Interestingly, it sounds as though China is acting as a leader of the African nations at Copenhagen...

Meanwhile, two reports about energy / coal use in China:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/copenhagen-climate-change-confe/6807678/Copenhagen-climate-summit-Can-China-get-by-without-coal.html

Copenhagen climate summit: Can China get by without coal? One of the world's biggest polluters is starting to clean up its act. Malcolm Moore reports on a green revolution.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8411768.stm

(interesting video report where available)

Rising from the bowels of the earth are giant trucks laden with coal. One after another they lumber past. Just the wheels of each truck are double the height of a man.The engines roar as these massive machines grind up the road that climbs up from the bottom of the Pingshou open cast coal mine. We're in China's northern Shanxi province, the heartland of its huge coal industry. A bitterly cold wind whips through the air. The enormous mine they're digging here must be one of the biggest man-made holes in the planet. The mine is big enough to fit a small town into. All around diggers claw at the earth, giant trucks growl to and fro. If you want to know where many of today's carbon emissions come from, this is one place to look.

patpending wrote:Interestingly, it sounds as though China is acting as a leader of the African nations at Copenhagen...

Maybe trying to keep their status as a developing nation?
When in reality they are not far off the situation Germany was in during reunification!

patpending wrote:
Meanwhile, two reports about energy / coal use in China:

The BBC article seems a little one sided again!

China should be the biggest producer of CO2 since it has the biggest population but to suggest that it will have a higher per person figure is a bit silly when it is doing so much on environmental issues as part of its development. Unlike in the USA the population actually want to do something about it if they can.

The Telegraph wrote:
"There has been huge inflation in the coal price because China has been shutting down its small and inefficient coal-fired power stations [to improve the environment]," says Charles McElwee

Not sure that makes much sense but I wonder how many are closed compared to the number that are opened?

Windy wrote:

The Telegraph wrote:
"There has been huge inflation in the coal price because China has been shutting down its small and inefficient coal-fired power stations [to improve the environment]," says Charles McElwee

Not sure that makes much sense but I wonder how many are closed compared to the number that are opened?

true, shut down lots of small ones and open big ones, and you would expect the price to go down...