UK's Carbon Trust has visions of a green China

The Carbon Trust is funded by British taxpayers but its mandate -- to accelerate the move to a low-carbon economy -- has brought it all the way to China. After all, the UK is responsible for just 2% of the world's carbon emissions, so if you want to make a difference on a global scale, China is a good place to start.

In 2008, after a series of visits from the China Energy Conservation Investment Corporation Cecic, the Carbon Trust set up a small office in Beijing to work on a joint venture with its Chinese partner and to explore the options for developing its international mission. The approach is necessarily different to what...