China expands its corruption crackdown beyond public sector “tigers” and “flies” to include private sector executives and even university officials.
Economics will trump CO2 reduction in China
Cutting CO2 emissions and economic growth are incompatible. The Chinese know it, whatever they said and signed in Paris. This article for the South African Independent Newspapers group highlights the recent Probe International study “The Truth about China” by Patricia Adams.
The Paris summit: A colossal waste of time
So far, all the pledges from all the countries put together would scarcely budge the needle on the great big global thermostat. This opinion piece for the Globe and Mail quotes Probe International’s new study on China’s climate policy and energy needs.
Deterrence lost in plea deals
Deferred prosecution agreements that let companies pay fines for wrongdoing could backfire by encouraging repeat criminality. Probe International’s Patricia Adams for the National Post.
No winners in corporate shakedown
DPAs were virtually unheard of in business settings prior to 2004, but their growing popularity in the U.S. is now being felt in Canada with SNC-Lavalin lobbying the Liberal government to have its fate determined by a DPA, rather than the criminal trial the Harper government pursued.
China’s pollution is not the same as cutting C02
Patricia Adams, an economist with Probe International, says China will not live up to global CO2 emission standards. Commodities host, Andrew Bell , for Business News Network (BNN), interviews Adams after the release of her new report, The Truth About China, today.
The truth about China
Why Beijing will resist demands for abatement. A new report by Patricia Adams.
China’s climate power game
China’s Communist party won’t curb the country’s CO2 emissions – doing so could lead to their overthrow.
China won’t cut back on its CO2 emissions
China won’t commit to curbing its fossil fuel use; instead, it will squeeze the West for billions in climate subsidies. That’s the conclusion of a study released today by economist Patricia Adams of Toronto-based Probe International for U.K.-based Global Warming Policy Foundation.
China gets back to nukes
Driven by the need for clean energy in its war on pollution and further accelerated by worldwide global warming fears, China is set to resume plans for a nuclear renaissance that has many sounding an alarm over safety concerns.
Foreign NGOs under increasing pressure in China
China considers new law aimed at crackdown on foreign NGO operations and funding of activities feared threatening to Communist rule. Probe International, named as one of several international foundations in a recent criminal investigation, told the New York Times: “From our perspective in Canada, it is perplexing that such activities [researching and writing articles and reports, and giving university lectures] would be considered illegal.”
MDB “knowledge” banks
Former IMF chief economist Kenneth Rogoff says “far too little attention has been devoted to understanding why multilateral development lending has so often failed”. In his experience, MDBs are most valuable as “knowledge” banks — sharing soft development infrastructure such as experience and best practices rather than financial muscle. The latter, he says, has led to their “greatest failures”.
Policy: Four gaps in China’s new environmental law
China’s new environmental protection law is not enough without robust implementation mechanisms, accountability regimes and institutional arrangements. This report for the science journal Nature identifies four gaps that will cause challenges for the new law.
Saving China’s environment
Read in full Patricia Adams’ closing address to the International Symposium on China’s Environmental Crisis: Is There a Way Out? A resounding “Yes!” says Ms. Adams. “Give power to the people”.
Ukraine’s odious debts
Ukraine’s national news agency, Ukrinform, asked Probe International’s Patricia Adams to weigh in on Ukraine’s multibillion-dollar debt to Russia and whether Ukraine could challenge the enforceability of the US$3 billion Eurobond using an odious debts argument.


