Could China's growing CO2 emissions be down to the west simply exporting its pollution?

The International Energy Agency believes China will overtake the United States as the world's biggest emitter of carbon dioxide in coming months, and it may have done so already. Pollution in China has become a truly global issue.

China's burgeoning economic growth is being fuelled by a cocktail of coal, oil and nuclear power, and there is a strong feeling among environmentalists that it makes little difference what smaller Western countries are doing about emissions as long as the big culprits like China (and the US) continue to raise their output of CO2.

The Chinese government has promised to introduce controls on some emissions, and has pledged to boost its renewable energy sector, but the central mantra is that economic growth must be fostered. While there are pronouncements about the need to reduce China's carbon footprint, there are few moves to reduce the growing number of cars on the streets, or to trim the number of coal-fired power plants which provide the lion's share of China's energy needs. The government says coal will continue to provide 80 per cent of the country's power for the next half a century.

Greenhouse gases have become a political issue on the streets of Beijing, and normally uncomplaining citizens rant about how the air is making it difficult for their children to breathe, and how environmental disaster is a poor legacy for one's offspring. The government is worried that this kind of thinking is politically destabilising. However, a more common refrain on the streets of Beijing - and from government officials in private - is to turn on the developed world and say: "It's our turn to enjoy economic growth."

Beijing says the developed nations have no right to criticise, and argues that the country's lower levels per capita should make it a special case - China's per capita emissions are around one sixth of those in the US. It also makes the point that the West exports its pollution by shifting production to the cheap labour areas in China, and argues that a lot of the smog is generated by factories making goods for Western companies. The government says it will not impose caps on carbon dioxide emissions until the Chinese economy has stabilised at a higher level.

For the rest of the world, that means a point at which average Chinese incomes exceed those in the US, expected sometime around 2050. So many Chinese spend time overseas now, and they come back with tales of enormous sport utility vehicles being driven on American highways with just one person in the car. The Chinese car industry is booming, but that kind of waste is shocking to many in China, even if owning a car is a long-term goal of most people here.

According to the United Nations, US individual greenhouse gas production comes out at 20 tonnes per person per year, compared to 3.2 tonnes per person in China each year. The world average is 3.7 tonnes.

Nearly all of the worst polluted cities in the world are in China, but there is a feeling among people that this is an interim situation, a step on the way to general economic well-being.

China has honourable intentions of nearly halving the amount of greenhouse gases it emits for every US dollar of its economy by 2020.

The good news is that there seems to be growing political will to try and do something about pollution in a way that balances the needs of the economy and the environmental situation. Premier Wen Jiabao has made some high-profile pronouncements on the need to tackle global warming.

China has committed to making the 2008 Olympics in Beijing a Green Olympics, with lots of sustainable energy moves being implemented around the city, such as solar power street-lighting and water treatment plants. The government has announced that it will increase its spending on environmental protection to 1.35 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) each year for the next three years. "Most of the investment will go to treating water pollution," said Zou Shoumin, director of the Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning, who took part in drafting the plan.

Water pollution has reached horrific levels in the cities. Some 26 per cent of surface water cannot be used for any purpose, 62 per cent is not suitable for fish and 90 per cent of the rivers running through cities are polluted.

The five-year plan sets out some ambitious targets on pollution control, including cutting chemical oxygen demand (COD), a major index of water pollution, and sulphur dioxide emissions by 10 per cent by 2010.

By 2008, three-quarters of China's large cities will enjoy more than 292 days of good air quality per year, compared with 70 per cent of cities in 2005 - if all goes to plan.

China has written a draft energy law which establishes a partially market-based energy pricing system, which will reflect supply and demand, as well as environmental costs. It also covers energy technology, international cooperation, fiscal and tax policies, and other issues.

The law has become bogged down in bureaucracy, and there have been four versions of the law set before legislators since 2006, but it is expected to be enacted in 2009. One of the areas where China is doing something in a very public fashion is in renewable energy, with the development of the sector driven by pragmatism - oil is expensive, wind and solar power is free. There are solar panels on millions of roof-tops, vast wind farms powering thousands of factories and a highly sophisticated paper recycling industry servicing some of the world's biggest economies.

China will likely achieve - and may even exceed - its target to obtain 15 per cent of its energy from renewables by 2020, according to a report by the Worldwatch Institute, an independent research organisation that concentrates on environmental, social and economic trends.

"A combination of policy leadership and entrepreneurial savvy is leading to spectacular growth in renewable energy, increasing its share of the market for electricity, heating, and transport fuels," said Eric Martinot, a Worldwatch senior fellow based in Beijing. "China is poised to become a leader in renewables manufacturing, which will have global implications for the future of the technology," he said.

If China's commitment to diversifying its energy supply and becoming a global leader in renewables manufacturing persists, renewable energy could provide more than 30 per cent of the nation's energy by 2050.

There was a total global spend of €35 billion on renewables last year and in 2007 China was expected to invest more than €7 billion in new renewables capacity in 2007, second only to Germany. Wind and solar energy are expanding particularly rapidly in China, with production of wind turbines and solar cells both doubling in 2006. This means China is poised to pass world solar and wind manufacturing leaders in Europe, Japan, and North America in the next three years. It already dominates the markets for solar hot water and small hydropower.

The fastest growing power-generation technology in China is wind power - existing capacity doubled in 2006 and the country has four major domestic manufacturers of wind turbines and another six foreign subsidiary manufacturers. Irish companies such as Airtricity are working in this area.

Meanwhile, solar power production capacity increased from 350 megawatts (MW) in 2005 to more than 1,000MW in 2006, with 1,500MW expected in 2007. That's small in the big picture, but significant for solar power.

While Chinese pollution will keep colouring the skies above Los Angeles for some time to come, there are at least some glimmers of hope for the future.