China Briefing 20 August 2026: Oil and gas plan | Xi on climate change | Coal five-year plan
In this issue, Carbon Brief examines China’s five-year plan for coal.
A rocky pandemic recovery, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and increasing social and consumer pressure to move away from Russian commodities have led to a spike in oil, natural gas, and even coal prices.
For a look at how commodities should be regulated and how policymakers think about energy supplies in a fractious geopolitical environment, host Jason Bordoff spoke with Javier Blas from Bloomberg News. He’s a leading energy columnist and commodities expert with a renowned career at top media outlets like the BBC and the Financial Times.
He’s also the author of a new book: “The World for Sale: Money, Power, and the Traders Who Barter the Earth’s Resources,” co-authored with senior Bloomberg News reporter Jack Farchy.
The pair have been on the show previously to discuss the book in detail, which you can listen to here. They also participated in a recent event with Maria Jelscu Dreyfus, CEO and Founder of Ardinall Investment Management which you can watch here.
In this discussion, Javier focuses on the implications of the current war for commodities markets and the global clean energy transition.
Abundance and affordability have become buzzwords among policymakers, who often have sharply different interpretations of how to attain them. To some, an energy abundance agenda means fewer regulatory...
It started last year as a pressure campaign at sea, with the United States seizing tankers as part of what President Trump called a “total and complete blockade”...
Over the past five months, the Strait of Hormuz has been closed for extended stretches of time, disrupting roughly 10 to 15 million barrels of oil supply each...
As the demand for power surges across the US, the debate over how to build energy infrastructure has reached a fever pitch. And while both sides of the...
By almost any measure, the world should be suffering a far more severe energy crisis.
The ongoing disruption of oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz has caused a substantial decline in China's crude oil imports.