Coal — the reigning king of China’s energy sector — generates 74 percent of the country’s electricity and is the main source of the staggering air pollution blanketing Chinese cities. Prompted in large part by the air pollution problem, the Chinese leadership has begun to pivot away from coal by strengthening monitoring and enforcement to limit coal-fired power plant emissions, piloting CO₂ emissions trading projects, accelerating expansion of renewables, and committing to CO₂ reductions in the Paris climate agreement.

With a capacity of 3,300 MW, Sichuan’s Ertan Hydropower Plant—once China’s largest—promised to alleviate provincial energy shortages and spur economic growth when it began generating electricity in 2000. However, in what came to be known as the “Ertan Incident,” provincial officials halted all clean energy generation in Sichuan soon after the plant came online. The Sichuan power company was obligated by law to buy half of its power from coal-fired power plants, regardless of their inefficiency or environmental impacts. To keep the coal burning, the dam was forced to operate at a major financial loss.

Rhino horn is the most valuable illegally traded wildlife product in the world, more expensive per pound than either gold or cocaine and much more valuable than elephant ivory. With as few as 25,000 wild rhinos left in Africa, conservationist and law enforcement fight a constant battle with criminal syndicates seeking to kill rhinos and sell their horns to wealthy consumers abroad, many in Asia.

Known as the “vitamins of industry,” rare earths refer to a cluster of minerals widely used in green technologies such as wind turbines, rechargeable batteries, and electric vehicles. Rare earth elements embedded in these products keep them light, efficient, and affordable. They’re essential to the decarbonization of the global economy envisioned in the Paris Climate Agreement, agreed to by 192 countries in 2015. And we may soon face a significant shortage, due in no small part to changes in China.

Ten years ago, amateur tilapia farmers in China were able to dig a pond, fill it with fish, add antibiotics and chemicals, and a few months later sell the fish to numerous unregulated processors. In those early days, fish farming created a great economic boom for first-time aquaculture farmers.

“Made in China” products surround us, yet few consumers have anything more than a foggy idea of where in China their phones, computers, and other goods come from. Hunan Province in South Central China is not only the home of spicy food, but the world’s largest mines for non-ferrous metals used in many electronic devices. Nearly all the glass panels for Apple and Samsung smartphones are manufactured in Hunan as well. While this multibillion-dollar phone industry has been a boon for Hunan’s economy, it has also produced seriously polluted rivers and soil.

If China is the globe’s most powerful manufacturing engine, the port of Shanghai is its fuel injection valve. This harbor is the world’s busiest, both in terms of tonnage and number of containers processed, allowing China to import the raw materials fueling its development and export the products that represent a significant share of the world’s economy.

Nestled in the mountains of western Sichuan Province sits the town of Piankou. Surrounded by three nature reserves that contain several hundred giant pandas, the landscape is undeniably beautiful. Rivers crash their way through rocky valleys framed by bamboo covered hills. But the scene was not always so tranquil.