China challenges Europe's climate change leadership

Europe has positioned itself as the global leader in the combat against climate change. The EU, banking on its key role in sustaining the Kyoto Protocol, its own policies to tackle climate change and advanced clean-energy technologies is expected to gain both soft power and commercial profit.

China is challenging this leadership. Not only is it criticizing the EU for not doing enough in the run-up to the Copenhagen Summit in December, it is also catching up with its own clean energy te...