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HUAINAN, CHINA - JUNE 12: Chinese workers prepare panels that will be part of a large floating solar farm project under construction by the Sungrow Power Supply Company on a lake caused by a collapsed and flooded coal mine on June 12, 2017 in Huainan, Anhui province, China. The floating solar field, billed as the largest in the world, is built on a part of the collapsed Panji No.1 coal mine that flooded over a decade ago due to over-mining, a common occurence in deep-well mining in China's coal heartland. When finished, the solar farm will be made up of more than 166,000 solar panels which convert sunlight to energy, and the site could potentially produce enough energy to power a city in Anhui province, regarded as one of the country's coal centers. Local officials say they are planning more projects like it, marking a significant shift in an area where long-term intensive coal mining has led to large areas of subsidence and environmental degradation. However, the energy transition has its challenges, primarily competitive pressure from the deeply-established coal industry that has at times led to delays in connecting solar projects to the state grid. Chinaâs government says it will spend over US $360 billion on clean energy projects by 2020 to help shift the country away from a dependence on fossil fuels, and earlier this year, Beijing canceled plans to build more than 100 coal-fired plants in a bid to ease overcapacity and limit carbon emissions. Already, China is the leading producer of solar energy, but it also remains the planetâs top emitter of greenhouse gases and accounts for about half of the worldâs total coal consumption. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Why China and India shouldn't let coronavirus justify walking back climate action

SELBY, ENGLAND - MARCH 02: A general view of Drax Power Station on March 02, 2020 in Selby, England. The station is the largest coal-fired power facility in Western Europe and provides about 7% of the country's electricity. The owner of the bio-fuel and coal-fired plant has said it will phase out the use of coal from its Yorkshire power station in March next year. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

The world is coming together to fight coronavirus. It can do the same for the climate crisis

This photo taken on April 9, 2018 shows a crowd of tourists on the Maya Bay beach, on the southern Thai island of Koh Phi Phi.
Across the region, Southeast Asia's once-pristine beaches are reeling from decades of unchecked tourism as governments scramble to confront trash-filled waters and environmental degradation without puncturing a key economic driver. / AFP PHOTO / Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / TO GO WITH AFP STORY "THAILAND-INDONESIA-PHILIPPINES-TOURISM-ENVIRONMENT" by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA with Joe FREEMAN (Photo credit should read LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA/AFP/Getty Images)

Before the virus, Asia's ecosystems were buckling under overtourism. When the tourists return, it has to be different

Stranded migrant labourers with their belonging wait to board a special train to Howrah station in Kolkata after the government eased a nationwide lockdown imposed as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus, at MGR Central railway station in Chennai on July 9, 2020. (Photo by Arun SANKAR / AFP) (Photo by ARUN SANKAR/AFP via Getty Images)

India's rich can't flee the pandemic. That's given some a new empathy for the poor

HONG KONG, CHINA - JULY 06: Hong Kong defendant Tong Ying-Kit, 23, arrives at court after being accused of deliberately driving his motorcycle into a group of police officers last Wednesday on July 6, 2020 in Hong Kong, China. Tong is the first person to be charged for incitement to secession and terrorist activities under the Hong Kong national security law. (Photo by Getty Images/Getty Images)

First person charged under Hong Kong's national security law appears in court

Future Forward Party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit speaks during the party's final major campaign rally in Bangkok on March 22, 2019, ahead of the March 24 general election. (Photo by Jewel SAMAD / AFP) (Photo credit should read JEWEL SAMAD/AFP via Getty Images)

His party was banned. He faces jail. But Thailand's Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit vows to fight on