Already a leader in clean tech, China may see a new reason to act as leader in addressing climate change too.

With less than a month before the annual U.N. Climate Change Conference, China is so far defying pressure to set ambitious climate targets early and to do more to help poor nations cope with the ravages of a warming world.

The election of Donald Trump as president for a second time and the Republican takeback of the U.S. Senate could undo many of the national climate policies that are most reducing planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions,