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The document analyzes China's high carbon intensity and rapidly increasing per capita emissions, noting that China was one of the world's largest emitters in 2005. It highlights a reversal in the trend of falling energy intensity relative to GDP growth since 2000. While current policies aim for a 20% reduction in energy intensity by 2010, the brief argues that further mitigation and a proactive approach in climate negotiations are required to keep global temperature rise within 2 °C. It also identifies the 2008 financial crisis as a strategic window to redirect investment toward energy conservation and renewables to avoid locking in energy-intensive infrastructure.

The document examines China's balancing act in climate negotiations, where it seeks to maintain economic growth and energy security while transitioning toward a low-carbon economy. While China has implemented ambitious domestic policies to reduce energy intensity—driven largely by a need to decrease dependence on oil and coal imports—it remains cautious about committing to binding international targets that could undermine its development goals or subject its internal affairs to international verification. The briefing highlights the critical role of the US-China relationship and the necessity of financial and technical support from developed nations to accelerate China's emission peak.

The document analyzes the struggle over the design of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) established by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. It identifies three proposed implementation models—bilateral, multilateral, and unilateral—and notes that the choice of model affects which countries and project types benefit. The authors propose an "open architecture" CDM that allows these designs to complement each other, arguing this is the only way to satisfy diverse interests and reach a consensus in climate negotiations.

The document provides a summary of Party submissions to the AWG-LCA from April 2010 through November 2010, focusing on transparency, review of actions, measurement, reporting and verification (MRV), governance, and finance sources. It notes that the summaries represent WRI's interpretation of a selection of submissions and exclude those related to the Copenhagen Accord.

The paper examines climate change as an issue of injustice, specifically how environmental challenges interact with socio-ecological and economic systems to undermine the rights of poor, marginalized, and vulnerable populations. It analyzes the historical treatment of equity in climate negotiations to identify key issues for a new agreement and explores how climate justice narratives can mobilize domestic demand for climate action.