China's climate challenge

March 20, 2007

After more than two decades of breakneck economic expansion China is starting to see the environmental fallout. The nation last year missed its goals of cutting by 4 percent the amount of energy it uses to generate each unit of national income and of reducing emissions of key pollutants by 2 percent. Melting glaciers and filthy cities are the price of development and raising living standards for millions of Chinese. But a "greener" China is on the horizon as the government pushes stricter standards and the private sector gets in on the action - experimenting with cleaner fuels and communities.