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November
Hong Kong markets watchdog says sees no systemic risk to city from China property turmoil
Written by Nur Yasmin
Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission has looked very closely at financial institutions in the city's exposure to China's troubled property sector and has not seen any systemic risks for the financial hub, the SFC's CEO told a media briefing Friday.
In the latest sign that China's snowballing property debt crisis is extending beyond just beleaguered China Evergrande Group (3333.HK), Shenzhen-based homebuilder Kaisa Group Holdings (1638.HK) said Thursday it is facing unprecedented liquidity pressure due to a challenging property market and rating downgrades. (Antaranews)
November
China says it will hold supporters of Taiwan's independence criminally responsible for life
Written by Nur Yasmin
China will make people who support Taiwan independence criminally liable for life, a spokeswoman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office said on Friday.
This is the first time that China has spelt out concretely punishment for people deemed to be pro-Taiwan independence, as tensions rise between the mainland and the self-ruled island China claims as its own.
The office named Taiwan's Premier Su Tseng-chang, Parliament Speaker You Si-kun and Foreign Minister Joseph Wu as people who are "stubbornly pro-Taiwan independence", and made public for the first time it has drawn up a list of people who fall into this cateogry.
China will enforce punishment on the people on the list, by not letting them enter the mainland and China's Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau, said spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian in a statement on Friday.
The blacklisted people will not be allowed to cooperate with entities or people from the mainland, nor will their companies or entities who fund them be allowed to profit from the mainland, she said.
Taiwanese politicians partially rely on donations from companies to fund their election campaigns. Many Taiwanese companies derive profits from doing business with the mainland. Tens of thousands of Taiwanese currently work in the mainland.
China will also take "any other necessary measures" against these people, Zhu said.
She said the message China wants to send to supporters of Taiwan independence is: "Those who forget their ancestors, betray the motherland and split the country, will never end up well and will be spurned by the people and judged by history."
Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Reuters)
November
Australia's Great Barrier Reef will survive if warming kept to 1.5 degrees
Written by Nur Yasmin
A study released on Friday by an Australian university looking at multiple catastrophes hitting the Great Barrier Reef has found for the first time that only 2% of its area has escaped bleaching since 1998, then the world's hottest year on record.
If global warming is kept to 1.5 degrees, the maximum rise in average global temperature that was the focus of the COP26 United Nations climate conference, the mix of corals on the Barrier Reef will change but it could still thrive, said the study's lead author Professor Terry Hughes, of the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies.
"If we can hold global warming to 1.5 degrees global average warming then I think we'll still have a vibrant Great Barrier Reef," he said.
Bleaching is a stress response by overheated corals during heat waves, where they lose their colour and many struggle to survive. Eighty percent of the World Heritage-listed wonder has been bleached severely at least once since 2016, the study by James Cook University in Australia's Queensland state found.
"Even the most remote, most pristine parts of the Great Barrier Reef have now bleached severely at least once," Hughes said.
The study found the corals adapted to have a higher heat threshold if they had survived a previous bleaching event, but the gap between bleaching events has shrunk, giving the reefs less time to recover between each episode.
Australia, which last week said it would not back a pledge led by the United States and the European Union to cut methane emissions, needs to do more to cut greenhouse gas emissions, Hughes said.
"The government is still issuing permits for new coal mines and for new methane gas deals and it's simply irresponsible in terms of Australia's responsibilities to the Great Barrier Reef," he said.
The Great Barrier Reef is comprised of more than 3,000 individual reefs stretching for 2,300km (1,429 miles). The ecosystem supports 65,000 jobs in reef tourism. Globally, hundreds of millions of people depend on the survival of coral reefs for their livelihoods and food security.
"If we go to 3, 4 degrees of global average warming which is tragically the trajectory we are currently on, then there won't be much left of the Great Barrier Reef or any other coral reefs throughout the tropics," Hughes told Reuters. (Reuters)
November
Britain tells climate summit coal era to end as carbon emissions surge
Written by Nur Yasmin
U.N. conference host Britain said 77 countries had pledged to phase out coal, dirtiest of the fossil fuels that drive global warming, as a study showed the carbon dioxide they release into the atmosphere had already rebounded to near pre-pandemic levels.
"We were expecting to see some rebound," said the study's lead author Pierre Friedlingstein, a climate modelling researcher at the University of Exeter. "What surprised us was the intensity and rapidity of the rebound."
Alok Sharma, British president of the two-week COP26 conference in Glasgow, said it was on its way to gradually ending use of the world's most widely used fuel - coal.
He said on Thursday 77 countries had signed a pledge to phase out coal-fuelled power generation - which accounts for more than 35% of world's power - and stop building new plants.
"Today I think we can say that the end of coal is in sight," Sharma told the conference.
He said there had been rapid progress since 2019: "Who'd have thought, back then, that today we are able to say that we are choking off international coal financing or that we would see a shift away from domestic coal power?"
It remained to be seen whether the pledges would highlight divisions between wealthy nations, pushing for a swift end to the dirty fuels of the industrial revolution, and poorer developing countries that, despite all their disadvantages, rely on cheap, accessible coal and other fossil fuels to grow.
More than 90% of the 195 coal plants being built around the world are in Asia, and this year, coal demand is set for a new record.
'A BIG STEP FORWARD'
In 2020, carbon dioxide emissions fell by a record 1.9 billion tonnes - a 5.4% drop - as countries locked down and economies ground to a halt because of the coronavirus pandemic. The new report, produced by the Global Carbon Project, forecasts emissions will rise by 4.9% this year.
Nevertheless, the International Energy Agency said that, if the emissions-cutting pledges made so far were all fulfilled, the rise in the global temperature could be limited to 1.8 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times.
This would be a significant step towards the 1.5C the United Nations says is needed to halt potentially irreversible climate effects that would dwarf the intensifying storms, heatwaves, droughts and floods that the world is already experiencing.
"New @IEA analysis shows that fully achieving all net zero pledges to date & the Global Methane Pledge by those who signed it would limit global warming to 1.8C," IEA chief Fatih Birol tweeted. "A big step forward, but much more needed!"
The IEA, the world's top energy watchdog, this year said that to achieve the U.N. goal of 'net zero' emissions by 2050, no new fossil fuel projects should be approved after 2021 - a goal the pledge hailed by Sharma is certain to miss.
The British government said on Wednesday it expected 190 nations and organisations to sign up to the non-binding pledge, in which richer countries would phase out coal-fuelled power generation in the 2030s in richer countries, and poorer countries in the 2040s.
It was not immediately clear if the deal would include countries such as China, India, Indonesia and Turkey, which have numerous new coal power developments planned.
In September, China said it would stop funding overseas coal plants, although the pledge did not cover domestic projects. China has almost half of the more than 2,600 coal plants operating or under construction in the world.
FOSSIL FINANCE
At least 20 countries plan to commit at the summit on Thursday to stop public financing for fossil fuel projects abroad by the end of next year, according to two people familiar with the talks.
Banks and other financial institutions including the ADB, Citi and HSBC are also expected to step up by announcing financial mechanisms to help countries quit coal.
More countries also may join the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance, led by Denmark and Costa Rica. That effort commits members to phasing out fossil fuel production within their own borders, but it will not formally be launched until next week.
On Tuesday, countries including Britain and the United States announced an $8.5 billion partnership to help South Africa phase out coal faster.
There was a sharp reverse, however, for one of the most eye-catching announcements of the conference so far - a pledge by more than 100 leaders to halt and reverse deforestation and land degradation by the end of the decade. read more
Indonesia, home to huge tropical rainforests, said Monday's agreement was at odds with its own development plans.
In 2019 alone, an area of Indonesian forest and other land half the size of Belgium was burned for palm oil plantations.
"Forcing Indonesia to zero deforestation in 2030 is clearly inappropriate and unfair," Environment Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar, who attended the summit, said in a tweet. (Reuters)
November
COP26 coalition worth $130 trillion vows to put climate at heart of finance
Written by Nur Yasmin
Banks, insurers and investors with $130 trillion at their disposal pledged on Wednesday to put combating climate change at the centre of their work, and gained support in the form of efforts to put green investing on a firmer footing.
And in another development at the COP26 U.N. climate conference, at least 19 countries are expected to commit on Thursday to ending public financing for fossil fuel projects abroad by the end of 2022, two sources said. read more
In an earlier announcement at the meeting in Scotland, financial institutions accounting for around 40% of the world's capital committed to assuming a "fair share" of the effort to wean the world off fossil fuels.
A main aim of the COP26 talks is to secure enough national promises to cut greenhouse gas emissions - mostly from coal, oil and gas - to keep the rise in the average global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
But how to meet those pledges, particularly in the developing world, is still being worked out, and it will require a lot of money.
U.N. climate envoy Mark Carney, who assembled the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), put the figure at $100 trillion over the next three decades, and said the finance industry must find ways to raise private money to take the effort far beyond what states alone can do. read more
"The money is here - but that money needs net zero-aligned projects and (then) there's a way to turn this into a very, very powerful virtuous circle - and that's the challenge," the former Bank of England governor told the summit.
Carney's comments reflect a problem often cited by investors who, in the face of a myriad of climate-related risks, need to be sure that they are being accounted for in a transparent and preferably standardised way globally.
"Some of the key interlocking pieces of the finance puzzle are now coming together," said Nick Robins of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
Another piece of the jigsaw is where the public money to assist the transition from carbon intensive energy and industry will come from, and on Wednesday the United States said it would support a mechanism to raise new finance for clean energy and sustainable infrastructure in emerging markets.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the United States would join Britain in backing the Climate Investment Funds' (CIF) new Capital Market Mechanism, which would help attract significant new private climate funds and provide $500 million per year for the CIF's Clean Technology Fund, as well as its new Accelerating Coal Transition investment program.
"The reason I am here is because climate change is not just an environmental issue. It is not just an energy issue. It is an economic, development and market-destabilizing issue, and I would not be doing my job if I did not treat it with the seriousness warranted," Yellen said.
LOOPHOLES
However, others were not convinced by progress at COP26.
"These happy headlines conceal a wealth of loopholes and opportunities for backsliding that we cannot afford if we are to avoid climate breakdown," the Environmental Justice Foundation said in a statement.
"Net zero pledges mean nothing without fossil fuel divestment. Time for financial institutions to put their money where their mouth is and stop funding climate-destroying fossil fuels," the NGO's CEO Steve Trent added.
Carney has led an effort to ensure that financial institutions account for and disclose the full climate risks of their lending or investments, forcing the wider economy to price in costs that until now been largely concealed.
These include not only the direct effects of extreme weather events, but also any loss of government subsidies for fossil fuels, or the health and environmental costs of greenhouse gas emissions.
Kristalina Georgieva, head of the International Monetary Fund, said it was crucial to incorporate climate data into everyday macroeconomic reporting.
The vice chair of the global Financial Stability Board, Dutch central banker Klaas Knot, said a mandatory global minimum standard for disclosure of climate risks was now needed for financial stability and the provision of sustainable finance.
The change in private sector financial institutions was praised by British COP26 President Alok Sharma who said:
"What we have seen over the last few years is a big move in the private sector and financial services sector to go green ... in the 1990s, clearly (then) climate finance, investing in green, was not mainstream. I do believe it is now mainstream."
China's central bank governor, Yi Gang, said Beijing was working on a new monetary policy facility to provide cheap funds for financial institutions to support green projects.
Jane Fraser, CEO of Citigroup, a GFANZ member, said the initiative needed scale in order to work.
"If you don't work together, you're going to come up with a lot of nice really speeches, but you're ... in danger of being divorced from reality," she said.
Investors will welcome the launch of a global standards body to prevent companies giving a flattering picture of their climate policies and business practices in what is already a multitrillion-dollar global market for environment, social and governance targeted funds. read more
"If you don't have basic information on a globally comparable basis ... you increase the risks of greenwashing enormously," said Ashley Alder, chair of IOSCO, the global umbrella body for securities regulators.
Private sector enthusiasm for mobilising climate-friendly investment also requires the assurance that governments are setting emission reduction goals that are ambitious enough to meet the 1.5 Celsius goal - by no means certain to happen by the end of COP26 on Nov. 12. (Reuters)
November
COP26 coal deals take aim at dirtiest fossil fuel
Written by Nur Yasmin
Poland, Vietnam, Chile and other countries will pledge on Thursday to phase out coal-fuelled power generation and stop building new plants, in a deal the COP26 summit's British hosts said would commit 190 nations and organisations to quit the fuel.
Coal is the most polluting fossil fuel and greenhouse gas emissions from burning it are the single biggest contributor to climate change. Weaning the world off coal is seen as vital to achieve globally agreed climate targets.
Signatories of the COP26 agreement would commit on Thursday to shun investments in new coal plants at home and abroad, and phase out coal-fuelled power generation in the 2030s in richer countries, and the 2040s for poorer nations, the British government said.
"The end of coal is in sight. The world is moving in the right direction, standing ready to seal coal’s fate and embrace the environmental and economic benefits of building a future that is powered by clean energy," British business and energy secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said.
Separately, the Powering Past Coal Alliance - an international campaign aimed at phasing out the fuel - said it had secured 28 new members, including Ukraine, which pledged to quit the fuel by 2035. Coal produced roughly a third of Ukraine's power last year.
Factors including concerns over planet-warming pollution and a worsening economic profile for coal-fuelled generation have curbed its share in wealthy western countries including Britain, Germany and Ireland over the last few decades.
But coal still produced around 37% of the world's electricity in 2019, and a cheap, abundant local supply means the fuel dominates power production in countries including South Africa, Poland and India. These countries will require huge investments to shift their industries and energy sectors onto cleaner sources.
The global pipeline for new coal power projects has shrivelled in recent years, although China, India, Vietnam and Indonesia are among those planning to build new coal plants.
Britain did not confirm if those countries would be involved in the COP26 coal phase out pledge, or if Vietnman's pledge on Thursday would affect its pipeline of coal projects already in the pre-construction stage.
China said in September it would stop funding overseas coal plants, although the pledge did not cover domestic projects.
A raft of finance announcements are expected at COP26 on Thursday to accompany the coal pledges - both through new investments in clean power, and funds to support workers and regions that depend on the coal sector for their livelihoods.
Countries including Britain and the United States announced a $8.5 billion partnership with South Africa at the COP26 conference on Tuesday, to help the country phase out coal faster. (Reuters)
November
Japan PM says he may act as foreign minister until new cabinet is formed
Written by Nur Yasmin
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Thursday he may take on the role of foreign minister until a new cabinet is formed this month, as the incumbent foreign minister took over a key ruling party post.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) officially confirmed on Thursday Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi as the party's secretary-general, the party's number two post and a powerful role that includes shaping policy. read more
"Until the new cabinet, I am thinking of working as foreign minister as well," Kishida, who previously served as foreign minister, told reporters.
Kishida led the LDP to better-than-expected election results on Sunday, with the party retaining its strong majority in the lower house.
Motegi said he would focus on tasks such as recovery of the pandemic-hit economy and party reform to enhance diversity, vowing to drive policy with speed.
"It is very important to show the LDP is changing, as we implement what we can do fast, while presenting the big picture," Motegi said.
He said the ruling party would discuss details for extra budget with its junior coalition partner to create "rich, fulfilling" economic measures.
The parliament is set to convene a special session on Nov. 10 to confirm Kishida as prime minister. He is expected to name a new cabinet, which is likely to remain largely unchanged except for the post of foreign minister, shortly afterwards. (Reuters)
November
N.Korea can produce more uranium than current rate, report says
Written by Nur Yasmin
North Korea can get all the uranium it needs for nuclear weapons through its existing Pyongsan mill, and satellite imagery of tailings piles suggests the country can produce far more nuclear fuel than it is, a new academic study concludes.
Despite a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear weapons tests since 2017, North Korea has said it is continuing to build its arsenal, and this year it appeared to have restarted a reactor that is widely believed to have produced weapons-grade plutonium.
According to research published last month in the journal Science & Global Security by researchers at Stanford University and an Arizona-based mining consulting company, North Korea may be able to increase production, and has no need for other uranium mills.
"It is clear that the DPRK appears to have substantially more milling capacity than it has been using to date," said the report, using the initials of North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "This means that the DPRK could produce much greater quantities of milled natural uranium if desired."
The Pyongsan Uranium Concentration Plant and its associated mine are North Korea's only publicly acknowledged source of yellowcake, or uranium ore, according to analysts.
The report comes as other satellite imagery shows North Korea is building a large expansion at its Yongbyon nuclear reactor, which analysts say may be used to produce weapons-grade uranium.
"Given the DPRK’s active nuclear program, it is of utmost importance to assess and understand its nuclear materials production capabilities," wrote the report's authors, who submitted their findings in April.
These capabilities govern the rate at which North Korea might expand its nuclear arsenal, determine the magnitude of the threat to international security and the challenge of potential nuclear disarmament, and measure North Korea's ability to fuel its future nuclear energy program, the report said.
GROWING NUCLEAR ARSENAL
The question over how many nuclear weapons North Korea possesses is a key issue for intelligence agencies in South Korea and the United States, as well as for any talks aimed at limiting or reducing North Korea’s arsenal.
The United States, which wants Pyongyang to surrender its nuclear arsenal, has said it is open to meeting with North Korea without preconditions. North Korea says talks are only possible after the United States and its allies drop hostile policies.
Intelligence on North Korean nuclear weapons is limited, but David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, has told Reuters he estimates the country has the capacity to produce material for four to six warheads a year.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in September that North Korea’s "nuclear programme goes full steam ahead with work on plutonium separation, uranium enrichment and other activities."
There have been no reported accounts of outside inspector access to the Pyongsan uranium mine after the IAEA visited in 1992, leaving details of the mill uncertain, the academic report said.
The authors used artificial intelligence algorithms developed by Orbital Insight, a California-based geospatial analytics company, to analyse satellite imagery for land use patterns around the Pyongsan facility.
Yellowcake from the mine and mill is a key component of North Korea's nuclear fuel production, including its 5-megawatt (MW) reactor, which is seen as capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium.
The IAEA and other analysts reported over the summer that the reactor appeared to be operating for the first time since 2018. (Reuters)
November
'You are not alone': EU Parliament delegation tells Taiwan on first official visit
Written by Nur Yasmin
The European Parliament's first official delegation to Taiwan said on Thursday the diplomatically isolated island is not alone and called for bolder actions to strengthen EU-Taiwan ties as Taipei faces rising pressure from Beijing.
Taiwan, which does not have formal diplomatic ties with any European nations except tiny Vatican City, is keen to deepen relations with members of the European Union.
The visit comes at a time when China has ramped up military pressure, including repeated missions by Chinese warplanes near democratic Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own and has not ruled out taking by force.
"We came here with a very simple, very clear message: You are not alone. Europe is standing with you," Raphael Glucksmann, a French member of the European Parliament, told Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen in a meeting broadcast live on Facebook.
"Our visit should be considered as an important first step," said Glucksmann, who is leading the delegation. "But next we need a very concrete agenda of high-level meetings and high-level concrete steps together to build a much stronger EU-Taiwan partnership."
The three-day visit, organised by a committee of the European Parliament on foreign interference in democratic processes, will include exchanges with Taiwanese officials on threats such as disinformation and cyber attacks.
Tsai has warned of increasing Chinese efforts to gain influence in Taiwan, asking security agencies to counter infiltration efforts.
"We hope to establish a democratic alliance against disinformation," Tsai told the delegation in the Presidential Office.
"We believe Taiwan and the EU can certainly continue strengthening our partnership in all domains."
Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu made a rare trip to Europe last month that angered Beijing, which warned the host countries against undermining relations with China.
Fearing retaliation from Beijing, most countries are unwilling to host senior Taiwanese ministers or send high-level officials to the island.
Last month, the European Parliament adopted a non-binding resolution to deepen ties with Taiwan, with steps such as looking into an investment agreement. (Reuters)
November
S.Korea's SK On to invest $2.5 bln to build new EV battery factory in China -govt media
Written by Nur Yasmin
The battery unit of South Korea's SK Innovation Co Ltd (096770.KS) plans to invest $2.53 billion to build a new electric vehicle (EV) battery factory in China, China's local government backed Yancheng News reported on Thursday.
SK Innovation's wholly-owned battery subsidiary SK On, which supplies electric car batteries to Ford Motor Co (F.N), Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) and Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) among others, has battery production sites in the United States, Hungary, China and South Korea.
The company had said in September it planned to build a new battery factory in China with an initial investment of 1.2 trillion won ($1.01 billion).
"SK On has been building (battery) factories in the United States, China and Hungary as a growth strategy after securing battery orders in the global market," SK On said in a statement.
SK On said last week that it has an order backlog of about 1.6 terawatt hours (TWh) of batteries worth about 220 trillion won, which could power about 23 million electric vehicles. (Reuters)