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A view of Yarlung Zangbu Grand Canyon, the world's largest and deepest canyon, in Tibet, China, on August 12, 2012.
China’s mega-dam gambit: The $167 billion bet that could reshape Asia
On Saturday, China announced the start of one of the world’s biggest infrastructure projects: a $167 billion mega-dam in Tibet that will, when completed, be the most powerful source of hydroelectricity in history.
The Yarlung Tsangpo dam, located at a hairpin river bend where water plunges 6,500 feet through the Himalayas, will dwarf China’s existing Three Gorges Dam, currently the world’s largest, and will produce 60 gigawatts of electricity, ten times as much as the most powerful American dam, Grand Coulee in Washington State.
“You could power many medium-sized countries with 60 gigawatts,” Eurasia Group energy expert Herbert Crowther explains. “Most nuclear reactors would be around a gigawatt.”
Yarlung Tsangpo, set to be completed by 2035, is meant to stimulate the Chinese economy and boost clean energy, but it will also control waters flowing to hundreds of millions of people in neighboring India and Bangladesh at a time when tensions over water are already high.
Why is China building the dam? Like the Three Gorges Dam constructed in China in the 1990s, this will deliver a significant economic boost while also providing a major new supply of clean energy that may ultimately support the nation’s aim to achieve net-zero emissions by 2060.
“The Chinese government’s favorite infrastructure is a dam,” says Dan Wang, Eurasia Group’s China director. “The electricity generation aspect is less relevant than the massive investment, jobs, and demand for domestic technology such projects can generate.”
Water as a weapon? Downstream nations are sounding alarms, since the Yarlung Tsangpo flows through the state of Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India before merging with the Brahmaputra River, which eventually continues into Bangladesh. Both governments are wary of a situation in which Chinese officials control access to their water.
This could trigger competitive dam-building throughout the Himalayas, as each nation scrambles to control its water resources before neighbors do. India has already announced plans to accelerate its own hydropower development near the Chinese border in response, fearing Beijing could weaponize water flows during future conflicts.
The specter of water wars isn’t theoretical — when military tensions nearly boiled over between India and Pakistan back in May, India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty that had governed water sharing between the two nations for decades. With Pakistan being one of China’s closest regional partners, the Yarlung Tsangpo dam adds another layer of complexity to an already volatile triangle of neighbors competing for the same resources..
Ian Bremmer: AI and clean energy are reshaping the US-China rivalry
As these technological races accelerate, it remains clear that the US and China will continue to shape the future in distinct and often opposing ways, leaving other nations to navigate the complex terrain between these global giants.
Click to watch Ian Bremmer’s analysis and his full 2024 "State of the World" speech.
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What role does natural gas play in a clean energy transition?
Listen: How does natural gas fit into the shift toward a cleaner energy future? In this episode of Energized: The Future of Energy, host JJ Ramberg and Enbridge CEO Greg Ebel sit down with former Congressman Tim Ryan of Ohio. They discuss how energy jobs have revitalized Ohio’s economy, the role workers from the energy industry could play in the upcoming US election, and how natural gas can be combined with renewables to create a cleaner, more efficient energy transition.
Catch up on other episodes of Energized: The Future of Energy below — or listen on Apple, Spotify, Goodpods, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Can we keep energy affordable, safe, and secure?
Listen: Energy transition is a big idea with big implications for daily life. But what does it actually look like in practice? In this episode of Energized: The Future of Energy, host JJ Ramberg and Enbridge CEO Greg Ebel talk to the Honourable Lisa Raitt, Vice Chair of Global Investment Banking for CIBC Capital Markets and former member of the Canadian parliament. During her time in government, Lisa served as Minister of Natural Resources, Minister of Labour, and Minister of Transport. Lisa talks about the tangible steps that need to be taken to move us down the road to energy transition, as well as how businesses and governments can work together to create a more sustainable, more affordable energy future.
Catch up on other episodes of Energized: The Future of Energy below — or listen on Apple, Spotify, Goodpods, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- Pulitzer Prize-winning author Daniel Yergin on energy security in a changing world ›
- Introducing “Energized: The Future of Energy”, a new podcast series ›
- From AI to Food Recycling: Innovations transforming the Energy Sector - GZERO Media ›
- What role does natural gas play in a clean energy transition? - GZERO Media ›
Tug of war rope between US & Canada over green subsidies and tech workers.
Hard Numbers: Canada snaps up US tech workers, greenhouse gasses surpass grim mark, green hydrogen comes to Quebec, shrimp paste alarm
6,000: Nicely played, Canada. Back in July, as US tech giants were laying off tens of thousands of employees, Canada seized the moment, changing its immigration rules to permit US H-1B visa holders to get work visas in Canada. So far this year, more than 6,000 holders of the US visa have relocated north of the border.
50: Atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide — the most pernicious of the greenhouse gasses — have exceeded their pre-industrial levels by 50% for the first time, according to a new study by the World Meteorological Organization. As we told you last week, Canada and the US are among the top offenders when it comes to slacking on commitments to reduce the production of fossil fuels, a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.
4 billion: On the plus side, the clean energy rivalry between the US and Canada continues to heat up, as Belgium’s Tree Energy Solutions has committed to building a $4 billion synthetic natural gas plant in Quebec. Canada finds itself in stiff competition with the massive subsidies that the Biden administration has offered to the industry in the US, with Canadian lawmakers warning of a “subsidy war.” As long as the Earth’s atmosphere is the big winner of that conflict, we say … let the battles begin.
37: What do brush mowers, baby pillows, shrimp paste, and dozens of early 2010s BMWs and Mini Coopers have in common? They are all among at least 37 different products that were recalled for safety reasons in Canada over the past week. The shrimp paste has mystery ingredients, the baby pillows can suffocate babies, and the cars catch on fire. It’s a wild time to be alive — stay safe out there, folks!
Can the world run on green energy yet? Author Bjorn Lomborg argues that's very far off
Renewable energy technology like solar power, wind turbines, and battery storage have made exponential advances in the last decade. But is it enough to address the climate crisis?
On GZERO World, Danish author Bjorn Lomborg sits down with Ian Bremmer to discuss his controversial views on climate change and his belief that current climate technology is nowhere near where it needs to be to move to a net-zero world truly. He acknowledges the price of things like solar panels has gone down, but argues renewable tech is still being propped up by government subsidies.
Scaling up renewable energy technology, even in wealthy countries, is still a huge challenge.
Lomborg says that solar and wind power are intermittent energy sources that can’t provide enough power to keep most places running 24/7. And while prices have come down significantly from where they were a decade ago, the price of lithium-ion batteries needs to be 99% cheaper for them to be a real, practical solution for reliable energy storage.
“We are just far, far away from this actually being something that will scale even in rich countries, and certainly not in poor.”
Watch the full interview on GZERO World: Climate change: are we overreacting?
Catch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer every week at gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld or on US public television. Check local listings.
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"Climate is a problem, not the end of the world" - Danish author Bjorn Lomborg
How far should the world go to stop climate change? On GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, controversial Danish author Bjorn Lomborg discusses his perspective on climate and how it differs from the global climate narrative.
Lomborg acknowledges that global warming is a genuine problem but argues it’s not an apocalyptic threat. This nuance is important, Lomborg says. Because it allows for a more balanced approach to addressing climate, as opposed to an all-encompassing focus on the issue of lowering carbon emissions.
Because most of the world still runs on fossil fuels, he says, the singular focus on net-zero emissions is inefficient and misguided. Instead, Lomborg advocates for a greater emphasis on green innovation as a more practical way to address climate concerns.
Watch the full interview on GZERO World: Climate change: are we overreacting?
Catch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer every week at gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld or on US public television. Check local listings.
Climate change: are we overreacting?
Climate experts agree that climate change is real and human-caused. But how far should the world go to combat it? Will the worst-case scenarios forecast by climate scientists end up a reality?
On GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, author Bjorn Lomborg says the answer is no. Climate change is indeed a problem, he says, but “it’s not the end of the world.”
We're not talking about ‘we need to double or triple [renewable energy capabilities].’ We need a hundred-fold increase,” Lomborg tells Ian Bremmer. “We are far away from this actually being something that will scale even in rich countries and certainly not in poor countries.”
Lomborg worries that policy priorities are out of whack and billions of dollars are being wasted on incremental climate mitigation when there are so many urgent issues, like education or maternal mortality, where that money could be used more effectively.