Ultimately, however, energy efficiency and technology improvements will have the most critical role to play in the developing world, such as China and India, where much of the world's energy intensive industry is now located. And, although the physical manufacturing facilities are often more modern and efficient in these countries, simply because they are newer, the economic capacity and will to address emissions from these sources may not exist. "How their future development goes and what they do or don't do to improve the performance of existing plants is going to determine the global emissions from this sector," Bernstein says. "China is already the leading producer of steel, cement, nitrogen fertilizers and a couple of other energy intensive products."

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