Kenneth Green [Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute]: "China's agreement to accept the "non-binding" greenhouse gas reduction goals of the Copenhagen Accord is a combination public relations ploy, and an effort to ensure that western wealth continues to flow to China for the construction of low-cost "renewable" energy systems such as wind turbines and solar panels.

As the world's largest emitter, China knows that it can not be seen to sit on the sidelines as their geopolitical and economic competitors hobble themselves with carbon controls. China has also largely lost the argument that the developed countries should "go first" with binding greenhouse gas controls, as it is universally recognized that greenhouse gas controls by the rest of the world is a complete waste of time and money unless China matches (or exceeds) those emission reductions.

China's pledge to reduce carbon intensity by 45% has been characterized as nothing more than business as usual by the International Energy Agency, and, amusingly enough, puts them in the strange position of adopting the policy of George W. Bush from 2002. As readers might recall, the Bush administration tried to propose the exact same voluntary, emission-intensity based approach in 2002, and was rightfully lashed by foreign governments and environmental groups for having put forward a "business as usual" proposal that ultimately would allow for US emissions to rise, just as China's pledge would allow China's overall emissions to rise spectacularly, as they are predicted to do.

Finally, there's the sticking point of verification. Unless China is willing to allow international entities to independently verify emission-intensity reductions as resulting from new, non-BAU activities, the international community is highly unlikely to accept China's proposal. Based on China's past response to such proposals, I would not expect to see foreign inspectors touring Chinese facilities any time soon."