Chinese cement factory: somehow they can do what we cannot

If there is a somewhat credible reason for the United States not to embark on climate legislation, it is that other major emitters — particularly China — are not doing the same.  I don’t buy it, because China is a much poorer country than the United States is and because the West has received the lion’s share of the benefits of the industrialization that has caused climate change in the first place.

But in any event, that dog’s hunting days are over:

China’s first steps to build what is destined to be the world’s second-biggest emissions market are boosting the prospects for fledgling programs from Australia to California.

Four cement makers in China, the world’s biggest emitter, bought 1.3 million pollution permits for 60 yuan ($9.55) a metric ton last month in Guangdong. The province plans the largest of seven pilot programs for a proposed national market within three years. Exchanges will trade permits to emit an estimated 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases a year by 2015, close to half the volume in the European Union system.
By setting its own emission limits and allowing ...

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