Climate change is the most profound environmental problems facing the world. Attempts by governments to address it have been characterised by preoccupation with narrow and short-term perceived national interests rather than the pressing need to mitigate atmospheric pollution and respond aggressively to its impacts. This was amply demonstrated at the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Copenhagen in December 2009. That conference failed to reach any formal or binding agreement on steps to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) or to deal with the consequences of global warming for societies and ecosystems. The Copenhagen conference revealed a fundamental flaw in the international management of climate change, namely underlying political norms and ethics that place nearly all value and importance in states and their national interests.

A major manifestation of this problem is recurring debate over the historical responsibility of the developed countries for GHG pollution. While developed countries surely deserve most of the blame if we think only in terms of states, this focus on state responsibility fails to account for rising GHG emissions among industrialising countries in the developing world and, importantly, among affluent people in those countries. These changes are manifested profoundly in the case of China, which is seeing explosive growth in its GHG emissions and a rapid expansion in the sizes of its middle and upper classes. Given the misfit between historical national responsibility and current emissions, the predominant emphasis on responsibility of developed countries for climate change will have to be overcome if the world is to take the extraordinary steps necessary to combat the problem aggressively in coming decades.

We can find no greater support for this argument than in the case of China. China is now the largest national source of GHG pollution. This pollution must be limited and eventually reduced if the most catastrophic consequences of climate change are to be avoided or at least mitigated. Thus, addressing climate change effectively will require China's participation.