China's Climate-Change Push

As the leading emitter of greenhouse gases in the world and a rapidly growing economy, China is often cited as a major obstacle to confronting climate change. But the government and private sector there has taken a surprising, if modest, turn toward addressing climate change even as the American government's own efforts have slowed, The Washington Post reports. In the past five years, China has ended subsidies for motor fuel, and its fuel-efficiency standards for new urban vehicles is even higher than the United States, at 36.7 mpg. In addition, it’s shut down older, less clean power plants and set energy-efficiency standards in buildings and new coal plants. "We think this is a new business for us, not a burden," Gan Zhongxue, a scientist with a Chinese energy company researching green technology told the Post.