China
China’s renewable energy boom powers global job surge, report says
The global energy sector is witnessing a surge in job opportunities fueled by clean technologies, with China contributing over half of this growth, a Paris-based energy watchdog said, while warning that skill shortages are emerging as an increasing concern.
Energy-related jobs reached a total of 67 million in 2022 worldwide, marking a growth of 3.5 million compared to levels before the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its latest “World Energy Employment” report released on Wednesday.
From 2019 to 2022, employment growth was primarily driven by five sectors, with solar PV employing the most at 4 million jobs, while electric vehicles and batteries experienced the fastest growth – over a million jobs since 2019.
The IEA report comes as another report, “State of Climate Action 2023,” said this week that the world was off track in 41 of 42 critical measurements to reach the 2030 climate target, with only electric vehicle passenger car sales on the right path.
Six indicators, including phasing out public financing for fossil fuels, were heading in the wrong direction entirely, according to the report by the World Resources Institute, and others.
China boasts the world’s largest energy workforce, the IEA said in its report, with over 19 million employees – or 28% of the global workforce – in 2022. Its clean energy sector constitutes about 60% of the nation’s total energy workforce, a ten percentage-point increase since 2019.
The world’s top carbon emitter witnessed a significant growth of 2 million jobs in the clean energy sector and a notable decline of 600,000 jobs in fossil fuel-related industries, primarily within the coal sector, between 2019 and 2022, the IEA said.
China’s clean energy manufacturing industries support about 3 million employees, representing 80% of the global workforce in manufacturing solar photovoltaic panels and electric vehicle batteries.
In 2022, global solar PV manufacturing capacity expanded by nearly 40%, with most of this growth happening in China.
Meanwhile, global wind power generation and hydropower employment surpassed 1.5 and 2 million respectively. The majority of the jobs are in Asia, especially China.
Asia leads the global race in renewables
Another report released on Thursday said renewable energy investment in Asia is growing at 23%, primarily due to China, amounting to US$345 billion allocated to wind, solar, and clean vehicles by the end of 2022.
The Asian region now contributes a substantial 52.5% to global energy capacity in 2022, attributed mainly to the significant efforts of China, India, and Vietnam, according to the analysis by Zero Carbon Analytics, an international energy research organization.
However, on a global scale, Asia is also responsible for 51% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, primarily due to India and China’s extensive coal-powered energy infrastructure.
“China is racing ahead in the shift to clean energy, this is no small feat for the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gasses,” said Li Shuo, incoming director for China climate hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute.
Meanwhile, energy think tank Ember said Thursday that Vietnam drove ASEAN’s 43% per annum solar and wind generation growth from 2015 to 2022.
In 2022, growth slowed to just 15%, highlighting the need for more robust policies to sustain energy transition, said the report “Beyond Tripling: Keeping ASEAN’s solar and wind momentum,” published Thursday by the London-based energy research organization.
Vietnam accounted for 69% of ASEAN’s solar and wind generation by 2022. It was the main driver of the region’s growth and its recent slowdown was due to a new tariff scheme.
ASEAN’s solar capacity reached 26.6 gigawatts (GW) in 2022, while its wind capacity reached 6.8 GW. However, these figures represent less than 1% of the region’s enormous solar and wind potential, which exceeds 30,000 GW and 1,300 GW, respectively.
ASEAN projections indicate that in 2040, solar energy is expected to add 45 GW of capacity, while wind capacity will reach approximately 9 GW. This combined capacity will account for 15% of ASEAN’s electricity generation by 2040.
Skilled labor shortages could impede expansion
A survey of 160 global energy firms by the IEA showed a problem of labor shortages, especially for skilled workers in the energy sector, due to a higher demand for jobs than the number of people with the necessary qualifications, particularly affecting vocational workers and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematical) professionals.
Meanwhile, the IEA also said Chinese factories are facing challenges in finding suitable candidates to fill positions due to a shrinking working population and a preference among new entrants in the workforce for white-collar roles rather than trades or factory jobs.
Around 30% of all energy manufacturing positions in 2022 were located in China. By 2025, the country could potentially encounter a shortage of approximately 30 million workers for manufacturing jobs, according to a Chinese government estimate.
“The unprecedented acceleration that we have seen in clean energy transitions is creating millions of new job opportunities all over the world – but these are not being filled quickly enough,” said the IEA’s executive director, Fatih Birol.
More than a third of global energy workers hold high-skilled positions, in contrast to about 27% in the broader economy.
The IEA said fossil fuel companies are retraining employees for low-emissions roles to retain talent, but this may not work universally, especially in the coal sector with declining employment due to mechanization, highlighting the need for policymakers to prioritize a people-centered, equitable transition and invest in job training for the ongoing shift towards clean energy.
Edited by Mike Firn and Elaine Chan.
Read the rest of this article here >>> China’s renewable energy boom powers global job surge, report says
China
The Latest Updates on China’s Visa-Free Policies
China has fully reopened its borders, allowing international tourism to recover. Visa-free travel policies are reinstated, and visa fees for foreign travelers will be reduced by 25% from December 11, 2023, to December 31, 2024. China and Singapore are also pursuing a 30-day visa-free travel arrangement.
China has fully reopened its borders, promising recovery of international tourism and travel. Many of the visa-free travel policies that were in place prior to the pandemic have therefore come back into effect, enabling people from a wide range of countries to visit
UPDATE (December 8, 2023): On December 8, 2023, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs released the Notice on Temporary Reduction of Fees for Applying Visa to China. According to this notice, during the period from December 11, 2023, to December 31, 2024, China shall cut visa fees by 25 percent across the board for foreign travelers. For more details, please consult with your local Chinese embassy or consulate.
UPDATE (December 7, 2023): China and Singapore are seeking to establish a mutual 30-day visa-free travel arrangement to boost people exchanges between the two countries, according to Reuters. At the time of writing, no further details have been released regarding the timeline or the eligibility, requirement, and application procedures of this new arrangement. Click here for more information regarding this mutual 30-day visa-free travel between China and Singapore.
This article is republished from China Briefing. Read the rest of the original article.
China Briefing is written and produced by Dezan Shira & Associates. The practice assists foreign investors into China and has done since 1992 through offices in Beijing, Tianjin, Dalian, Qingdao, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Suzhou, Guangzhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong. Please contact the firm for assistance in China at china@dezshira.com.
China
Analysis of UK Investments in China for 2023: Evaluating Deals, Values, M&A, and Investments
British Government underwent reshuffle with pro-China David Cameron as Foreign Minister. Possible mild rapprochement with Beijing. Analysis of UK investments in China this year reveals potential trends. Report includes unique Q1-Q3 data and predicts outlook for 2024.
By Chris Devonshire-Ellis & Henry Tillman
With a reshuffle in the British Government and ex-Prime Minister – and generally pro-China politician David Cameron now as the UK’s Foreign Minister, there have been early signs of a potential mild rapprochement in the British governments overall attitude towards Beijing.
But before people get carried away, we can look at what investments the UK has made into China this year – as investments made while anti-China politics have tended to be the norm are typically indicative of stronger trends. In this report I include unique data that has not previously been made public, and examine the Q1-Q3 investment trends to see what may lie ahead for 2024.
This article is republished from China Briefing. Read the rest of the original article.
China Briefing is written and produced by Dezan Shira & Associates. The practice assists foreign investors into China and has done since 1992 through offices in Beijing, Tianjin, Dalian, Qingdao, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Suzhou, Guangzhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong. Please contact the firm for assistance in China at china@dezshira.com.
China
Ratings agency cuts China’s credit outlook
Financially strapped local governments and state-owned enterprises pose a risk to China’s future economic growth, the ratings agency Moody’s said today in a report downgrading the country’s credit outlook from stable to negative.
Growing evidence suggests that the central government will be required to shore up the debt-laden entities, creating “broad downside risks to China’s fiscal, economic and institutional strength,” Moody’s said.
Local governments are thought to have accumulated trillions of dollars of debt due to spending during the COVID pandemic and a loss of income due to a troubled real estate market.
Despite the challenges, Moody’s maintained China’s overall credit rating of A1, which it describes as low-risk though not the safest category of investment. Moody’s said the rating reflects its belief in the country’s “financial and institutional resources to manage the transition in an orderly fashion.”
“Its economy’s vast size and robust, albeit slowing, potential growth rate, support its high shock absorption capacity,” Moody’s said.
Even so, the outlook downgrade signals some concern about China’s future creditworthiness.
In a statement, China’s Foreign Ministry said it was disappointed in the ratings change and that Moody’s concerns about its growth and financial stability were “unnecessary.”
“In recent years, through the continuous efforts of relevant departments and local governments, China has established a system to prevent and resolve the risks of local government debt,” the ministry said. “The trend of disorderly and illegal borrowing by local governments has been initially curbed, and positive results have been achieved in the disposal of local government debt.”
Moody’s projects China’s annual growth rate will be 4% in 2024 and 2025 but average 3.8% from 2026 to 2030, at which time it might drop again to 3.5%.
Derek Scissors, the chief economist at China Beige Book, a firm that analyzes China’s economy for investors, said in an email that the downgrade was to be expected.
“It’s a recognition of long-standing conditions, not a new development,” said Scissors, who is also a senior fellow at the free-market think tank American Enterprise Institute in Washington. “I think growth will be faster than Moody’s thinks in 2024 and decelerate more than they think after that.”
Fees from local land sales account for nearly 40% of the revenue to local and regional governments. But China’s real-estate sector has been hit hard by overbuilding. One giant, Evergrande, defaulted under massive debt last year, triggering a broader real estate crisis.
Moody’s report said that “the downsizing of the property sector is a major structural shift in China’s growth drivers which is ongoing and could represent a more significant drag to China’s overall economic growth rate than currently assessed.”
Edited by Tara McKelvey
Read the rest of this article here >>> Ratings agency cuts China’s credit outlook
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- Policy failure with Italian characteristics?
- Analysis of UK Investments in China for 2023: Evaluating Deals, Values, M&A, and Investments
- Ratings agency cuts China’s credit outlook
- Balancing China’s labour migration through education
- Annual Confirmation for China IIT Special Additional Deductions to Commence on December 1st
