I was by no means insinuating that the US was making much better progress, but it seemed for the longest time that China's only energy policy was coal, and to shut down old coal plants with newer coal plants. Hence the atrocious local air quality. Any progress in policy by the central government is being hampered by local officials.

It still doesn't look like they're changing their coal policy, although the growth rate of coal in China is tapering off, and it seems they're actively looking at almost all other fuel sources, except perhaps except for solar, although it looks like that may be changing. At least when China decides to move, they do so in a big way.

I agree, I think in this particular area the Chinese are far more forward looking than their US counterparts.

The real questions include whether the provincial and local level governments - which swim in a sea of crony capitalism and graft - will embrace the climate friendly national approach or will the national efforts be undone by the coal business puppet- mastery at more local levels?

Another question is whether the Chinese will be able to afford the energy transition? There is the overall assumption that because they are holders of a lot of cash reserves and posssess a large industrial base, they can easily divert this and that resource to whatever problem they wish to address. In reality, the Chinese reserves are dwindling - exports are falling and cash income is shrinking. Also, the PBOC has made a lot of credit committments against their reserves.

BEIJING, July 4 (APP): A growing number of speculators in the oil market have exacerbated the uncertainty in oil prices, Zhang Guobao, director of the National Energy Administration (NEA) was quoted as saying by Saturday’s China Daily.“The change in oil price cannot truly reflect the demand,” said Zhang, adding that “The hot money flow should be regulated more strictly.”

Speculators ... like the Chinese themselves. The Chinese are 'resbalancing' their capital reserve base away from dollar- denominated securities like Treasury bonds and mortgage- backed GSE bonds and have been using the funds to purchase commodities. While only China's hairdresser knows for sure, it is likely the contango in the oil futures market is China's responsibility. They have insufficient physical storage and buying into the future on the futures market is a reasonable strategy substitute.

The real problem in China is its dependence upon coal, which is has in relative abundance. It is cheap for its manufacturing sector to use and its inefficiency synchronizes with the Chinese strategy of using large forces of (cheap) labor utilizing more or less obsolete machinery to produce cheap goods for export. All else being equal, the Chinese manufacturing sector's use of coal for export production will overcome any attempt by that country's government to cut carbon emissions by other means.

I think this is what most people concern themselves about when they consider Chinese carbon emissions.

The key factor is exports from China. If people - consumers - want a less carbonized future, they shouldn't buy Chinese products until China swears off coal and other fossil fuels. Can this happen?

In the late 90's, activists alarmed by the use of old- growth lumber being used as studs and other basic building materials protested Home Depot:

Home Depot is part of a growing rapprochement between American corporations and the global activists who traditionally clashed with them. From 1997 to 1999, environmental groups organized protests against the company, charging it was failing to ensure that its wood didn't come from endangered forests. Activists picketed hundreds of Home Depot stores, hung banners at its corporate headquarters in Atlanta and demonstrated at shareholder meetings.

Home Depot was afraid the protests might lead to a consumer backlash and sliding sales. It had already started an internal push to follow better environmental practices. So the company agreed to stop using products from endangered forests. It created a new executive position -- environmental global project manager. The man appointed to the post, Roland "Ron" Jarvis, has the authority to sever logging contracts with any supplier whose practices harm endangered forests or otherwise hurt the environment.

Citing the destruction of tropical forests in Indonesia, Mr. Jarvis slashed Home Depot's purchases of wood there. He also played mediator between Chilean environmentalists and Chile's two largest timber producers, Empresas CMPC SA and Celulosa Arauco y Constitución SA, persuading them to overcome years of acrimony and negotiate face-to-face for the first time.

As a consequence, Home Depot started selling Certified lumber in its stores:

"With encouragement from WWF, companies like The Home Depot and Tembec are leading the way in demonstrating that responsible forest management and good business can be compatible," said Bruce Cabarle, Director of the WWF-US forest program. "By choosing the FSC certified Tembec products for sale at The Home Depot, it is increasingly easy for shoppers to influence how forests are managed."

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification is the world's highest endorsement for environmentally and socially responsible forestry practices, because it is the only system that tracks products from the forest floor all the way to the retail shelf.

The Chinese are already hurting in the wallet as Americans look to balance their personal balance sheets, refusing to buy Chinese products and telling the Chinese government so would give them added incentive to make the switch away from fossil fuels. Avoiding Walmart and other purveyors of Chinese goods would also be effective.