[Brutha]

I am not saying that we should not develop new technologies; thats not my argument. My argument is that we should lobby China hard. Brutha said himself that he disagrees with this. He specifically said that "Its always the other party that has to change isn't it"... Thats a clever way to say "You need to change, don't worry about China we have a lower bar set for them." But why is the bar set lower?

I don't really see that the US has the power to set the bar for China, especially if they don't pledge to reduce emissions on those global talks about the climate where both the US and China take part.
You should also keep in mind that a lot of Chinese are nationalists that don't like it when other countires want to meddle in their affairs and might be against your the thing that you are lobbying lobbying simply because you are doing your lobbying.
That sentiment gets even stronger when you don't cut emissions yourself but try to get others to cut them.

If you are like most Germans you belive that you have the higher moral ground when it comes to the environment.

I would be fine with the same relative cuts in the US than the ones we do in Germany.

I am not saying that we should not develop new technologies; thats not my argument. My argument is that we should lobby China hard.

You also said that you don't want more strict regulations in California.
More strict regulations and higher energy prices would increase the incentives of businesses to develop new technologies.
Even if you are for lobbying China, you will be more effective on that road if you cut emissions in the US because it gives you more political legitimation in those lobbying attempts and you are less likely to be seen as making unfair demands.
I don't think that it's in the cards to force China to get lower emissions, so it's important to be seen as making resonable demands. The best things would be to convince the Chinas leaders that it's in their best interest to cut pollution.
If they would see it similarly to the overpopulation problem that could create real change.
I don't really see hard lobbying getting us there.