It is instructive to ask what might have happened if China had not embarked on such an
aggressive and innovative policy. As Figure 2 shows, Chinese actions going back to 1980 enabled the country to avoid a situation in which global energy-related CO2 emissions in 2007
would be three times higher than they are. This would have resulted in global emissions in 2007
at levels projected by the International Energy Agency for 2025 (IEA, 2008).