ABSTRACT
In the inglorious ranking list of the world’s top greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters, China is catching up rapidly. According to recent publications, China has overtaken the United States’ (US) CO2 emissions by 14 per cent in 2007 and has become the world’s largest CO2 emitter, making up 24 per cent of the world’s total CO2 emissions (Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency 2008). As China is becoming one of the crucial factors for the advancement of the international regime on climate change, it is challenged by both state and nonstate actors to curb its growing GHG emissions. Although China—in concert with other developing countries—still adheres to the principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’, one can recognize substantial transformations in China’s climate change politics at both the international and national level. China ratified the Kyoto Protocol in 2002, and the Chinese government is increasingly designing and implementing national-level policies with positive (side-)effects for climate protection. These measures to curb GHG emissions are, at least rhetorically, justified by the objective of climate protection, although many authors warn of a growing gap between ambitious rhetoric and ineffective policy implementation on the ground (Economy 2006, 2007; Turner and Linden 2007).
