CEF November 30th meeting, "Capping China’s Coal" was quoted in a Scientific American op-ed titled "Can China Cut Coal". Jake Schmidt, International Program Director of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Yang Fuqiang, NRDC's Senior Advisor on Climate, Energy and Environment, Hu Tao from World Wildlife Fund-US and Kelly Sims Gallagher from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy spoke at the meeting. According to a NRDC report, the vast majority of China's CO₂ emissions are a result of coal combustion. “If we don’t reduce coal consumption, we have no way to reduce PM 2.5,” or particular matter of 2.5 microns smaller, more commonly known as soot, said Yang from NRDC Beijing. WWF’s Hu said that the cost of coal was cheaper now than in 2000, which is a major reason for China’s reliance on coal. Hu suggested the best way to reduce coal use besides regulations was to make sure the prices goes up by imposing the equivalent of a carbon tax. 

Full op-ed at: http://bit.ly/1vJuqcC

Photo Credit: David Biello