[patrickk]

The EU proposed a carbon tax on airlines, which the Chinese disagree with:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/1222/break...

EU leaders will be going to the Chinese in a few weeks, cap in hand, looking for the Chinese to help bolster the European bailout fund (otherwise the euro could well be toast). The Chinese are going to use the carbon tax as negotiating leverage. Ah, politics.

Also I read a very interesting article (in the guardian paper i believe) from an insider at one of the major climate change treaties a few years back. The official story was that the different leaders couldn't come to an agreement and that there would be another summit in a few years. The real story was that the Chinese delegation blocked every proposal, thereby sinking the talks (as any major climate change treaty would require the backing of the major industrial powers).

[xster]

While in the meantime, US cries about China's 'unfair' advantage in developing green technologies and lifts tariffs for imports. Perhaps just another difference between a lawyer driven society and an engineering driven society.