The rejection of the United States to verify the Kyoto Protocol, has focussed some attention on the contribution of the developing countries in mitigating the consequences of climate change on our economy. While the USA insisted on an important role for the developing countries, for example by voluntarily accepting an emission target in 2012, the developing countries themselves found their growth hampered by such measures. This paper focusses on the consequences of setting emission targets for developing countries, here China. We consider different proposals for setting such targets. One of these proposals is the proposal of the USA to let China accept its projected ’Business-asUsual’ emission level for 2012 as its target. A proposal by the Center for Clean Air Policy took more consideration for the viewpoint of the developing countries by imposing a so-called ’growth-baseline’ for China, where a target is set on emission efficiency