How severe is China's pollution problem?

The Olympics have drawn enormous world-wide attention to China's pollution problems and they're making an extraordinary effort to clean up the air. It's a great job that they're doing, but the real question is whether they will continue to make those efforts after the Olympics. The challenge they face is an enormous challenge. The laws they have are great, but they need to be enforced a lot more effectively.

What is China doing to clean it up?

China faces the most severe pollution problems of any nation in the world. It's a result of rampant industrialization and development on a scale that the world has never seen before. China's air quality is very poor. 750,000 people die each year because of air pollution-related disease and illness. Sixteen of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are located in China. The problems they face are truly overwhelming.

What has China done on climate change?

China's emissions of greenhouse gasses are now the largest in the world. They are emitting more greenhouse gasses each year than the United States which is a remarkable change and a very significant development. We're not going to solve global warming without a strong effort from China, as well as a strong effort from the United States and other developed nations. China is beginning to understand the magnitude of the problem. They're trying to make significant changes in their energy sector. They've set some very ambitious goals for improving energy efficiency, but given the rate of economic growth in China, we probably can't expect China to actually reduce emissions for some period of time. So we need to be working with them on a long term basis.

How can the United States help?

There are tremendous opportunities for the United States to partner with China on environmental protection, climate, and energy. We have a well-developed environmental protection system, which works well. There's a lot that we can teach the Chinese in this area that will be helpful to them. There are also tremendous opportunities to work together on energy efficiency, renewable energy technologies, and using coal for electricity generation in a way that does not aggravate the problem of climate change.