The world's first panoramic carbon accounting system, the "Panshi-Yuheng Carbon Accounting Large Model," was officially launched on Tuesday in Shanghai.
Carbon accounting refers to the measuring and tracking of the greenhouse gas volumes emitted by a country or an organization. It is a key basis for meeting international climate commitments and for international carbon pricing.
Spearheaded by the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the panoramic model -- so called because it covers the production side, the consumption side, and natural sources of carbon emissions -- is designed to precisely serve China's needs in tackling climate change.
Built on the ScienceOne, or "Panshi," a scientific foundation model, the new large model uses a three-layer architecture covering data, algorithms and computing power. Its high-quality proprietary data framework has helped build a dataset system that combines internal and external datasets with multi-dimensional coverage to meet the needs for a wide range of applications, including natural-language queries, multi-database management and intelligent hybrid retrieval.
"The carbon accounting large model gives us higher efficiency and precision in carbon accounting, as well as greater spatial and temporal resolution. It provides a practical methodology and data foundation for our country's carbon trading, carbon markets, carbon tariffs, and future carbon pricing. It also solidifies the scientific basis for our national climate governance, while offering a Chinese solution to global climate governance," said Wei Wei, vice president of the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The Panshi-Yuheng model is designed to address bottlenecks in traditional carbon accounting, including high knowledge barriers, cumbersome data processing, long timeframes and low resolution. Already, it has been used to develop a high-precision holographic map of China's carbon emissions. With a high degree of accuracy, it has also calculated the emission reduction contributions of China's green products to the world, and it provides critical support for the green transition of key industries, and the country's response to international carbon policies.
China releases world's first "panoramic" carbon accounting model
A record number of Americans left the United States last year, with data from the Brookings Institution showing between 210,000 and 405,000 people voluntarily moved overseas, marking the first time in at least half a century that more departed than arrived.
For decades, the U.S. was seen as a place to pursue a better life, often called "The American Dream." But surveys suggest many now see their future elsewhere.
A Gallup poll found about 20 percent of Americans would like to move abroad, while the Association of American Residents Overseas estimates 5.5 million Americans were already living overseas in 2024, a figure that has since grown.
Jen Barnett, an expat planning coach, said that she had always wanted to live abroad. She moved to Merida, Mexico a decade ago.
"I knew that there was life beyond Huffman, Alabama, and I wanted to see what was out there. In 2016 after the [presidential] election, I said, okay, let's do this," she said.
In 2022 she co-founded Expatsi, a company that helps Americans relocate. She says interest has surged since U.S. President Donald Trump was elected to a second term in 2024.
"It is not as simple as one politician. I think it is the realization that the U.S. is not what we thought it was and a feeling that the social contract has been broken," she said.
Mexico remains the most common destination, followed by Canada. Increasingly, expats are also choosing Uruguay, Costa Rica and Panama in Latin America, as well as Germany and Portugal in Europe.
Many cite crime and gun violence at home, while seeking lower living costs and affordable healthcare abroad.
"The amount of money that you need to retire is millions in the U.S. to guarantee that you can have health care, god forbid you need assisted living, which might cost 10,000 or 15,000 U.S. dollars a month. In a place like Portugal, you could have full-time live-in care for 2,000 dollars a month," she said.
Remote work and technology have made relocation easier, though language barriers, cultural differences and bureaucracy remain challenges.
"Most of the challenges that you face are internal. I think people just need to see others doing it," she said.
Many expats hold visas or dual citizenship, but growing numbers are making the move permanent.
Before 2009, only 200 to 400 Americans renounced their citizenship each year. In 2025, that figure was just under 5,000, with a backlog of about 30,000 awaiting appointments to formally give up their U.S. citizenship.
Record number of Americans moving abroad amid rising cost and discontent
