Tag Archives: chinese
Airlines Call for Single Emissions Standard
June 4, 2013 Airlines Call for Single Emissions Standard The International Air Transport Association, which represents 85 percent of the world’s airline traffic, has adopted a resolution calling for a single, industry-wide market-based measure to manage and offset emissions. The IATA yesterday agreed to the Implementation of the Aviation Carbon-Neutral Growth CNG2020 Strategy resolution at its 69th general meeting in Cape Town, South Africa. State-owned Chinese and Indian airlines voted against the resolution. The principles agreed to by the industry group, which apply to emissions growth post-2020, are designed to give governments a foundation for negotiation after United Nations talks failed to resolve a stand-off over carbon emissions between the European Union and a broad swath of other countries, Reuters reports. The European Commission suspended its carbon emissions laws on flights taking off or landing from EU member states after the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) agreed to consider a global plan to cut airline emissions. The single market-based measure will be critical in the short term as a gap-filler until technology, operations and infrastructure solutions mature, the IATA says. The group has called for governments to approve a market-based measure designed to deliver real emissions reductions, not revenue generation. Last month, a group of high-level aviation industry representatives from 17 countries began working with the ICAO to develop a plan to curb the aviation sector’s growing greenhouse gas emissions by the ICAO’s General Assembly in September. The group was reportedly considering three options at the time: a mandatory offsetting program, mandatory offsetting that would raise revenue to fund joint measures to address climate change and a global emissions trading scheme along the lines of the European Union’s carbon market. The industry group also has agreed to global targets, including improving fuel efficiency by 1.5 percent annually to 2020, capping net emissions and cutting emissions in half by 2050 compared to a 2005 baseline. Continue reading
Is Amir Khan set to appear in Dubai?
Boxing promoters are lining up a major fight between Amir Khan and Devon Alexander in Dubai.Chief executive of Golden Boy Richard Schaefer told the Daily Mail that he will head out to the Middle East to cast his eye over potential venues for the bout between the British and American welterweights.Dubai is becoming a major player in the world of sport and securing the rights to host such a high-profile boxing match would only increase the city's stature.Khan – who competed in the Olympic Games before turning professional – is one of the hottest properties in global boxing at the moment and he hopes to eventually get a shot at the undefeated Floyd Mayweather Junior, who is widely considered to be one of the best pound-for pound fighters of all time.However, the 26-year-old must first overcome Alexander, which will be no easy task.Mr Schaefer suggested that Khan and Alexander will battle it out for the IBF world welterweight title on December 7th.”We have opened discussions with the ruling family of the [United Arab Emirates] who have made it very clear that they are keen to put on a major boxing event,” he was quoted as saying.”This is very exciting for Amir and all of us. If he defeats Devon, preferably in style, the next step for him would be against Floyd.”Dubai is also set to host its first major boxing match later this month, when Chinese star Xiong Zhao Zhong defends his WBC Straw-weight title against the Philippines' Denver Cuello.The encounter will take place at the Dubai World Trade Centre on June 28th and it will be broadcast to millions of viewers around the world.This will certainly be an intriguing bout, as boxing experts have high hopes for Cuello, who has been likened to fellow countryman Manny Pacquiao.Rumours had been floating around that Pacquiao himself was being lined up for a money-spinning fight in the UAE in late 2013.Although nothing has yet been agreed, the Filipino superstar has confirmed that he is looking for venues outside the US and his team suggested that Dubai is an option. Continue reading
Many Investors May Not Be Living In The Real World
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/614d007a-c3b6-11e2-aa5b-00144feab7de.html#ixzz2UTnogynv By Stephen King A recovery in the global economy would appear to be hallucinatory, writes Stephen King No one can be strong when China is weak. That, at least, appeared to be the message from the economic data this week. New data suggest lacklustre growth in China – sparking nervous sell-offs in other countries. A one-day decline of over 7 per cent in the Nikkei stock market index might seem like an overreaction but, last year, China was Japan’s most important export destination, accounting for more than 18 per cent of its goods exports. China now accounts for one-quarter of South Korea’s exports. China is also the third-largest destination for US exports, after Mexico and Canada. Stock market wobbles cannot be attributed to China alone. Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve chairman, revealed that asset purchases associated with quantitative easing might be tapered earlier than investors expected, providing another reason for stock markets to lurch down. Meanwhile, rising bond yields in Japan have led to a new sense of unease: financial bets are no longer all one way. The relationship between China and the rest of the world has changed significantly in recent years. Before the onset of the global financial crisis, China’s growth was heavily export-led and primarily driven by productivity-driven gains in competitiveness. Adjusted for inflation, exports rose between 20 and 30 per cent a year. Since the crisis, export momentum has faded rapidly. In 2012, exports rose a mere 6 per cent, held back in part by trauma in the eurozone. One consequence has been a remarkable reduction in China’s current account surplus, dropping from over 10 per cent of its gross domestic product in 2007 to 2.6 per cent last year. During this period, China has tried to limit the pace of its economic slowdown by boosting investment in infrastructure. There is a strong case for doing so. The average rail density per square kilometre in China’s 10 largest urban cities, for example, is just a quarter of the developed world’s typical urban areas, according to the OECD. Yet the boost to infrastructure investment has not been without its costs. Credit growth has been excessive, capital has been allocated inefficiently and productivity increases have faded. While the reduction in China’s surplus can be regarded as a welcome contribution to the easing of global financial imbalances, it has coincided with a loss of domestic economic momentum that is weighing on growth well beyond China’s borders. The Chinese economy is not about to collapse. Continued urbanisation should deliver productivity gains fast enough to allow it to continue outperforming other countries. Unlike most developed nations, there is still some room for manoeuvre on fiscal policy. But a Chinese slowdown, alongside – at best – anaemic recoveries in the developed world is a headache for policy makers. The temptation to pursue policies of economic nationalism is on the increase. Quantitative easing and other related policies operate primarily through two channels. The first is the so-called portfolio channel, whereby central bank purchases of government paper lead to lower long-term interest rates, encouraging investors to switch into higher-yielding but riskier assets. This is supposed to make it easier for companies to raise money, boosting investment; households should also enjoy bigger gains in wealth, thereby prompting faster consumer spending. This channel has not worked as well as expected. Asset prices have surged but the results have been mediocre. A gap has opened between financial hope and economic reality. By limiting export prospects for producers elsewhere in the world, a slowdown in China only widens the disconnect. Removing monetary support threatens to close the gap in abrupt fashion – not because of a pick-up in activity but via a sudden correction in asset prices. The second channel works through a falling exchange rate. Some argue that one country’s QE-related exchange rate decline will ultimately bring benefits for other countries. Faced with a loss of export earnings, those who have chosen to avoid QE will eventually be forced to follow suit, thereby triggering more in the way of domestic portfolio effects. But if the domestic economic effects of QE are disappointing, the primary effect of exchange rate declines will be to boost exports. With lacklustre global growth, that will surely only lead to accusations of currency wars. This second channel is bound to be a source of tension in Asia in the months ahead thanks to Japan’s massive continuing monetary loosening. At the beginning of the year, there were high hopes that the world economy would be dragged out of its torpor thanks to the copious use of monetary drugs, recovery in the US and strength in China. Monetary drugs, however, appear to have hallucinatory effects. In the absence of a recovery in the developed world, China’s slowdown is just one more reason to question whether financial investors have remained in touch with economic reality. The writer is HSBC’s chief economist and author of ‘When the Money Runs Out’ Continue reading
