China has made progress in greenhouse gases.docVIP

China has made progress in greenhouse gases 　　According to a report from the London School of Economics， China’s greenhouse gas emissions could start to decline within 10 years. This would be five years earlier than expected and would offer a boost towards efforts to protect the climate. 　　The shift has been partly caused by a massive commitment to renewables. China is the world’s top investor in wind and solar power. 　　It has also been replacing old coal plants with cleaner new stations. 　　Many of the changes in power generation have been prompted by the need to tackle chronic air pollution， but China’s leaders are also acutely conscious of their country’s particular vulnerability to a heating planet. 　　China’s actions will stimulate global markets for clean goods and services and harm exporters of coal and certain other raw materials. 　　President Xi Jinping promised in a bilateral agreement with the US to reduce CO2 emissions by around 2030. 　　China’s pledge includes a commitment to use ‘best efforts’ to peak before 2030. 　　The value of coal firms globally has slumped over recent years as nations turn to cleaner fuels like shale gas and increasingly cheap renewables. 　　Institutional investors are beginning to shun coal too， and last week Norway’s pension fund confirmed that as part of a UN-backed campaign it would divest $7.6bn （￡5bn） of investments in companies majoring in coal. 　　Some long-term energy analysts are offering the opinion that a tipping point has been reached. The world， they believe， is inexorably moving away from the fossil fuel era. 　　 Baidu to launch driverless car later this year 　　Chinese web giant Baidu will launch its first driverless car in the second half of 2015. 　　It had previously said it was working on such a car but did not say when it would be available. 　　The news， reported by Chinese language website TechWeb， will put it head to head with rival Google. 　　The firm will work with an unnamed car manufacturer， accord