A Step toward Ultimate Shift to Clean Energy

Posted by AsiaViews | Sep 18, 2017 | 0 |

China Daily

Sept 13, 2017

For those who are familiar with China’s laws and efforts to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases, the document issued by 15 central ministerial departments that says gas mixed with ethanol will be used to fuel vehicles nationwide by 2020 should not come as a surprise, because it will facilitate the shift from fossil fuels to clean energy.

Ethanol mixed with gas, or ethanol gas, is being used in 11 provinces on a trial basis and research to develop better technology in this regard has been going on for years. Which means the decision to use ethanol gas to fuel vehicles across China by 2020 is based on what has already been achieved in developing the technology to produce the needed volume of ethanol and to promote the shift to clean energy.

Besides, studies are supposedly on to prepare a timetable for phasing out the manufacturing and sales of gas-powered vehicles in the future. The phase-out process is likely to be accompanied by a likely increase in the use of electric vehicles, which could take years because electric cars are expensive and there are too few charging points to meet the rising demand.

Before those goals are realized, however, the use of ethanol gas in vehicles could reduce harmful tailpipe emissions of carbon monoxide, particulate matter and oxides of nitrogen.

China has about 200 million registered vehicles, and the greenhouse gases they emit are major contributors to air pollution. And it is to reduce these emissions that the government has been promoting new energy vehicles, by subsidizing their manufacturing costs and issuing favorable sales policies since 2010. That more than 1 million new-energy vehicles had been sold in China by the end of last year, making it the country with the highest number of such cars, speaks volumes of its green efforts.

In the first half of this year, China sold 123,000 electric vehicles, the most in the world and almost twice as many as the 64,000 in the United States, and it was also home to nine of the top 20 selling brands in the world.

The use of ethanol gas to fuel cars, therefore, should be seen as a phase that would pave the way to realizing the grander design of having only eco-friendly vehicles on China’s roads. The shift to ethanol gas could also help China in upgrading its clean energy policy to meet the commitments it made at the 2015 Paris climate change conference and set an example for other countries to follow.

(http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/2017-09/13/content_31956413.htm)

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EXTRICATING NDONESIAN CHILDREN FROM ISIS INFLUENCE ABROAD

Indonesia urgently needs to revisit the possibility of repatriating the neediest of its young citizens stranded abroad, whose families had earlier joined ISIS. Most of these children are in camps in northern Syria but there are also small numbers in the Philippines, Afghanistan and Iraq. “Extricating Indonesian Children from ISIS Influence Abroad”, the latest report from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) argues that the government could begin by bringing back small groups of unaccompanied children under ten years of age, who pose minimal security risk and are most vulnerable to deteriorating conditions in the camps.“The problem is that health and security conditions are worsening by the day in the Syrian camps, and the children are growing older,” says Dyah Kartika, IPAC analyst. “They need access to schools, a nurturing environment, and medical attention. If the government waits too long, the children will be further exposed to ISIS ideology.” The new report examines a 2019 list of Indonesians in camps and prisons run by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The Indonesian government has been trying to verify their citizenship, but with pseudonyms, misspellings and bad transliterations, it is a daunting task. At the time the data was collected, between March and June 2019, there were 555 Indonesians in SDF camps and prisons, including 367 children. Among the children, approximately 277 were under the age of ten and 34 were unaccompanied. In June 2021, there are fewer than ten children who are both unaccompanied and under the age of ten that could be prioritized for return. Bringing back children of ISIS families is no easy task. The report analyses the main challenges faced by the Indonesian government. These include definitional issues, bureaucratic competition, the difficulty of verifying nationality, evaluating the toll of exposure to conflict, assessing security risk, and finding relatives or others willing to provide care once the children are returned. In addition, COVID has meant stringent restrictions on travel, placing further obstacles in the way of repatriation. There are several models for rehabilitation of children exposed to violent extremism in Indonesia that could be modified to accommodate the needs of children repatriated from abroad. The report examines these models and argues that the government does not need to have every detail of rehabilitation programs in place before it starts extricating children from ISIS influence. It can start by bringing back the most vulnerable children and then modify programs as needed.

“It’s important that the government see these children as victims” says Dyah. “They deserve a chance to be children again.”

A Step toward Ultimate Shift to Clean Energy