This creates a problem: carbon neutrality is generally regarded as a new “national policy”, originating with central government and being propagated from the top down – to state-owned enterprises and local governments, then onwards to private firms. While it is not hard to find reports that, to varying degrees, draw the link between extreme weather events and climate change, the connection between carbon neutrality and climate change is missing. The point of reducing emissions is to reduce the climate risks arising from global warming, a major one being more frequent and intense extreme weather. The concept of carbon neutrality is now well-known in China, but is often understood as a development strategy, a trend in investment and technology, rather than what it actually is: an emissions reduction target. The ignored climate goal behind carbon neutrality But there was little change in searches for the term “climate change” – two small peaks, but remaining low. Data from Baidu shows that searches and instances in news coverage of the term “cloudburst” rocketed after the Zhengzhou flooding and remained high for a week. So, although the climate angle did receive coverage, the flooding did not heat up the climate debate. However, the close links those outlets have with official research institutions meant that reports from the China News Service and the Guangming Daily featured comments from the National Climate Centre and members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Official media outlets, managed directly by the Party and government, were a little slower. Little was heard from Chinese researchers or government officials.įlood damage in Xinxiang city, Henan (Image: Simon Song / Alamy) Most of the experts featured in those articles came from international research institutions, intergovernmental organisations or NGOs. While Beijing News quoted a foreign meteorologist who blamed the summer’s floods in western Europe on climate change. For example, a Yicai article described how Nature magazine connected climate change and extreme precipitation events after 2018’s Hurricane Florence. While they didn’t make a specific link with the Henan floods, they did refer to how these incidents increase discussion of climate change overseas. Some commercial media outlets adopted a climate perspective first, discussing how climate change makes extreme weather events more frequent and more intense globally. But once the initial shock and concerns had eased, broader analyses appeared, which included climate change.
International media, such as the Economist, pointed out that the climate change angle was missing from media coverage within China. The media were repeating explanations provided by local and national meteorologists, focusing on the preceding weather conditions and the local terrain. Readers were also informed about the causes of such an intense cloudburst, and why the risks had not been foreseen. In the day or two after the floods, reports mainly focussed on the flooding of tunnels on Zhengzhou’s underground line 5 and Jingguang Road, where people had been trapped. So, with China having committed to carbon neutrality, did these floods boost awareness of climate change? Was the climate angle missing? The language reflected the shock people were feeling.Ībroad, extreme weather events usually result in more discussions about climate change. Experts from the National Meteorological Centre complained these were not scientific descriptions. The media and official statements labelled it a “once in a thousand years” event, or in one case “ once in five thousand years”. According to official data, at least 302 people died and 55 went missing in the resulting floods province-wide. Other parts of the province were also affected. Annual rainfall is around 600mm, only slightly more than fell on the city on that one day in July.
Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province and a city of 10 million, lies in central China. Two hundred and two millimetres! That’s how much rain fell in Zhengzhou in a single hour on 20 July, a record for mainland China.
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