China’s current energy crisis can be traced back in part to a legal amendment targeting miners that garnered little notice when it went into effect in March.

Article 134 in China’s criminal law elevated penalties for a series of violations from fines to possible jail time in response to an increase in mining-related accidents. However, that law led to a newfound hesitancy among miners to boost production and intensified a supply deficit that could not come at a worse time for President Xi Jinping as the country faces a severe power crunch amid a surge in energy demand. The crisis also threatens to slow economic growth and snarl global supply chains.

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The heightened punishments are a key reason that miners were hesitant to increase their output despite government calls to ameliorate the power crisis, according to five traders and analysts who spoke to Bloomberg this week on the condition of anonymity. The industry’s ability to flexibly respond to demand surges has been further stymied by increased safety inspections and an anti-corruption campaign in a major coal-producing region.

China’s current power crunch is affecting about 20 provinces and regions, representing over 66% of its GDP. Coal has long been central to China’s power generation, and broader economy — the country produced around 3.8 billion tons of coal every year in past decade, the same level as the rest of the world combined.

Prior to the enactment of the legal amendment, the miners were able to respond more nimbly. For example, when the industrial recovery from the pandemic caught miners by surprise last winter and led to coal shortages and power cuts during a December freeze, miners drove production to an all-time record that month amid orders to boost output. The surge in prices cooled by the end of February.

But that ramped up production came at a cost. Mining deaths reversed a years-long trend and rose. Officials later placed the blame on companies for allowing unsafe practices in their rush to benefit from higher prices. Article 134, aimed at reducing casualties, came following those tragedies.

Along with the stricter penalties came increased safety inspections ahead of the Communist Party 100th anniversary celebrations in July. The party has long been associated with coal miners, as a young Mao Zedong helped organize a historic strike among coal miners in the city of Anyuan in Jiangxi province, an effort that was immortalized in one of the most famous paintings of the iconic leader.

Further exacerbating the problems for coal miners is a corruption probe that begin in early 2020 in the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia, which was once the top producer of coal in China. Output there has fallen for two straight years since 2019, while a nationwide effort to reduce overcapacity in the past decade forced closures of many outdated and dirty coal mines.

The result: Coal production overall has stalled. Output was up 16% year-over-year at the end of the first quarter, but that has dropped to just 4.4% at the end of August. Meanwhile, thermal power demand is up 14%, leaving coal inventories shriveled and prices soaring to record levels.

Coal is now so expensive in China that most power plants are operating at a loss. Some are running at reduced levels or shutting for maintenance to avoid hemorrhaging more cash, contributing to the electricity shortages. A possible La Nina weather event this winter, which would bring colder-than-usual temperature, would further worsen the crisis.

(By Alfred Cang, with assistance from Dan Murtaugh)

50 percent of vegetables and 15 percent of wheat are harvested in Mongolia so far, Montsame reports citing the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Light Industry.

The harvest rate is about the same level as last year.

660,000 hectares of land nationwide have been sown, of which grain was sowed on 420.2 thousand hectares (wheat on 389.4 thousand hectares), potatoes on 19.8 thousand hectares, vegetables on 9.9 thousand hectares, oil plants on 100.4 thousand hectares, fodder plants on 100 thousand hectares, and fruits and berries on 4.7 thousand hectares.

Mongolia’s Ministry of Environment and Tourism signed an agreement with The Korea Forest Service on Friday to work together to combat desertification and sand and dust storms. The two nations have decided to cooperate actively in combating desertification and climate change, preventing natural disasters, and reducing environmental pollution.

South Korea has been working closely with Mongolia on its forestation efforts in recent years, having helped plant 3,000 hectares of forest in Mongolia from 2007 to 2017. The second phase of a bilateral reforestation project included planting some 40 hectares of forest within Ulaanbaatar, the capital, with trees that can endure the dry, cold climate of Mongolia. In the third phase of cooperation, the two countries have an $8 million project to reforest northern areas of the country that have been damaged by wildfires and carry out research and training on agroforestry from 2022 to 2026.

Part of the Korean-Mongolian cooperation dovetails with the Mongolian government’s program to reforest areas between the Gobi and Steppe regions through 2035, known as the Green Belt National Program of Mongolia.

On September 29, 2,515 new cases have been detected after conducting tests nationwide within the past 24 hours, reported the Ministry of Health.

More specifically, 1,067 new cases were detected in the capital city, with 1,448 cases in rural regions.

As of today, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Mongolia now stands at 301,434. 6,616 patients have made recoveries in the past 24 hours.

Furthermore, 16 new COVID-19 related deaths have been reported, raising the country’s death toll to 1,185. Currently, 20,325 people are receiving hospital treatment for COVID-19 whilst 64,019 people with mild symptoms of COVID-19 are being isolated at home.

A German research group has identified Mongolia’s South Gobi region as an ideal location for the production of cost-competitive green hydrogen. Elsewhere, the U.K. is seeing more on and offshore-powered renewable hydrogen projects.

A collaboration between researchers at the Energy Safety Research Institute at Swansea University and cement producer Hanson UK has seen the installation of a new green hydrogen demonstration unit at the company’s Regen GGBS plant in Port Talbot, South Wales.

While water scarcity could be an issue, researchers from Germany's NewClimate Institute and Fraunhofer ISI have pinpointed Mongolia as a nation with abundant potential for producing affordable green hydrogen. “We find that green hydrogen could be produced relatively affordably, at $3.30-4.70/kg … compared to a global average [cost] of $4.80/kg in 2020,” stated an announcement on Friday about the research. “The … optimal location for green hydrogen production with respect to … cost effectiveness, is in the South Gobi region.” The researchers suggested heavy-duty mining vehicles could drive demand for the gas. “As most [of Mongolia's] mining activities are located in the South Gobi area, green hydrogen can be produced at lowest cost close to the end-use site[s] and, therefore, has the advantage of not having to develop any transportation infrastructure for the green hydrogen, which otherwise could significantly impact the cost-effectiveness,” added the authors of the study.

U.K.-based energy company Chariot has signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Mauritania to develop up to 10 GW of solar and wind-powered green hydrogen. “Benefiting from Mauritania’s world class solar and wind resources, Project Nour has the potential to allow Mauritania to produce the cheapest green hydrogen in Africa and to become one of the world’s main producers and exporters of green hydrogen and its derivative products, close to potential, large European markets,” Chariot wrote yesterday, adding Project Nour has secured exclusivity for pre-feasibility and feasibility studies for an onshore and offshore area of around 14,400km.

The U.K. and Welsh governments have approved the £58.7 million ($80.4 million) Swansea Bay City Deal’s Supporting Innovation and Low Carbon Growth program, which comprises seven projects, one of which concerns hydrogen. The latter project aims to enable “a demonstrator to prove [the] commercial viability of carbon-free hydrogen supply to fuel hydrogen vehicles,” and includes Swansea University as a partner. The university this year joined cement maker Hanson UK to install a green hydrogen demonstration unit at the latter’s Regen GGBS plant in Port Talbot, South Wales.

U.K.-based offshore engineering business Aquaterra Energy has signed a partnership with renewable hydrogen producer Lhyfe and offshore drilling contractor Borr Drilling to develop a concept for offshore green hydrogen production in the North Sea. “The organizations behind Project Haldane will develop an industrial scale offshore green hydrogen production concept through the deployment of an electrolyzer system on a converted jack-up rig,” read an announcement last week. The aim is to solve the challenges of grid connectivity to exploit North Sea wind, “providing an off take for the electricity produced in the immediate vicinity of the wind farm.”

Nuclear and renewables are both needed for electricity and hydrogen production, to cut dependency on fossil fuels, power analyst Aurora Energy Research wrote in a report on Saturday. The statement read: “Together, nuclear and renewables can provide the hydrogen volumes needed for net zero in 2050. Deploying large volumes of nuclear alongside renewables is economically efficient, reducing the net present value of total system spend by 6-9% (£40-60 billion [$54.8-82.2 billion]) to 2050.” According to the report, commissioned by British energy company Urenco, cumulative greenhouse gas emissions to 2050 can be reduced by 80 MtCO2e and gas usage in power and hydrogen by 8 PWh.

Swedish–Swiss technology company ABB and China’s PERIC Hydrogen Technologies have signed a memorandum of understanding to accelerate the adoption of hydrogen as an energy source. “Both companies will explore how integration of ABB’s automation, electrification and digital solutions with PERIC’s electrolyzers can help reduce hydrogen generation costs in the future,” ABB wrote today. The aim is for a detailed action plan and specific agreement to be defined within three months. ABB highlighted a focus on automation, electrification, digital solutions, rectifiers, distributed control systems, energy management, advanced analytics, instrumentation and telecommunication.

Saudi Arabian energy company Aramco, U.S.-based Air Products, and Saudi utility ACWA Power have announced agreements for the acquisition and project financing of a $12 billion air separation unit (ASU), gasification and power joint venture (JV) in Jazan Economic City, Saudi Arabia. “The JV is purchasing the ASUs, gasification, syngas clean-up, utilities and power assets from Aramco,” the partners announced yesterday. “The JV owns and operates the facility under a 25-year contract for a fixed monthly fee. Aramco will supply feedstock to the JV, and the JV will produce power, steam, hydrogen and other utilities for Aramco.”

In support of Mongolian capital city's green and digital transition, IFC and the Municipality of Ulaanbaatar today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to jointly identify investment opportunities and collaborate with the aim of bolstering private financing for modern infrastructure facilities. The agreement is part of IFC's broader strategy to boost sustainable economic growth and climate resilience in Mongolia.

Almost half of Mongolia's population lives in Ulaanbaatar, with a rapid increase in the number of households living in the ger areas, or settlements of low- and middle-income households. The number of registered vehicles also reached 652,000 this year in a city with 1.4 million people. Subsequently, the city faces a range of urban challenges, including air and soil pollution, urban sprawl, centralization, and traffic congestion.

Under the MoU, IFC will provide advisory support to the Municipality of Ulaanbaatar with the objective of identifying new ways to implement sustainable development in key areas such as green transport, waste treatment and sanitation, street lighting, district heating, and green housing. The two parties will also work with other stakeholders to support structural reforms that will accelerate private sector participation in sustainable urban infrastructure and services.

"The partnership with IFC will help Ulaanbaatar access the expertise and financing needed to modernize our infrastructure and deliver better urban services. We will continue to focus on forging innovative partnerships to make our city greener, smart and more competitive," said Sumiyabazar Dolgorsuren, Governor of the Capital City and Mayor of Ulaanbaatar.

At the Climate Ambition Summit last December, Mongolia committed to a higher Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) target of 27.2 percent reduction in greenhouse gasses by 2030. According to an IFC study, $11.5 billion in climate investments will be required to achieve this new target.

"Through developing sustainable and smart urban infrastructure, the Municipality of Ulaanbaatar will be able to improve energy efficiency of its services and reduce green-house emissions, thereby helping Mongolia reach its Nationally Determined Contribution targets," said Alfonso Garcia Mora, IFC's Regional Vice President for Asia and Pacific. " IFC's Cities initiative is uniquely positioned to support Ulaanbaatar in its endeavors to diversify and enhance its funding sources in order to successfully implement its climate resilience agenda."

Since 2004, IFC has invested and mobilized over $9 billion in more than 280 projects in the Cities infrastructure space. This is IFC's first project in East Asia and the Pacific region under its Cities initiative.

About IFC

IFC—a member of the World Bank Group—is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. We work in more than 100 countries, using our capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities in developing countries. In fiscal year 2021, IFC committed a record $31.5 billion to private companies and financial institutions in developing countries, leveraging the power of the private sector to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity as economies grapple with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information, visit www.ifc.org or www.ifc.org/infrastructure or www.ifc.org/cities

The annual U.N. General Assembly is a grand stage for foreign policy announcements, along with the opportunity for world leaders to meet up on the sidelines. This opportunity has been especially meaningful for Mongolian President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa, as he was only elected in June. Khurelsukh has embraced this opportunity for an in-person visit and has been making the rounds in New York to meet counterparts and U.N. officials.

His September 22 speech to the General Assembly reviewed Mongolia’s relationship with the United Nations. However, he did not mention Mongolia’s candidacy for a nonpermanent seat on the Security Council in next year’s election, suggesting that Mongolia is not actively pursuing election and instead ceding the seat to Japan.

Khurelsukh’s speech was much more ambitious than President Battulga Khaltmaa’s speech last year in explicating the country’s views on major global issues, including development, ecosystem degradation, climate change, and nuclear weapons. Khurelsukh’s speech did also emphasize Mongolia’s support for the work of the United Nations in various areas, including its contributions to U.N. Peacekeeping Operations. Significantly, however, the speech does not make an explicit reference to Security Council candidacy, which leads us to speculate that Mongolia is planning to withdraw ahead of the election or to not pursue election actively.

Due to the influence and privilege associated with the position, the five permanent members of the Security Council attract the most attention. Still, the Security Council includes 10 nonpermanent (ore elected) seats, and the competition for the opportunity to a two-year term in the Council is intense among U.N. member states. In the appointment of representatives to the nonpermanent seats, the U.N. Charter instructs member states to pay special attention to contributing “to the maintenance of international peace and security and to the other purposes of the Organization…” (Article 23, 1). Winning a nonpermanent seat on the Security Council requires two-thirds of the votes from the present member states.

In the context of intensifying competition for nonpermanent seats, there is a trend of earlier announcements of a candidacy, as long as a decade ahead of the election. Several years ahead of the election, states campaign actively by promoting their past U.N. contributions and current priorities to gather electoral support. Small states face disadvantages in this enterprise, such as a more limited campaign budget, a smaller diplomatic corps, and fewer national representations and permanent missions. Still, being a first-time candidate and/or a small state may also be beneficial in the context of an opinion that all states should get the opportunity to serve in the Security Council. Currently, one-third of the U.N. member states have not yet served.

In his address to the General Assembly, Khurelsukh enumerated the interactions that Mongolia has had with the U.N., from accession in 1961 to the announcement of Mongolia’s nuclear-weapons-free status in 2000, the beginning of participation in peacekeeping activities in 2002, and the establishment of the International Think Tank for Landlocked Developing Countries in 2009. Mongolia’s participation in peacekeeping activities has grown steadily and Mongolia will host an international conference on the participation of female peacekeepers in U.N. operations in 2022.

This history and Khurelsukh’s emphasis on deepening ties would have been the perfect set-up to reaffirm the 2014 announcement by President Elbegdorj Tsakhia that Mongolia would be seeking election to the Security Council in 2022 and enter into an active campaign phase. But alas, Khurelsukh made no such announcement.

Given the proximity of the Security Council election, the lack of mention of Mongolia’s candidacy amounts to a withdrawal from the election and a ceding of the Security Council seat reserved for Asian states to Japan, which had only declared its candidacy at the 74th General Assembly in 2019.

Why has Mongolia stepped back from its candidacy?

The most obvious factors are the close ties between Mongolia and Japan and Japan’s long pursuit of permanent membership in the Security Council. While the movement to reform the Security Council seems to have stalled in recent years, this remains a priority for Japan and it is perhaps not surprising that Japan would not be eager to engage in a competitive election campaign over the nonpermanent seat.

Japan is an important economic ally to Mongolia, of course, with significant investments, an Economic Partnership Agreement in place, and important cultural links. In Mongolia’s quest to cultivate “third neighbors” (beyond China and Russia), Japan has been an important supporter of Mongolia’s role as a democracy amid an authoritarian sea.

But there are also domestic factors at play. Khurelsukh appears keen to erase the foreign policy legacy of his activist predecessor Elbegdorj. This may well have played a role in Mongolia’s complete silence on developments in Afghanistan despite a history or previous engagement. While Khurelsukh is embracing the international stage with his visit to the U.N. in a way that Battulga never did, the prospect of annoying Japan might have persuaded him to not give in to the allure of some international prominence.

As president, Khurelsukh is facing the prospect of a difficult position where the United States and China are increasingly trying to construct blocs to face off against each other. Given Mongolia’s near-total economic dependency on China, a China-U.S. conflict puts the country in a very awkward position given its clear preference for democracy. Japan is an important ally in that context and will be pleased to be assured of a Security Council seat in next year’s election.

The rural three-story hospital has run out of beds. A thin young woman sits in a narrow bunk, borrowed from a nearby dormitory. A masked, hooded nurse carefully examines her, using a handheld radio to communicate with a doctor across the crowded facility.

The patient, Ganzul Tsogtgerel, is a 20-year-old business student at the University of the Humanities in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s capital. Although fully vaccinated and diligent about wearing a mask, she caught a COVID-19 “breakthrough infection” while summering with her parents in Arkhangai province.

“It was already 16 days past my second dose,” she says in disbelief. “Suddenly one day, I had a headache, coughed and lost my sense of taste and smell.”

Ganzul’s shock and disappointment mirror the national mood.

Based on its healthy population, border controls and stockpile of free vaccines – Oxford-AstraZeneca from the United Kingdom, Pfizer-BioNTech from the United States, Sinopharm from China, and Sputnik V from Russia – Mongolia’s officials confidently promised a “COVID-free summer” in early April.

But the virus had other plans.

As temperatures rose, so did Mongolia’s COVID-19 numbers, fueled by a convergence of political events, holiday travel and breakthrough cases – particularly among those who had received AstraZeneca or Sinopharm shots, which the World Health Organization reports are only 63% and 79% effective, respectively, against symptomatic infection.

To top it off, the government’s ambitions of achieving herd immunity stalled as a growing anti-vaccination movement seized on each setback.

“People who got vaccinated have also been infected with the coronavirus anyway,” says Baigal Nyamjav, 37, an accountant in Ulaanbaatar who has rejected the jabs for his family. “Maybe in five or eight years we’ll have a well-tested and improved vaccine.”

Mongolia’s COVID-free summer had seemed well within reach in May, when it was vaccinating people faster than any other country, according to the Global Disaster Preparedness Center, a joint initiative of the American Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. With more than one-third of the population at least partly vaccinated, the government announced 50,000 Mongolian togrog ($18) cash incentives for second-dose recipients and eased lockdown measures on May 8.

“People started organizing trips and picnics, as well as meetings among friends and families a lot as soon as the lockdown was lifted,” says Myagmarsuren Erbat, a resident doctor. “Many factors also made impact on the increasing COVID-19 prevalence and outbreak, in terms of multiple state medal and award handover ceremonies, and subsequent home celebrations by the recipients.”

On May 24, the start of the presidential campaign period, Mongolia recorded 539 new cases; on June 10, the day after the election, the number reached 1,312.

Campaign regulations had required venues to be disinfected and all participants remain masked and at least 1.5 meters (5 feet) apart, but witnesses say the rules were not strictly enforced – and there were no limits on attendance.

“A distance between people was only one chair, which is 40 centimeters [16 inches] at most,” says Bilguun Jamsran, describing an event in western Mongolia’s Uvs province with several hundred voters.

Concerned, authorities canceled celebrations for the National Naadam Festival but not the public holiday itself; cases continued to spike as families gathered for the July 10-19 observance, which honors Mongolia’s nomadic spirit.

As the virus quickly, quietly spread, so did the Vaccine Opposition Association, founded by seven women earlier this year. On Facebook, they share stories about vaccine side effects and breakthrough infections, encourage homeopathic treatments such as burning thyme and horse manure, and organize protests.

“Just four hours after we went on hunger strike, the police dispersed us,” says one of the group’s founders, Otgontsetseg Sanjaa, 48, of Ulaanbaatar, who demonstrated outside Government House on May 26 and has helped collect more than 3,000 signatures demanding a pause in vaccinations.

Other anti-vaxxers follow the Ministry of Health’s pandemic advice regarding masking, sanitizing and social distancing – but draw the line at shots, which they fear are too new to be safe. In response, Dashpagma Otgonbayar, director of the Vaccination Department of the National Center for Communicable Diseases, explains that the World Health Organization approved all four formulas, and that vaccinated patients experience milder cases than their unvaccinated peers.

Where government directives and incentives have failed, seeing the impact of severe infections – and hearing about the more contagious delta variant – has convinced some hesitant Mongolians to change their minds.

“I’m sorry I didn’t get vaccinated; if vaccinated, COVID would be milder,” says Enkhjargal Batbayar, 39, a nomadic herder from Arkhangai who spent 13 days hospitalized in March. “While I was being treated, my husband and two children were vaccinated.”

L. Enkhsaikhan, head of the health ministry’s Public Health Policy and Implementation Coordination Department, confirms that Mongolians “are actively getting vaccinated” and adds that AstraZeneca booster shots are being given to eligible medical workers and law enforcement.

Even from her hospital room, where she ended up despite her best efforts, Ganzul has urged people to get vaccinated as soon as possible, with any option available.

“Vaccines are the brainchild of many intelligent people around the world,” she says. “They have overcome plagues.”

By the last day of August, Mongolia had recorded 213,820 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 931 deaths. The percentages were relatively small – less than 6% of its population infected, and of those, less than 1% died – but large enough to ruin the country’s plans for a COVID-free summer, or even autumn and winter.

Perhaps if everyone gets vaccinated, Ganzul says, Mongolia’s COVID-free summer can happen in 2022.

BY: Myagmarsuren Battur is a Global Press Journal reporter based in Mongolia.

Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia's health sector is now in a difficult situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic with its workload having "reached its peak," Health Minister Sereejav Enkhbold said Monday.

Even if additional beds are prepared at hospitals, there is now no medical staff to work there, he told a press conference, urging the public to follow all relevant health guidelines to protect themselves and their loved ones.

Although over 65 percent of the country's population of around 3.4 million have been fully vaccinated, the resurgence of COVID-19 has continued due to the Delta wave, and more than 2,000 infections and nearly 20 deaths have been reported daily in the country.

The Asian country has so far confirmed a total of 298,519 COVID-19 cases, with 1,169 related deaths.