World’s largest solar plant goes online in China
Huanghe Hydropower Development has connected a 2.2 GW solar plant to the grid in the desert in China’s remote Qinghai province. The project is backed by 202.8 MW/MWh of storage.
China
China, top global emitter, aims to go carbon-neutral by 2060
Citing the Paris Agreement that he and former U.S. President Barack Obama helped forge in 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping said his country would raise its emissions reduction targets. “We aim to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060,” he said.
Air pollution falls in China after extensive efforts to reduce emissions
New research published by The Lancet and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the China National Key Research and Development Program has found that annual deaths from air pollution in China are now below 1990 levels, having peaked in 2013.
3D-printed terracotta coral tiles deployed around Hong Kong
Coral has declined up to 80% in some areas around Hong Kong such are Double Island and Sai Kung, over the past decade. The new coral tiles will be used in these area to help restore coral population, create new substrate and attract tourism.
U.K. to open citizenship path to Hong Kongers
Eligible individuals from Hong Kong currently can come to the U.K. for six months without a visa. With the rule change, they will have the right to live and work in the country for five years. After that, they will be allowed to apply for settled status and then again for citizenship.
Telegram pledges to make anti-censorship tools for Iran and China
The encrypted instant messenger Telegram said on Monday it’s ramping up efforts to develop anti-censorship technologies serving users in countries where it is banned or partially blocked, including China and Iran.
Critically endangered Hainan gibbons return from brink of extinction
“Even though the numbers are still small, you can see a future for this animal,” said senior conservation officer Philip Lo Yik-fui of Hong Kong-based Kadoorie Conservation China, which was driving efforts to protect the gibbons and expand their habitat.
International poll shows 71% of people are as concerned about climate as they are about COVID-19
65% of the 28,000 people across 29 nations surveyed want a green economic recovery from COVID-19. This proportion of citizens is particularly high in India, China, and Mexico where where 80% favor such a plan.
Blood plasma taken from COVID-19 survivors could aid recovery, new study shows
In several of the patients the virus cleared up entirely, leading the authors to conclude that plasma “can serve as a promising rescue option” for severe COVID-19 cases.
China donates 1,000 ventilators to New York to support COVID-19 response
The state of Oregon is also sending 140 ventilators to New York, which has become an epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak.