China recognizes the necessity of pursuing a path of low-carbon development, and is starting down this path of its own volition. The country has participated actively in international efforts to deal with climate change and has contributed greatly to the slowing of global warming. Shortly before the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, China voluntarily proposed cutting its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 40-45 percent by 2020 from its 2005 levels. In 2013, the indicator dropped 28.6 percent against 2005 levels, equaling a decrease of 2.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

The United States, as the world's leading industrialized country, not only backed out of the Kyoto Protocol, but has made no progress in its domestic climate legislation. Its carbon emission reduction target of 17 percent by 2020 from its 2005 levels, announced before the Copenhagen conference, has been a disappointment to the international community. The United States should "practice what it preaches" when dealing with climate change. The country is expected to fulfill its international duties, including drastically cutting emissions at home and providing developing countries with funds or technologies.

Toxic emissions can be reduced not only in the manufacturing sector but with regards to consumption. Yet it seems ludicrous that a report titled What Do Chinese Dumplings Have to Do With Global Warming? would come to the conclusion that "of all the shifts in lifestyle that threaten the planet right now, perhaps not one is as important as the changing way that Chinese people eat," based solely on the boom of refrigerators in the country. Even the author admitted that at least 70 percent of all the food Americans eat each year passes through a cold chain, as opposed to less than a quarter of China's meat supply. Refrigerators are necessary domestic appliances that have greatly improved living and safety standards. Technology that improves the quality of life of a population should be accessible to all.

China should stick to its traditional virtue of frugality, especially given the pressing need to curb toxic emissions, even as the quality of life enjoyed by its people improves dramatically. The United States, for its part, urgently needs to examine and address the high-carbon lifestyle to which Americans have long been accustomed.

The author is deputy director of the Research Center for Sustainable Development at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences