proposals and suggestions, including many on climate and energy." It added that Qian Feng of the Chinese Academy of Technology suggested the government "issue regulations on carbon emissions trading", saying the current national carbon market has "a weak emission monitoring system for enterprises and lacks an effective pricing mechanism". Lu Xiulu, director of Guangdong Province's Department of Ecology and Environment, suggested that "carbon budgeting pilot projects be carried out at the provincial and municipal levels," the article continued. Although these proposals are "lively debated", the article points out, it is "difficult to say whether and how they will be adopted and eventually become policy". China Daily reports that during the meeting, the policy adviser "called for more carbon reduction projects" including "carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) to be included in China's certified emission reduction program to boost the country's efforts to offset with climate change".

Finally, the Reuters agency writes that the recovery of the Chinese economy "seems to be on the right track, but it is unevenly distributed in individual sectors, which is likely to lead to a similar development in the case of imports of major commodities." Industrial production "increased by 2.4 %" in the first two months of 2023 compared to the same period last year, the news portal adds.

Finbarr Bermingham, South China Morning Post, Carbon Brief