As evidence accumulates about the impact of fossil fuel use on the global climate, China's surge into the front ranks of the world's carbon emitters is an elephant in the room that we can no longer ignore. The numbers are sobering: the Chinese economy is growing by almost 10 percent annually, and its electricity demand by nearly 15 percent; roughly two big new coal-fired power plants are completed in China each week; new generating capacity equivalent to that of nearly the entire U.K. power grid was added last year alone; private car ownership is rising rapidly. In its latest projections, the International Energy Agency estimates that China will overtake the U.S. to become the world's largest carbon emitter within five years (see "China's Coal Future").

Some invoke such data to argue that it is pointless for the United States to curtail its carbon emissions unless the Chinese begin to reduce theirs, which they show no sign of doing. Others say that argument is disingenuous--a convenient excuse to avoid painful choices at home--and that attempts to pressure China (and other developing countries) to reduce carbon emissions will simply be ignored if we fail to get our own house in order.