You need only look at Europe to see how quickly they are transitioning to clean energy and industrial processes. As a matter of fact, their biggest challenge is the competition they will be facing from similar such industries in the USA, Korea and Japan.
If various provincial gummints in China could move away, if not shut down factories in high-polluting industries in Guangdong and the areas surrounding Beijing prior to the Olympic Games, they can force it upon the factories now, for the sake of their own environmental future.
One of our suppliers informed us of an increase in prices due to a gummint-imposed requirement to upgrade their plant and machinery. It wasn't the equipment cost itself, but the cost of the down-time on their production line which they were passing on. The gummint subsidised some of the capital expenditure, but I don't know how much of it. This should however tell you that your little local industries in China are indeed not bearing the brunt of the costs. Some, if not most, of these costs are being passed along the supply chain right down to the final consumer.
You would have a hard time trying to get that past our European friends. Germany, among the defeated powers, is probably the best example, looking back at the 1920s period of hyperinflation and then the post WWII destruction of much of Germany's industrial infrastructure. Fast forward to today, you don't need me to spell it out to you. More locations like the Der Wissenschafts und Technologiepark Berlin Adlershof are coming up not only in Germany but elsewhere around Europe. Norway is a champion of clean energy. They are not alone.
I don't buy this. The West IS making a push for all of the above. That is what keeps companies like Welcome to Suntech Power busy, stuffing hundreds of teus of solar modules everyday for shipment to Europe and North America. What is it going to take for the Chinese gummint to use tax money coming from this industry to invest in capital for their own energy requirements? They're GETTING the money from Europe and North America. Where's the frikkin' problem?!!